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Tag: Indigenous Voices

  • It’s Time To Talk About Museums’ Unethical Collection Of Indigenous And Black Human Remains

    It’s Time To Talk About Museums’ Unethical Collection Of Indigenous And Black Human Remains

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    At height of spooky season, nothing feels more horrifying ― or more disrespectful ― than human remains that have been on display to the public for decades without the consent of any relevant parties.

    New York’s American Museum of Natural History, world-renowned for its comprehensive collections of cultural relics, recently lifted the veil on the troubling origins of some of its artifacts. In a letter to staff, Sean Decatur, the museum’s new president, explained that many of the human remains on display and in their collection were sourced in racist and violent ways.

    “We must acknowledge that, with the small exception of those who bequeathed their bodies to medical schools for continued study, no individual consented to have their remains included in a museum collection,” Decatur, who is the museum’s first Black president, wrote in the Oct. 12 letter.

    Under Decatur’s leadership, the institution publicly acknowledged that a significant portion of its collection of remains from 12,000 individuals consists of body parts belonging to Indigenous and enslaved Black people. Some of those remains, in fact, were taken from a sacred burial ground in New York City.

    According to the letter, most remains were sourced in the 19th and 20th centuries without obtaining anyone’s consent. It was common at the time for medical and scientific institutions and organizations to rob graves and steal body parts from sacred burial sites in the interest of bolstering racist, Eurocentric pseudoscience. Of course, this was seen as a valid justification for the violent abuse and exploitation of Indigenous and enslaved Black people.

    “I think it’s fair to say that none of these people set out or imagined that their resting place would be in the museum’s collection, and in most of the cases, there also was a clear differential in power,” Decatur wrote to employees. The museum’s board, Decatur announced, has adopted an updated collections policy and set of repatriation guidelines.

    The museum plans to remove unethically obtained human remains from displays and place them in storage, with the intention of learning more about the origins of its collection and returning all unethically sourced remains to their descendants. “We have to acknowledge that whose remains came into museums were largely from groups that were marginalized or exploited economically and socially, politically,” Decatur told NPR.

    According to the letter, the AMNH has already repatriated the remains of 1,000 Native American individuals and another 200 belonging to indigenous people from international tribes since the 1990 passing of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. NAGPRA requires museums and universities to report any Native ancestral remains in their possession and return them to their tribes.

    ProPublica noted in January that “the remains of more than 110,000 Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Natives’ ancestors are still held by museums, universities and federal agencies” ― and that about half of those unpatriated remains are concentrated among just 10 institutions, including the American Museum of Natural History. Some institutions defend their decision to hold on to these remains by arguing that they’re too old to accurately determine which tribes they should be repatriated to.

    Doesn’t it feel kind of contradictory for institutions that pride themselves on education to hold human remains without acknowledging how they were collected, whom they belong to, and whether there was consent to display them?

    As awareness about decolonizing institutions and museums continues to rise, these kinds of institutional shifts in attitude are crucial. All of us need to start considering how museums shape what we know of particular cultures and their people, and ask how we can begin to repair some of the damage that’s been done to these communities.

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  • It’s Time To Be Honest About Native American Boarding Schools In The U.S.

    It’s Time To Be Honest About Native American Boarding Schools In The U.S.

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    It’s no secret that the church played a major role in imposing colonial rule in North America. But if you grew up under the American education system like me, you might’ve never learned about the Christian-run boarding schools that forcibly enrolled Native American children and then attempted to wipe out their culture. In the past few years, thankfully, the ugly truth about these schools has been coming to light — mostly in Canada, but now in the U.S., too.

    Recently, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, or NABS, said it will digitize 20,000 archival pages related to Quaker-run boarding schools, according to The Associated Press. Much like Canada’s now-infamous residential schools, the Quakers — or members of the Religious Society of Friends — separated Native American children from their families to teach them Christianity and force them to participate in Western education.

    The documents, set to be published next spring, will include boarding school records from Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania and four other states, per the AP.

    Such schools weren’t just a Quaker thing. (The Quaker movement, it should be noted, has also included positive activism, especially during slavery.) Other schools that attempted to “assimilate” Native children were run by Episcopalians, Methodists and Catholics.

    The Native-led NABS is working with libraries at Swarthmore College and Haverford College in Pennsylvania to make the files available to everyone, the AP reports. Although it’s been neglected for entirely too long, making this type of historical knowledge accessible sets a positive example for what can happen when institutions are willing to admit their wrongs and provide a more accurate depiction of the past.

    Having more information about the Quaker-run boarding schools will help us understand what happened in them and how they were organized — history that has largely been out of public view. It will also allow us to comprehend the full extent of the impact that these schools had on Native American children and to honor their experiences.

    “Those records can be really important for truth-telling processes and acknowledging and supporting the repair of past harms,” Celia Caust-Ellenbogen, an associate curator for Swarthmore’s Friends Historical Library, told the AP. “By making these archival records available, by digitizing these records, we can help restore access to communities that were impacted.”

