{"id":35335,"date":"2024-02-07T01:23:35","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T06:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=35335"},"modified":"2024-02-07T01:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T06:44:04","slug":"nagpra-enforcement-enters-new-era-after-more-than-30-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/02\/07\/nagpra-enforcement-enters-new-era-after-more-than-30-years\/","title":{"rendered":"NAGPRA enforcement enters new era after more than 30 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\t“For centuries, Native people have had everything stolen from them”: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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For centuries, Native people have had everything stolen from them\u201d: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is calling out museums, universities and other institutions …<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Indianz.Com Video: \u2018For centuries, Native people have had everything stolen from them\u2019<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
NAGPRA enforcement enters new era after more than 30 years<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, February 7, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nMuseums and educational institutions are facing new pressures to comply with the\r\nNative American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act<\/a> (NAGPRA) amid high-level attention to the decades-old law.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNAGPRA regulations finalized by the Biden administration<\/a> on the eve of the White House Tribal Nations Summit in December have already forced some institutions to remove cultural items from public view. The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, was one of the first to take action as it considers how to secure “consent” from the Native communities affected<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe announcement that the Field Museum will cover some of its displays to follow federal regulations is progress,\u201d said Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation<\/a> Chairman Joseph \u201cZeke\u201d Rupnick, who noted that his tribe, how based in Kansas, has roots in Illinois.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cBut, this is an opportunity for the Field Museum to expedite its process and fully commit to meaningful engagement with Tribal Nations,\u201d Rupnick said of the January 9 announcement.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAnother prominent institution, the American Museum of Natural History<\/a> (AMNH) in New York, New York, just closed two exhibit halls as it too reviews how to comply with the updated NAGPRA rules<\/a>. In addition to requiring free, prior and informed consent from Native communities, the regulations impose new consultation guidelines and deadlines on entities with ancestral remains and cultural items.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“While the actions we are taking this week may seem sudden, they reflect a growing urgency among all museums to change their relationships to, and representation of, Indigenous cultures,” AMNH President Sean Decatur said in a January 26 letter<\/a> to his staff.\r\n

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The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (@NATHPO_org ) is urging Indian Country to tune into remarks from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) about enforcement of the Native American Graves Protection Act and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nBut the regulations, which went into effect on January 12, aren’t the only way NAGPRA is gaining renewed attention. A leading Democratic lawmaker is calling out museums, universities and other entities, arguing they haven’t done enough to comply with a federal law that has been on the books for nearly 34 years.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“For centuries, Native people have had everything stolen from them,” Sen. Brian Schatz<\/a> (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs<\/a>, said in a fiery speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate<\/a> on February 1.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Field Museum in its announcement was quick to point out that it does not have any Native ancestral remains on public display. But Schatz characterized the institution by name<\/a> as one of the many notable offenders of NAGPRA.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nA list Schatz entered into the Congressional Record<\/a> shows the The Field Museum with nearly 1,300 Native ancestors still in its collection, decades after the passage of NAGPRA in 1990. The tally for the AMNH is even higher, at slightly more than 1,880 remains yet to be returned to their rightful communities, according to the lawmaker.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“This smells of the worst kind of colonialism with a thin veneer of progressive ideology and verbiage,” Schatz said during his remarks<\/a>, which lasted about eight minutes.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut Schatz singled out a state-sanctioned nonprofit, a state-run museum system and three prominent educational institutions as engaging in far more egregious conduct when it comes to abiding by NAGPRA and returning ancestral remains to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“Together, these five institutions still hold at least 30,000 Native ancestral remains,” Schatz said of the Ohio History Connection<\/a> (7,167 ancestors), the Illinois State Museum<\/a> (7,110 ancestors), Harvard University<\/a> in Massachusetts, (5,680 ancestors)\r\nthe University of California, Berkeley<\/a>, (4,959 ancestors)\r\nand Indiana University<\/a> (4,838 ancestors).\r\n

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