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A nonprofit is shedding more light on the history of Indian boarding schools in the U.S. and Canada.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Will Walkey reports.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s new map documents 523 schools – more than 100 above the most recent list by the U.S. Interior Department.

They were run by federal governments or churches with the goal of assimilating Native Americans into white culture.

The students’ hair was cut and they were sometimes beaten for speaking their language.

Courtesy Samuel Torres / LinkedIn

Samuel Torres is with the coalition focused on boarding school healing that made the map.

“The impetus of boarding schools was always Indigenous erasure, was the removal of Native language, was the removal of the influence of the family, of the home, of the nation.”

More than 150 schools were in the Mountain West, with many in the Four Corners region.

Torres hopes to gather more testimony from survivors in the coming months.

“We’re going to need this moment of accountability in order to be able to chart a path ahead towards healing, towards justice.”

Torres says the map will be updated later this year to include more archival records.

Yéil Yádi Olson is Lingít Raven from the Kaa Shaayi Hit (Severed Head House) and is also of Nordic descent. He constructed this seclusion hut in collaboration with curator and healer Meda DeWitt. Olson wanted to use his skills as a carpenter to educate others about Indigenous cultures. (Photo: Rachel Cassandra / Alaska Public Media)

The knowledge work and art of Indigenous healers and medicine people in Alaska is being featured at the Anchorage Museum.

“Good Medicine” is a multidisciplinary exhibit.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has more.

“Good Medicine” features paintings, illustrations, a women’s house, and a men’s house.

Those houses are traditionally used for healing, teaching, and meetings.

Meda DeWitt’s Lingít names are Khaat kłaat and Tśa Tsée Naakw.

She’s a healer and the curator.

DeWitt says the show is both about healing and is healing in itself.

She says it holds space for traditional healers to be seen and to speak.

That’s in contrast to colonization’s attempts at erasure of Alaska Native culture.

She says healers and spiritual leaders were targeted during colonization because of how they protected people.

“Many folks were sent to insane asylums, or penitentiaries. Or they were just taken out into the woods and, you know, just went missing, never came back or out into the ocean.”

For decades, Alaska Native people were forbidden from practicing traditional healing, so she says people are choosing ways to adapt practices.

“We have to first fully articulate who we were pre contact… to understand how to adapt it so that we are… 21st century Indigenous people on our own terms.”

Ultimately, DeWitt says that acknowledging the trauma of colonization is part of cultural healing.

“Let’s not… whitewash history, let’s… work as a community together to seek healing and repair… so that way, our future generations don’t have to carry on that burden any longer.”

The exhibit “Good Medicine” will be up through the spring.

Courtesy NDN Collective / Facebook

The Indigenous led organization NDN Collective, and the human rights group Amnesty International USA, are holding a rally at the White House Tuesday.

Indigenous people and their allies are asking President Joe Biden to free Leonard Peltier (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa).

The event is being held on Peltier’s 79th birthday.

For nearly five decades, Peltier has been imprisoned in the U.S. for the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Peltier has maintained his innocence.

A march and action are taking place in Washington, D.C., as well as a group of speakers, including tribal leaders, advocates, a U.S. lawmaker, and a former federal judge who is counsel to Peltier.

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The Montana Arts Council recently announced the state’s new poet laureate.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Orlinda Worthington introduces us to Chris Latray, who is the state’s eleventh poet laureate and a member of a Montana tribe.

“That is hello, all of my relatives, we are all related. And that is where my inspiration comes from. The relationship we have with everything around us, human and non-human, absolutely that is it.”

Chris La Tray is a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa.

He says his priority as poet laureate will be getting to small, rural communities that may be overlooked when it comes to writing and poetry.

“If I had to focus on one thing, it’s to get the word to these young people that you can choose a path like mine and be successful in ways different from maybe how people tell you need to proceed.”

He says, like many of us, he grew up with the idea that poetry is just a bunch of fancy words; a misconception he hopes to change.

“You know,  when I speak to kids I tell them that their story is 100% unique and there is nobody who is experiencing the world the way they are and the importance of them sharing that story through any kinds of words on the page or orally, that is important. And however you choose to frame that with words is poetry. Your life is poetry.”

You can hear a longer conversation with La Tray on Yellowstone Public Radio’s program “Resounds” .

The Barbie doll has been getting much attention with the release this summer of the Barbie movie.

