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GUEST EDITOR’S NOTES
WHY WE ARE
PROTESTING OVER
“INDIAN REMAINS”
On April 22. there wa* a protest here in
Athens over on Jackson Street in front of
Baldwin Hall, which is home to the UGA anthro
pology department. The protest was conduct
ed by a group of UGA students, many from the
group Students for Environmental Awareness
(SEA), along with American Indian Movement
member Aaron Two Elk, a Lakota. Also support
ing the protest was the Eastern Cherokee
Defense League, who were featured partici
pants and speakers at the SEA-hosted Earthiest
at the Tate Student Center on the same day.
The reason why this diverse group of peo
ple targeted the anthropology department is
something that most people probably are not
aware of and do not give much thought to In
their everyday lives — the numerous American
Indian cultural objects and human burial
remains that the UGA anthropology depart
ment has stolen from the indigenous people of
Southeastern Turtle Island (Native North
America)
The “collection" that has been stolen by
UGA anthropologists is vast. In addition to the
over 8,000 burial remains, the promotional
pamphlet for the graduate program in anthro
pology at UGA boasts (In reference to the
Riverbend Research Lab off College Station
Road), “The lab houses over three million arti
facts, most from large-scale excavation and sur
vey projects in southeastern anthropology."
The protesters have claimed that number
of American Indian women, children and men
to be In excess of 8,000. The anthropologists
say that the quantity of human remains is clos
er to 800 and that they are currently trying to
return the remains to federally recognized
tribes.
In fact, the action of UGA anthropologists
are at the very least extremely disrespectful
and at their worst, disgusting. I have personally
listened to accounts of UGA anthropology stu
dents who have been taken out by the hailed
"expert on Southeastern Indians" (the concept
that an old white man could claim such a title
when most of his ideas inspire laughter and
anger in actual living Southeastern Indians is
ridiculous) to run up and down burial mounds
throughout the Southeast.
Those burial mounds are Hke a graveyard
would be to a European-descendant
Southerner. Imagine, after a Sunday service,
you and your family go out to visit the graves
of your ancestors (many of which may date
hack to the Civil War and beyond), only to meet
a bunch of University-sponsored people who
are laughing and trumping all over the graves
of your loved ones. Any self-respecting
Southerner (and any real person) would recoil
at such a sight.
After the initial shock, you notice that the
archaeologists are pulling out all kinds of fancy
equipment along with tools you recognize such
as picks and shovels. You are then told that in
the name of “science," the bones of you ances
tors will be filed In little boxes in a research lab
oratory to be "studied" as "collection of
remains."
To get over the trauma, you and your family
decide to take a vacation to Europe. While visit
ing a museum In Germany, to your horror you
recognize, under a display that is entitled
"People of the Rural American South." the
bones of your ancestors being displayed with
some family heirloom objects that you know
are traditionally buried with your people.
Honestly, folks, there are many documented
accounts by American Indian people as having
similar experiences to the fictional account just
described. It is also known that some UGA
anthropologists have their own “private collec
tions" of stolen American Indian cultural
objects and that a lucrative market exists for
those objects both at home and abroad. Just
how much of what the UGA anthropology
department is presently inventorying will wind
up In their own private collections or in the
hands of some rich, private collector?
This is a pivotal point in American History
right now. All of us realize either consciously or
subconsciously that we either need to learn
how to live with land property or not live at all.
American Indian people have always under
stood how to live on Turtle Island. Part of this
relationship involves proper respect for the
ancestors of all peoples. When people you
know die, they return to the land In order to
feed future generations as well. So we protest
ers raise this Issue not to give the anthropology
department a bad name, but to help them do
the proper thing for all people who are inhabit
ing Turtle bland at the present time. We will
know no peace until American Indian ancestral
remains and cultural objects are, in the words
of Misty Crow of the Eastern Cherokee Defense
League, "returned to Mother Earth." Please
support those of us In the Athens community
who have helped to raise thb concern and noti
fy the University of Georgia that they have the
obligation to return the remains they have
stolen and are holding hostage immediately, for
the good of all of us people.
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