    Still, we have to remain critical of what we find, since many of the documents were produced through the lens of boarding school leaders, rather than the children who essentially endured brainwashing, abuse or worse.

    These records will require a deep understanding of colonialism as a system that has been constantly reinforced throughout history, including with the invasion of land and extermination of entire populations. But it also operates by teaching children that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, and that the customs they grew up with are uncivilized or wrong — thereby erasing the humanity of the Indigenous people who lived here far before a European person ever arrived.

    While the Quaker community can never reverse the trauma and pain that it caused for so many Native American communities, it can start the healing process by being honest about its history and build from there with more clarity.

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  • As Hawaiians Cope With Disaster, These Tourists Remain On Their Bulls**t

    As Hawaiians Cope With Disaster, These Tourists Remain On Their Bulls**t

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    The Maui wildfires have been some of the deadliest in U.S. history: As of Wednesday, at least 106 people have been confirmed dead, per CNN. That hasn’t stopped some tourists on the island from acting like nothing has happened at all — and their behavior exposes a horrible pattern among some American and European tourists who completely disregard communities of color in the places they visit.

    Lahaina, the region in Maui where much of the devastation has occurred, is a sacred cultural place for Native Hawaiians; in the early 19th century, it was the royal residence of King Kamehameha, who unified all the Hawaiian islands. According to some reports, tourists were swimming at nearby beaches just days after the fires tore through Lahaina.

    “That says a lot about where their hearts and minds are throughout all of this,” a resident told the BBC. “You don’t see our people swimming, snorkeling, surfing. Nobody is having fun in tragedy.”

    An aerial view of Lahaina, Maui, on Aug. 11, days after a wind-fueled wildfire devastated the area.

    Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image

    An aerial view of burned areas in Maui, Hawaii, on Aug. 9 in this screenshot taken from a social media video.
    An aerial view of burned areas in Maui, Hawaii, on Aug. 9 in this screenshot taken from a social media video.

    What’s happening in Maui now reflects the historical disregard that many tourists have for “vacation destinations” where people of color live. Places like Maui are just playgrounds to them, as opposed to places where real people live, work and love.

    Hawaiians have actually been asking tourists not to come to their islands for a while, citing concerns about overcrowding, environmental degradation and even water supply issues. Despite locals’ pleas, tourism in Hawaii actually increased this year.

    While Hawaiians go through one of the most traumatic events in their recent history, some visitors to the island seem to remain untouched, unaware and unbothered. One local councilwoman told of tourists showing up to neighborhoods in affected areas looking to check in for their reservations.

    An FBI agent watches on Aug. 14 as two additional refrigerated storage containers arrive adjacent to the Maui Police Forensic Facility in Wailuku, Hawaii, where human remains are stored in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires.
    An FBI agent watches on Aug. 14 as two additional refrigerated storage containers arrive adjacent to the Maui Police Forensic Facility in Wailuku, Hawaii, where human remains are stored in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires.

    PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

    If you’re a person of color, this behavior is probably not surprising to you at all, since certain Americans seem to live in an impenetrable bubble where they don’t even seem to register the suffering of people who don’t look or live like them. Puerto Ricans have, at some points, also asked mainland Americans not to visit their island, citing rude behavior and infrastructure concerns. Could they use the extra tourism money? Yes. But apparently, some tourists clearly don’t know how to conduct themselves in someone else’s house.

    Whether it’s Thai beaches being trashed or tourists swimming in Maui days after deadly wildfires, it’s time to come to terms with the truth of how some Americans treat people of color in other parts of the world. If it wasn’t clear before, I think it should be abundantly clear now: Hawaii was never our playground.

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  • They Asked Me To Cut My 6-Year-Old Son’s Hair — And This Is Why I Said No

    They Asked Me To Cut My 6-Year-Old Son’s Hair — And This Is Why I Said No

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    In February, my 6-year-old Waccamaw Siouan son was told that he must cut his long hair to continue attending a public charter school in North Carolina — and our world stopped. In that moment, every negative emotion, from depression to rage, rushed over me. Those at the school somehow considered his long hair, which he sometimes wears in a braid, to be “faddish,” and this wasn’t acceptable, according to their dress code.

    The only way I could justify the demand was to assume that maybe they just don’t know that my son’s hairstyle is an important expression of our culture. For over a century, the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe has been living on and caring for the land that the school currently occupies. Long hair, as a style, is traditional for boys and men.

    I want my son to be strong, self-possessed and proud of who he is. I’m realizing that this could require his constant effort to educate others about our culture and, subsequently, why they should respect it. I’ve had to do this my whole life, so I know that it’s exhausting. Eventually, you grow weak from having to convince people that you deserve respect. I don’t wish for that emotional labor and trauma to weigh down my son’s shoulders. Yet there we were, at a crossroads: Do we continue to educate, or simply walk away?

    My son loved his teachers and his friends. How could I look him in the eyes and tell him that he is not wanted at school as his most authentic self?

    I chose not to do this — and so we set out to educate the school’s administrators. It sounds like an oxymoron to teach educators, but that’s what was necessary. After that, we waited for a response that would allow our son to continue on there with his beautiful hair styled exactly as it was. When the pushback came, it hit us hard.