In Alaska, mother Angela Gonzalez and daughter Ermelina of Anchorage, posted their doll titled “Fish Camp Barbie” on social media, which features an Athabascan Barbie doll dressed in traditional clothing.

It’s gained thousands of views.

KNOM’s Ava White reports.

The iconic slogan of Barbie, “you can be anything,” is brought to life in a culturally rich way.

In this scene, a Barbie doll proudly wears a vibrant hot pink kuspuk, complemented by a beaded necklace, stylish moosehide cuffs, and headband.

Positioned on a nearby table is a fish made from salmon skin, aligned with beadwork.

Barbie is holding an Ulu, ready to skillfully prepare the fish.

All clothing was handmade by Ermelina Gonzalez.

Angela Gonzalez’ family’s fish camp was located along the Koyukuk River, where her family frequented when she was a young girl.

She has played with Barbies since she was a little kid and says her grandmother used to make accessories for her dolls.

“All the dolls would have their little ulus, and we would have a little fish camp scene with fish racks and leaves. Leaves from willows would be our little fish.”

Angela Gonzalez explains the importance of sharing culture towards younger generations and why it’s important for Alaska Native children to feel equally represented.

“I think that it’s just good that they will be able to see themselves represented, even though it’s not for the mass market or anything like that. They can be inspired to create what they want to create, you know, if they have a different way of life, maybe they can make a fishnet or a dip net, you know, just something that that can inspire them to be able to feel like they have permission to customize something that will represent themselves.”

Barbie has a reputation for embracing numerous roles, ranging from a CEO to a gymnast, a construction worker, and now, a skilled fisherwoman at a subsistence camp.

Through the innovative creation of their own Barbie scenes, Angela and Ermelina Gonzalez have succeeded in fashioning a compelling narrative focused on culture.

Their efforts serve as an inspiring testament for young girls across various Alaska Native cultures, conveying the powerful message that they too can embody the spirit of Barbie in their unique ways.

Ermelina Gonzalez is an intern at KNBA, Koahnic’s flagship station in Anchorage.

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It was announced yesterday that the Interior Department will cancel its remaining oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

This will prevent drilling in 13 acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The Biden Administration declared the ANWR lease sale, which was held in 2021 during the final days of President Trump’s administration, violated federal law.

The Interior Department also added protections by putting a stop to offshore drilling in the federal waters of the Beaufort Sea earlier this year, almost a year before the administration approved ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion oil development project Willow in the reserve.

Guatemala’s much-criticized attorney general met with the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) this week about her justice department’s role in the country’s turbulent election process.

Meanwhile, Indigenous leaders carried out traditional ceremonies to censure the attorney general and others they accuse of corruption.

Maria Martin reports.

After her meeting with OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Guatemala’s Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras said there’s a campaign to discredit her and her justice department for investigating valid legal complaints.

She rejected the accusation that her investigation of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s Semilla party is an attempt at a legal coup. 

Meanwhile, Indigenous groups are stepping up actions asking for Porras’ resignation.

On Tuesday, Maya ancestral authorities performed a traditional ceremony outside the presidential palace, asking for punishment for corrupt government officials.

Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, addresses the crowd at the Nuch’ishtunt signpost unveiling at Point Woronzof on Friday. (Photo: Adam Nicely / Alaska Public Media)

There’s a new marker along Anchorage’s Coastal Trail.

It says Nuch’ishtunt, which means “the place protected from the wind” in Dena’ina Athabascan.

The sign is part of the Indigenous Place Names Project and is a reminder that Dena’ina people were and continue to be part of Anchorage.

Jeremy Hsieh reports from Alaska Public Media in Anchorage.

At a ceremony celebrating the new signpost, Aaron Leggett shares an anecdote about meeting other young Alaska Natives when he was 19 working at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

“And I told them that I was Dena’ina. They said, ‘Well, what’s that?’ Then they said, ‘Well, where’s your village?’ I said, ‘We’re from here.’ They said, ‘No, where’s your Native village?’ I said, ‘We’re from here.’ ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Well, Eklutna is 26 miles from downtown Anchorage.’ And some of them who had grown up in Anchorage said, ‘Well, I didn’t know Native people lived here.”

He says he realized Dena’ina were largely invisible and he wanted to work on reclaiming who Dena’ina are as a people.

That was more than 20 years ago.

