Native ancestors and sacred cultural belongings sit in dusty archival boxes on university shelves across California, while their descendants cry out for their return.
Thirty-six years after federal law required it, and one year after a scathing state audit, native tribes are still calling for the University of California to return what was stolen from them.
“The human remains are not archaeological or academic trophies. They don't deserve to be held in boxes on shelves,” said Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino, the first California Native American elected to the state legislature. “Lack of funding, insufficient staffing or changes in personnel cannot continue to be an excuse for the state of California and the UC systems.”
The audit found at the rate they were going, the UC wouldn’t complete the returns until after 2089.
Tuesday, the California Assembly’s Select Committee on Native American Affairs and Joint Legislative Audit Committee held an oversight hearing on the issue.
“We stand accountable for the deep and ongoing harm that our arrogance, quite frankly, has caused tribal communities,” said UC Vice President Theresa Maldonado.
Maldonado said the UC system has picked up the pace in recent years. As of June, it’s repatriated more than 9,000 of the 17,000 ancestors it held, and more than 300,000 thousand cultural belongings, she said.
But assembly members and tribal leaders say it’s still not fast enough.
“You know, it's a shame that we have to continually have these conversations. And it seems like we're just talking to the wall,” said Leo Sisco, Chairman of the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi-Yokut Tribe.
Sisco and others gave the committee a litany of reasons why the system still lacks the necessary urgency and accountability.
For example, the process for returning the sacred items still isn’t standardized among campuses. Also, universities are spending less than half the funds the legislature allocated for the work.
“I was thinking about it in context of my kid who was running around on our floor yesterday,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Sonoma. “He's two, and some of these timelines that you're talking about, he'll be applying to hopefully go to your institutions by the time you meet that. As a UC alum, that's so embarrassing.”
Some tribal leaders proposed solutions, like turning the ancestors, belongings and process over to the tribes to handle themselves.
Mary Ann Andreas, Chair of the Native American Caucus for the California Democratic Party, offered another idea.
“Native Americans, when they fail to comply with the law, they are punished. And I believe that it's time that this should be criminalized. And if they fail to comply with the law, they should be punished as well,” she told the committee. “The time for action is now.”
Tribal leaders said they won’t keep quiet until their ancestors are home.
