This is the second in a bi-weekly series that for my Native American Assimilation and Activism class. Every two weeks we make posts sharing what we learned in the class.
Over the last two weeks we covered a variety of topics ranging from Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the Kennewick Man to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis.
Kennewick Man & NAGPRA
The Kennewick Man is one of the oldest and most complete skeletons ever discoverd in North America. It has been dated to about 9000 years ago. The Kennewick Man was discovered in the Columbia River in 1996 when two college students pulled up a skull out of the river. The skull was originally thought to be from a homicide by the students and reported it to the authorities. A short inspection made it obvious that the skull was extremely old. Archeologists managed to extract a total of 350 bone fragments. The Kennewick Man revealed insights into the life of Native Americans from over 9000 years ago to modern science. For example it the skull had no cavities indicating a diet that was low in starch and sugar. He even had a stone projectile lodged in his pelvic bone, which even had new bone growing around it. The way he was found in the Columbia River even suggests that he was deliberately burried there. However, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the excavation of the Kennewick Man. Scientists wanted to gain additional insights while the Columbia Basin tribes wanted their ancestor to remain buried. In 2016 Congress authorized the University of Washington and the Army Corps of Engineers to turn over the bones to the Columbia Basin tribes who promply reburied the skeleton in accordance with their traditions at an undisclosed location.
NAGPRA is a law passed in 1990 that is supposed to protect against these sorts of acts. NAGPRA protects against the removal of human remains, funderal objects and sacred objects from land as well as focus on returning items found under these conditions back to the tribes from the area. However, it does not cover items discovered on private property and non-federally funded museums. This law is also considered controversial as it puts the definition of “sacred” to congress and long expensive lawsuits.
Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women
WARNING: This content might be upsetting to certain readers. I personally was very sickened when I first heard these stories.
Here are some troubling statistics:
- 83-85% of Indigenous women experience violence
- 55% experience violence from intimate partners
- 40% of trafficking victims are Indigenous
- 48% of Indigenous women and girls have experienced stalking
- In 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, but only 116 cases were logged in the Department of Justice database
To make it the 1-2 punch that I felt during class I recommend reading about of Savannah Lafontain-Greywind and Robert Pickton.