Now, Leggett is the president of the Native Village of Eklutna and a curator with the Anchorage Museum.

He’s been working on the Indigenous Place Names Project since its inception in 2018.

The “Nuch’ishtunt” sign is the effort’s fourth installment.

Dena’ina people used to set up seasonal salmon fishing camps near this point, up until federal officials banned commercial fishing here in the 1950s.

“Indigenous place making deepens the connection we have to place.”

Beth Nordlund is the executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation, another organization working on the project.

“This is bigger than signs. It’s a movement.”

Project supporters eventually want to put up 32 of these sculpture signs in high visibility areas around Anchorage and Eklutna.

They each feature iron artwork representing a fire bag, a pouch used to carry materials for starting a fire.

It’s also a symbol of living outdoors and sharing.

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This is a critical week in Guatemala’s fragile democracy as that country’s outgoing president and its beleaguered president-elect meet to talk about the transition of power.

With the eyes of the world on the central American country of Guatemala, many of its millions of Indigenous citizens are getting ready to take action against what they call a coup attempt by a corrupt justice official, as Maria Martin reports from Guatemala.

 Outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei says he wants a transparent and efficient government transition,  but the reformist President-elect Bernardo Arévalo said in a televised interview right before the start of transition talks, that  there’s a contradiction between  protocol and President Giammattei’s failure to condemn his justice department’s attempts to disqualify Arévalo’s Semilla (Seed Party). 

 “I would hope the president would come out strongly against these spurious legal actions.”

Meanwhile, pro-democracy protests continue in Guatemala city and throughout the country, calling for an end to government interference with the election process and what protesters think is an attempt to block the country’s newly-elected president-elect from taking power despite the transition talks.

“This is just the start until the new president takes power on January 14.”

Virgilio Gerónimo Bernal Guzmán, the Indigenous mayor of Nebaj, Quiché, joined other ancestral authorities in Maya communities to call on the country’s attorney general and her “cronies” to resign, as he says they’re attempting a coup to thwart the constitutional order.

If they don’t stop these illegal actions, he says, Indigenous groups will  step up their protests.

Courtesy @EPAMichaelRegan / Instagram

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced $2.5 million in grants to three Alaska Native Corporations.

They’re part of a $20 million dollar appropriation from Congress to clean up contaminated lands that were conveyed to Native corporations under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

The announcement came when EPA Administrator Michael Regan made the final stop of his Alaska tour last week in Fairbanks.

Administrator Regan says this first round of funding barely addresses the problem.

“Just the breadth of contaminated lands, contaminated conveyed lands is astounding. And so, in addition to this $20 million we had a lot of discussions with local leaders about how we could devise strategies to acquire resources from other programs.”

Courtesy @EPAMichaelRegan / Instagram

Administrator Regan also visited Utqiagvik last week, where the Ukpeaġvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC) is based.

It will receive $600,000 to remove asbestos and other contaminants from the old U.S. Navy Arctic Research Center, as well as clean-up an oil spill.   

Pearl Brower, president of UIC, says this site is just a small portion of lands in the region that need clean-up, but called it a good first step. 

She says she looks forward to a time when her children and grandchildren can subsist off of clean land and water.    

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who championed the legislation, is also working to find other sources of federal money to clean-up more Native Corporation lands, which she calls an “injustice perpetrated by the federal government”.

“It thwarts their ability to fulfill the promise of ANCSA, (which) was that they would be able to utilize their lands for the betterment of their people. But when your lands are contaminated and you can’t access them for development, much less berry picking. That’s not keeping our promise.” 

The Tyonek and Ounalashka Corporations will each receive $1 million in funding.  

Tyonek will use the money to inventory and clean-up contaminants on the Iniskin Peninsula. 

The Ounalashka Corporation will target pollution from World War II, removing soil contaminated with PCB’s as well as sampling soil and water at a warehouse in Dutch Harbor.

 

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A post shared by Michael Regan (@epamichaelregan)

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Recovery efforts are continuing after the devastating Maui wildfires in August.

Although many communities are coming together to offer support, the Native Hawaiian community is having to deal with threats of a new wave of colonialism on their ancestral homelands, according to a grassroots Native Hawaiian advocate.

Community members have been displaced after their land, homes, and businesses have all been destroyed.

Many are still searching for their loved ones.

