Navajo Nation Washington Office

Wááshindoon Weekly

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

NNWO Welcomes Australian and

Native American Business Delegation

NNWO staff had an opportunity to engage with Australian indigenous people and Natives from other Tribal nations and exchange information on economic, policy, and cultural issues. 

Photo Courtesy of NNWO.

On Tuesday, the Navajo Nation Washington Office welcomed a delegation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business men and women accompanied by Native American counterparts to share the challenges and accomplishments of being an entrepreneur from an indigenous lens.

The Native American Business Association (NABA), in collaboration with Australian company Supply Nation was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State to host a joint Australian Indigenous and Native American delegation. The “First Nations Collective Impact Program” started October 19th and goes through November 5th. It brought delegates to Anchorage, Washington D.C., and New Orleans and will conclude in Oklahoma City with a goal of mutual learning and sharing to enhance First Nations’ business, economic, and cultural outcomes.

During National Reconciliation Week 2022, the inaugural First Nations Trade Mission from the U.S. engaged 10 Native American business, Tribal, and academic leaders on an 11-day program across Sydney, Darwin, and Brisbane. That's when the president of NABA, Amanda Smith, along with Jason Jones, Chairman of NTIBN (Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network) signed a mutual Opportunity Statement of Intent to "empower, share knowledge, and create opportunities” for First Nations people as well as their member organizations, partners, and sovereign nations. The document includes a list of the values and principles shared by the signing parties. Similar statements of intent were put forth by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce Oklahoma and the Alaska Native Village Corporations Association.

The meeting with NNWO on Tuesday gave delegates and NNWO staff an opportunity to discuss economic development issues, cultural and political concerns and solutions, and to expose all in attendance to potentials for increased collaboration and prosperity in their respective communities.

NNWO Attends New Mexico

Tribal Transportation Summit

There are approximately 14,167 miles of roadway within the Navajo Nation, including nearly 9400 miles of earthen roads, 1700 miles of paved highways, 179 bridges and five airports.

Photo Courtesy of Technology Traffic Today.

This week the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) hosted a Tribal Transportation Summit in Albuquerque, NM providing an opportunity for tribes to engage with multiple agencies including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the White House Council on Native American Affairs, and subdivisions within the USDOT (i.e. Federal Highway Administration etc.). The event was facilitated by Deputy Assistant Secretary Arlando S. Teller (Navajo) who indicated the importance of government-to-government dialogues between State, Federal, and Tribal partners.

The event kicked off with remarks from Senator Ben Ray Lujan which led into a series of presentations highlighting myriad Federal funding opportunities available to tribes currently and in the future. In addition, USDOT gave an overview of their new Applicant Toolkit,  the purpose of which is to assist potential applicants in identifying and navigating USDOT discretionary grant funding opportunities for rural transportation projects as part of the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (R.O.U.T.E.S.) Initiative. The initiative is designed to help rural communities improve their access to transportation in order to increase economic opportunities. It contains information and materials that are easy to comprehend and use, and i intended to assist rural applicants in understanding USDOT discretionary grant programs and increase their chances of receiving an award. 

New NAGPRA Regulations Released

Since the passage of NAGPRA thousands of ancestral remains and objects of patrimony have been returned to Tribal and Native Hawaiian communities. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service. 

Just over a week ago, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced new proposed regulations to govern how the department implements the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The new regulations represent a long-overdue update that incorporates input from consultation with 71 tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations as well as over 700 specific comments. The updates are largely focused on simplifying the regulations and easing the burdens on tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations seeking to have artifacts returned. 

Key provisions include clearer guidelines on how and when an institution holding protected artifacts must respond to requests, including a 60-day limit to respond to a request from a tribe, shifting the burden on showing Tribal connections to the holders of an artifact, requiring the repatriation of funerary items with human remains, and eliminating the category of “culturally unidentifiable” items.

This last change is perhaps the most controversial from a Tribal perspective, although not unwelcome. In order to eliminate the possibility of being unable to draw a connection between an artifact and a direct lineal descendent tribe, the proposed regulations include geographic affiliation as a means of identifying a relevant tribe. Some have expressed concern that this will return objects to the last tribe to inhabit an area that has experienced significant migrations, rather than the tribe with the most appropriate connection. But almost all feedback on the issue agreed that simplifying the process by which an association can be demonstrated is better than an item being left with no association at all, as was the case with several sets of human remains found at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon and held by the American Museum of Natural History.