    Denying my beautiful boy as his authentic self — with a hairstyle that wasn’t hurting anyone — is a poignant form of cultural erasure. It disrespects the heritage that we have been trying hard to preserve for generations. Also, forcing someone to cut their hair is an assimilation effort that was used years ago at Native American boarding schools. “Killing the Indian” in a child changes future generations, and we have seen this story before. We must resist these attacks on our culture and call them what they are. We’re not trying to move backward here.

    In the moments I was processing all of this, I remember dropping to my knees and collapsing into the arms of my elders. I leaned and prayed to the creator for strength, because I knew there was a fight ahead. Most importantly, my son’s safety from the world was in jeopardy. The school gave us two weeks to cut his hair before he could return to class — and we both knew we wouldn’t touch a hair on his head.

    So, I called on every person of influence I knew in North Carolina. I reached out to anyone who I believed could help me navigate this situation and get my son back into school with his teachers and friends. Finally after many calls, emails, interviews and letters, my son was able to return to class and finish the school year strong.

    Administrators conveniently decided to push off any “discussions” about changing their policy until the very end of the school year. They altered one word in another area of the rules and passed this as a “policy change” to combat the negative press the school had received. (HuffPost reached out to Classical Charter School for comment but did not receive an immediate response.) When the next school year began, so did the looming cloud of another attack on our culture.

    This will be an ongoing battle, not just for me but for all Native Americans who face similar attempts at cultural erasure. So how do we fight back?

    Resilience comes from the wounds and battle scars of these events. It takes an intentional resistance to those who wish to remove and assimilate our existence without even understanding why they want us and our customs gone in the first place. We all process this trauma differently. Just as it’s in my DNA to fight back against oppression, it is in others’ DNA to uphold it.

    The first thing to remember, especially if you want to be an ally, is that rules for rules’ sake are oppressive. There should always be a why. Some people don’t want to find meaning behind rules, further solidifying their core values as oppressors of Indigenous people. It takes courage to speak out against a society that was designed to destroy your existence.

    If we continue to let Native children be robbed of their customs, we reinforce the narrative that our people do not deserve to exist. So, educating young people on Native sovereignty is crucial. The trauma can end with this generation. We can end the continued and failed attempts of colonized minds, by basking in the clarity that comes from appreciating and celebrating another person’s culture. This is how we can change the world for the next generations and stop the pain.

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  • These Native American Boys Are Being Told To Cut Their Hair Due To School Policy

    These Native American Boys Are Being Told To Cut Their Hair Due To School Policy

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    Hair policing — the act of trying to dictate the style or length of another person’s hair — is a peculiarly persistent form of discrimination. That’s especially true of predominantly white institutions policing the hairstyles of people of color, who often have nuanced and culturally specific relationships to their hair.

    Nonetheless, Classical Charter Schools of America, a system that includes four schools in North Carolina, is requiring two Native American boys to cut off their long hair if they want to return to class after the spring break, local outlet WRAL News reported Tuesday.

    One of the students is a first grader whose mother, Ashley Lomboy, defended her son’s long braid by informing the administration that the hairstyle symbolizes a part of the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe’s heritage, in which hair is linked with spirituality, per the American Civil Liberties Union. Under that reasoning, Lomboy said that the school system’s “grooming standards” would force her son to abandon an important cultural custom.

    In response to her and another parent’s complaints, Classical Charter Schools released a statement doubling down on its stance. Among other rules, its grooming standards state that boys’ hair “must be neatly trimmed and off the collar, above the eyebrows, not below the top of the ears or eyebrows, and not an excessive height.” It also states that “Distracting, extreme, radical, or faddish haircuts, hair styles, and colors are not allowed.” The question here is, distracting and radical to whom, exactly?

    This rejection of hairstyles linked to a nonwhite culture is not unique to Native American students. Black students across the country are repeatedly chastised (or worse) for possessing hairstyles that deviate from a white supremacist system of beauty and grooming. In both academic and professional settings, many people’s natural hair is seen as “unprofessional” or “unkempt.”

    In some instances, Black students, as well as grown Black professionals, are expected to style their hair in ways that can be damaging or unsustainable. (And meanwhile, some products for relaxing and straightening hair have recently been found to contain harmful chemicals.) Hair policing is such a prevalent problem that California passed the CROWN Act in 2019, a law that prohibits discrimination based on hair texture. Though that local legislation will hopefully catch on, no federal laws currently protect employees from hairstyle-based discrimination.

    In many Indigenous communities across the country, long hair signifies strength and is a symbol of cultural pride. It makes sense that groups whose cultures are constantly undermined and often erased altogether would want to keep such signifiers intact.

    Although Classical Charter Schools’ grooming rules might make sense for some, they completely disregard the nuance that exists in nonwhite communities. This country is composed of various cultures, and not everyone needs to live by the same rules, as long as they’re not causing harm. Embracing that nuance would show a higher level of open-mindedness that all schools should strive to teach their students.

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