At a time when many people are afraid, injured, or displaced, Camille Kalama (Native Hawaiian) says they’re now having to fear that corporations and wealthy outsiders will try to take their land.

“And, so some of the residents who were affected by the fires were getting calls as early as the week of the fire offered to buy their land from real estate companies and it’s created and generated a lot of fear that there will be an exploitation of the disaster that happened, and a new wave of development and outsiders coming in and utilizing basically what’s in terms to us is capitalism. Trying to use and exploit the devastation for profit.”

Kalama is the executive director for Ko‘ihonua, a local non-profit organization, and a board member of NDN Collective, a Native-led organization advocating for Indigenous issues.

In August, officials released a list of a few hundred people who are still missing.

Kalama says people are still grieving.

“So, the community, while their active in relief efforts, and a lot of support and provides company and community is still grieving and still processing what’s going on here, and what happened.”

As recovery and rebuilding continues, Kalama says Native groups are urging for Indigenous-led rebuilding efforts.

She also says they’re encouraging those who want to help to verify their donations are going to vetted sources.

Courtesy Robert Martinez

Northern Arapaho artist Robert Martinez combines historic imagery and modern themes to create work that speaks to contemporary Indigenous issues.

His art is currently on display in Cheyenne.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports.

Robert Martinez is a Northern Arapaho and Chicano artist born on the Wind River Reservation.

Some of his work draws on the Plains Indian ledger art tradition, blending past and present.

“After we were pushed onto reservations, and we couldn’t hunt buffalo as they were exterminating them, we would trade for or were given already filled-out ledger books, and we would paint and draw over the text in those.”

Ledger books were used to record accounting transactions.

Martinez’ art will be at the Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne until September 8.

NAVAJO T-ATS 6, first of a new class of towing, salvage, and rescue ships for the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command, was launched in Houma, La. (Courtesy Bollinger Shipyards)

During a recent ceremony, Navajo Nation lawmakers joined U.S, Navy officials and Navajo veterans to celebrate the historic christening of the USNS Navajo in Houma, La.

The ship is a new class of rescue, towing, and salvage ships, named in honor of the service of Navajo veterans and Navajo Nation Code Talkers.

Five ships have been named after the Navajo Nation including the first ship, the USS Navajo that came into service in 1908 and the USS Navajo III which served from 1917 to 1919.

In 2015, the Navy notified the Navajo Nation Council that they were considering naming a ship after the Navajo Nation.

Former Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lorenzo Bates, who attended the christening ceremony, says his staff worked with the Secretary of the Navy and late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to support the naming.

The christening ceremony was attended by representatives from the U.S. Navy and Bollinger Shipyard, United Houma Nation representatives, Assistant Secretary of Tribal Affairs of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other guests.

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A first-of-its-kind report on missing persons in Alaska has been released.

The State Department of Public Safety and the Anchorage Police Department collaborated to collect this data.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the Public Safety Department, says the report maps out hundreds of cases going back to 1960.

“We think this is a good first effort, and we’re definitely interested in adding additional data points.”

McDaniel says the work, which is an outgrowth of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)’s People First Initiative, will be updated every quarter and can be found online.

In the last quarter, from April to June, 200 Alaska Native or American Indian people went missing in the state. Most of those have been found, except for 25.

The database has an important new feature.

It categorizes the circumstances surrounding the disappearances, identifying those which are suspicious.

As director of the Data for Indigenous Justice group, Charlene Apok welcomes the new report and says it’s what advocates for missing Indigenous people have been asking for – for years.

She worked on an earlier attempt to track their numbers.

“Sadly, I think what this really illustrates is a systemic issue of violence that’s being perpetrated in our community in the state of Alaska. And that should raise flags and alarms, and really start igniting justice.”

Apok hopes the database will continue to improve and provide more information about those missing, including their hometowns and Native cultural identities, so they become more than just points of data, but reminders of loved ones, lost to their families.

Members of the Indigenous Youth Voices youth group, tribal elders, and teachers pose with kayaks at String Lake in Grand Teton National Park. (Photo: Hannah Habermann / Wyoming Public Media)

A Native youth group spent one week in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks reconnecting with their roots.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports.

13 Native youth from the Wind River Reservation and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota explored the area alongside five traditional elders and teachers from the Lakota, Dakota, Northern Arapaho, Eastern Shoshone, and Blackfeet Nations.

Lynnette Grey Bull is the leader of the youth group, called Indigenous Youth Voices.