Even though Tribal consultation on the new NAGPRA regulations has concluded, the general public has an opportunity to submit comments on the new rules until January 17, 2023. To let your voice be heard, include the Regulation Identified Number (RIN) 1024-AE19 and send your written comments to one of the following:

• Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Direct link to make comments is: NPS-2022-0004-0001
• Mail to: National NAGPRA Program, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Mail Stop 7360, Washington, DC 20240. Attn: Melanie O’Brien, Manager, NAGPRA Rule Comments.

Native American Heritage Month--

How a Native Woman Fought to Protect her Ancestors

Pearson wrote, "When I made that ninety-mile trip into Des Moines to the governor’s office, I was aware that people were looking at me, because in 1971 Indian women did not just walk around dressed in their regalia. When I came to the door of the governor’s office, the receptionist looked up and was startled to see me in my attire. I went up to her desk and she asked, “Can I help you?” And I said, “Yes, I have come to see the Great White Father. You tell him that Running Moccasins is here.” Here Pearson is pictured with her husband John and an unnamed friend. Photo courtesy of the Ames History Museum.

In 1971 an Iowa highway crew unearthed the remains of 26 non-Native settlers and a Native American woman and her child. The remains of the non-Natives were respectfully reburied in a cemetery. The indigenous woman and her infant were sent to the offices of the State Archaeologist in Iowa City for study. When Iowa State Highway Engineer John Pearson mentioned this to his Yankton Dakota Sioux wife Maria Darlene Pearson (Hai-Mecha Eunka—Running Moccasins), she was appalled that the White deceased were treated respectfully, but the remains of the Natives were not given equal consideration. She started a movement, beginning with a protest at the state’s capitol that led to a meeting with then Governor Robert D. Ray. Governor Ray asked Pearson, who was seated outside his office in traditional regalia, what she wanted. Her response was, “You can give me back my people's bones and you can quit digging them up.”

She went on to meet with lawmakers, archaeologists, anthropologists, physical anthropologists, and other Tribal members. Eventually the Iowa Burials Protection Act was passed in 1976, the first ever law of its kind. Pearson continued to lobby for greater protections for Native American remains, objects of patrimony, and protections of Native heritage on the national level. In doing so, she gave birth to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which passed on November 16, 1990.

NAGPRA is at its core, human rights legislation as it is designed to protect cultural and biological remains of Native Americans. It creates legal processes for the return and protection of what belongs to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA requires Federal agencies and institutions that receive Federal funds (including museums, universities, state agencies, and local governments) to repatriate or transfer Native American human remains and other cultural items to the appropriate parties through consultation with lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. It also requires the protection of human remains that may be taken from Federal or Tribal lands and requires that should remains and/or items be found, a notice must be published in the Federal Register prior to doing so.

As of 2011, NAGPRA has resulted in the return of 10,000 Native American human remains, one million funerary objects, and thousands of sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony to tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA does not change ownership of items. Rather, it asks to whom these items should rightfully belong as they were removed without proper consultation or permission.

Navajo Nation First Lady Appointed to

Kennedy Center Board

NNWO congratulates Navajo Nation First Lady Phefelia Nez who has been appointed by President Biden to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center is comprised of government officials and individuals appointed directly by the President of the United States, to provide guidance to assist the Center in fulfilling its mission. The Kennedy Center hosts more than 2,000 performances each year of diverse arts and is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. 

As a Trustee, First Lady Nez will help achieve the Kennedy’s Center mission of memorializing the late President John F. Kennedy, ensuring the Kennedy Center presents world-class global performing arts, maintaining the Center’s role as a leader in national performing arts education policy and programs, and ensuring that performing arts are available to all Americans, including those from Tribal communities. 

NNWO Kicks Of Toys for Tots

The Navajo Nation is pleased to support the United States Marine Corps in their 2022 Toys for Tots campaign to make sure children on the Navajo Nation have a bright holiday. If you'd like to donate to Toys for Tots, click on the illustration by Charles Fazzino above.