I'm not Native American, but I have a feeling that the artifacts of my ancestors are currently in museums or may end up there some day. I'm more than okay with that, as they would have the tools to preserve them, and realistically people cannot cart those things around forever. As it is, my sibling and I cannot accommodate all the photographs of our parents and aunts and uncles.
As a non-tribal old person with no direct heirs, the thought of my grandmother's needlework, my own artworks and writings, and or the music of my late husband and friends migrated from reel-to-reel tapes and preserved for now digitally, ending up in an inevitable dumpster/landfill saddens me beyond measure. That is the reality for these treasures however. Were a museum interested in preserving or at least extending the life of these artifacts, it would lend me a measure of inner peace. As it is, I content myself with the only means of immortality for this record of our time here on earth which is that it exists permanently on the time-space continuum.
I can't help thinking that relics in a museum are stand-ins for well justified grievances, and pitiful substitutes for the restoration of water rights and the return of stolen lands which would actually address legitimate injustices and atrocities.
“I’d ask all non-tribal people to picture your family, your ancestors and their belongings that you hold near and dear, that they’re used under the guise of an artifact on display for public learning and teaching, which is the unfortunate reality of my people,” said Johnny Hernandez, the vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “We’re talking about humanity and human rights. We need to finally get this right and bring all our people home.”
I'm not Native American, but I have a feeling that the artifacts of my ancestors are currently in museums or may end up there some day. I'm more than okay with that, as they would have the tools to preserve them, and realistically people cannot cart those things around forever. As it is, my sibling and I cannot accommodate all the photographs of our parents and aunts and uncles.
As a non-tribal old person with no direct heirs, the thought of my grandmother's needlework, my own artworks and writings, and or the music of my late husband and friends migrated from reel-to-reel tapes and preserved for now digitally, ending up in an inevitable dumpster/landfill saddens me beyond measure. That is the reality for these treasures however. Were a museum interested in preserving or at least extending the life of these artifacts, it would lend me a measure of inner peace. As it is, I content myself with the only means of immortality for this record of our time here on earth which is that it exists permanently on the time-space continuum.
I can't help thinking that relics in a museum are stand-ins for well justified grievances, and pitiful substitutes for the restoration of water rights and the return of stolen lands which would actually address legitimate injustices and atrocities.
“I’d ask all non-tribal people to picture your family, your ancestors and their belongings that you hold near and dear, that they’re used under the guise of an artifact on display for public learning and teaching, which is the unfortunate reality of my people,” said Johnny Hernandez, the vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “We’re talking about humanity and human rights. We need to finally get this right and bring all our people home.”