It’s the first time the group has hosted this kind of event. She says that sharing knowledge between generations is invaluable.

“Not only do we share our language and speak our language, but we also share things that they probably haven’t learned and won’t be able to learn in school. Some of our traditional and oral knowledge and historical knowledge, as many people know, is not told in the right way.”

The group spent the week kayaking, whitewater rafting, and traditional storytelling.

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Challenges are faced by schools everywhere – but each district is unique.

As the school year starts, South Dakota’s State-Tribal Relations Board got an update on the state’s reservation schools.

SDPB’s C.J. Keene has more.

The State-Tribal relations committee is tasked with continuously studying the relationship between South Dakota’s government and tribal entities.

Sherry Johnson is the education director of the Sisseton-Wahpheton Oyate.

She says tribal education efforts are forced to contend with deep, complicated history.

“We’ve had several religion-based and government boarding schools in operation over the years to formally educate the children of the Oyate since the relocation of our tribal members to the Lake Traverse Reservation.”

Now pair that with a challenge faced by just about every school district in the state – teacher shortages.

“Our schools all are advertising, they’re doing recruitment, retention, bonuses. Our tribal schools can not compete with salaries on an equal playing level – but they do the best they can. We too are experiencing that teacher shortage.”

A committee was proposed for tribal and state-run schools to help close the ever-widening teacher shortage.

No actions were taken on the proposal.

Along with that are the realities of education in rural settings.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Education Director Cherie Farlee says don’t forget about reservation infrastructure needs.

“Even though the pavement here looks like this – at least you have pavement. Where I’m from we have gravel roads, and our school busses have to travel those every day. Sometimes the roads are so bad we have to cancel. Not that our teachers aren’t there, but because we can’t get the kids to school with the conditions of the roads.”

Further, Farlee says additional dollars for operational maintenance is needed to make a difference for school buildings in tribal settings.

It’s known at the Alaska State Fair as “The Gathering Place”, created to showcase the talents of Alaska Native singers, dancers, and artists from across the state.

It’s also where Bessie Meyer demonstrates how to filet salmon.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride discovered, this Inupiaq elder has become something of a celebrity in her own right.

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U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge visited the city of Kenai, Alaska Wednesday to announce a major federal grant for local tribes.

KDLL’s Riley Board has more.

Sec. Fudge appeared at the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s year-old educational campus to announce $7.5 million for an affordable housing project.

“So today, as a leader in the Biden-Harris administration, it is my responsibility to do all that I can to do all I can to support your right to not just live, but to thrive.”

The money will go to a special group that represents two Kenai-area tribes, Kenaitze and Salamatof. It will fund an 18-unit elder housing project in Kenai.

So far this year, the program says it has served almost 200 households in areas like student housing and homelessness prevention. It also helps with services like snow plowing, fire safety and urgent home repairs.

Kaarlo Wik, chairperson for that Kenaitze-Salamatof housing entity, said the elder housing has been a dream for 20 years, and thanked the Biden-Harris administration and Sec. Fudge for their support of tribal interests.

“I’m so honored to have acknowledgement from the administration, to come to our area and come see us. We don’t get visits up in the great white north too often from Washington, and it’s truly appreciated.”

The money is part of a broader package of $128 million distributed across 22 tribes and intended for affordable housing development.

It comes from the Indian Housing Block Grant, which provides funding for housing infrastructure on reservations and related areas.

The Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority in Juneau is also receiving $7.5 million from this award.

Sec. Fudge is the latest of several cabinet secretaries to visit Alaska this summer to promote federal funding.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Attorney General Merrick Garland both visited multiple Alaska communities this August.

Photo: Thomson M via Wiki CC

A Washington State man was sentenced to two years in federal prison this week for passing off art produced in the Philippines as authentic Alaska Native art – the longest sentence anyone has received for violating the federal Indian Arts and Craft Act.

Court records say 59-year-old Cristobal Magno Rodrigo must also donate $60,000 to the Tlingit and Haida Central Council’s vocational program and write a letter of apology to the Ketchikan Daily News.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, the fake art was sold to tourists in Ketchikan.

Rosita Worl, president of Sealaska Heritage Institute, says fake art is a growing problem, because those who produce it don’t consider it a crime.

“I hope this sends a very strong and clear message that selling fake art and portraying that it’s Native-made is illegal.”

The Sealaska Heritage Institute sells Native art from all over Alaska at its store in Juneau.

“A lot of our artists live in Rural communities, where there is no real economy.”

And fake art, Worl says, steals income that might have gone to Alaska Natives – to help them remain in their communities and maintain ties to their land and culture.

In the case of the Rodrigo family, the U.S. Attorney’s office says their scheme netted $1 million in sales during 2019 and part of 2021.

Perry Eaton, a Supiaq Alutiq mask carver, says he doesn’t think Rodrigo’s sentence is harsh enough.

“The fraud is two-faced. It’s an absolute slap in the face to the artist, but it’s also a fraud to the buyer. The buyer comes to Alaska on this cruise for an experience and the Indigenous culture is big in that experience. And you got a fraud. It’s a knock-off.”

The Alaska U.S. Attorney’s office says Rodrigo’s wife and son have been named as co-conspirators.

Their case is still ongoing.

Investigators say the family sold carvings and totem poles that were made in the Philippines and then shipped to two stores in Ketchikan.

Alaska Natives workers were hired to sell the art and present it to customers as their own work, or art by Alaska Natives made from local materials.

A number of federal agencies were involved in building the case against Rodrigo, including special agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protections, and the Department of Agriculture with assistance from the Indian Arts and Crafts Board and the U.S. Attorney’s office.

If you were a customer of Alaska Stone Arts, LLC or Rail Creek, LLC and purchased a stone carving or wood totem pole believing that it was an authentic Alaskan Native artwork, please contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife Special Agent Sherrell at 907-586-7545.

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A sacred rock on display in Lawrence, Kan. is being returned to the Kaw Nation.

Rhonda LeValdo has the story.

The vice chair of the Kaw nation James Pepper Henry spoke of the first time he learned of the sacred rock from his uncle.

“I first witnessed Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe about 30 years ago. My great-uncle Luther Pepper was vice chair of the Kaw Nation at the time, and he brought me here to Kansas to see the stone and some other sacred sites that were important to the Kaw people. That really opened my eyes to our history and our culture and what we were losing. He said at that time, some day, Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe will come back to the Kaw people.”

Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe was removed from its foundation and the plaque dedicating it to the first founders of Lawrence was also removed.

The Sacred Rock will be moved to Council Grove, Kan.

The Kaw Nation has a centuries’ long relationship with the Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe and value it as a sacred item of prayer.

In a public event Tuesday, many in attendance heard about the history of the sacred rock including Gov. Laura Kelly (R-KS).

“Well, today’s return is a significant step forward in the relationship between the Kaw Nation and the City of Lawrence, it alone is not enough it must be part of a statewide effort to respect the significance of sacred places and support tribal cultures.”

Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe is a 28-ton red Siouxan quartzite boulder currently located in Robinson Park in Lawrence, Kan.

It was moved there from the confluence of the Shunga-nunga Creek and Kansas River in 1929 to become a monument to the early founders of the City of Lawrence.

It is set to leave for its permanent home back with the Kaw Nation today.

Tribes in California blasted the state’s university system for withholding nearly 700,000 Native American remains at a state legislative hearing Tuesday.

It comes as an audit finds more than half the California State University campuses have failed to turn over any remains to tribes.

Christina Aanestad reports.

State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) called on 21 of the state’s 23 universities to repatriate Native remains to their tribes.

“it is very concerning that decades after federal and state laws were enacted to repatriate remains and cultural objects almost nothing has been done to fulfill that obligation.”

Rep. Ramos called a hearing on the issue at the state capitol after an audit report in June found more than half the state universities failed to even begin returning native American remains to their tribes and many still don’t even know what remains they have.

Several tribes responded to the report.

Jack Potter is chair of the Redding Rancheria Tribe, Melissa Tayaba is vice chair of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, and Leo Sisco is chair of the Tachi Yokut Tribe.

“This report is sad and heartbreaking, it is hard when we know the spirts of our ancestors are locked on shelves. It’s painful to see more than 700,00 are sitting on boxes tagged numbered, not only is the CSU system disrespecting the laws, they’re disrespecting the memory of our people. It is appalling, unacceptable and shameful.”

The audit calls for a systemwide policy for repatriation, an oversight commission, and funding to catalog and inventory remains and artifacts as part of repatriation efforts.

Rep. Ramos says he will put forth legislation to force the state universities to act.

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