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   From: progressive-racists@jan6.org   
      
   On 05 Mar 2022, Wi1liam T  posted some   
   news:t00k5s$25ou2$16@news.freedyn.de:   
      
   > Progressive racists are at it again.  Return the land you STOLE FROM   
   > THEM!   
      
   NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s American Museum of Natural History is closing   
   two halls featuring Native American objects starting Saturday,   
   acknowledging the exhibits are “severely outdated” and contain   
   culturally sensitive items.   
      
   The mammoth complex across from Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West   
   Side is the latest U.S. institution to cover up or remove Native   
   American exhibits to comply with recently revamped federal regulations   
   dealing with the display of Indigenous human remains and cultural items.   
      
   The museum said in October that it would pull all human remains from   
   public display, with the aim of eventually repatriating as much as it   
   could to Native American tribes and other rightful owners. Sean Decatur,   
   the museum's president, said in a letter to staff Friday that the latest   
   move reflects the “growing urgency” among museums to change their   
   relationships with tribes and how they exhibit Indigenous cultures.   
      
   “The halls we are closing are vestiges of an era when museums such as   
   ours did not respect the values, perspectives, and indeed shared   
   humanity of Indigenous peoples,” he wrote. “Actions that may feel sudden   
   to some may seem long overdue to others.”   
      
   Earlier this month, Chicago’s Field Museum covered several displays   
   containing Native American items. Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of   
   Archaeology and Ethnology has said it would remove all Native American   
   funerary items from its exhibits. The Cleveland Museum of Art is another   
   institution that has taken similar steps.   
      
   Shannon O’Loughlin, head of the Association on American Indian Affairs,   
   a national group that has long called for museums to comply with the   
   federal requirements, welcomed such developments but said the true test   
   is what ultimately becomes of the removed items.   
      
   “Covering displays or taking things down isn’t the goal,” she said.   
   “It’s about repatriation — returning objects back to tribes. So this is   
   just one part of a much bigger process.”   
      
   Todd Mesek, a Cleveland Museum of Art spokesperson, said the institution   
   is consulting with Native American groups to secure their consent to   
   display certain items as well as reviewing archival records to determine   
   if there is already some agreement on record.   
      
   Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesperson, said the Peabody is committed to   
   returning all ancestral remains and funerary items and has more than   
   doubled the number of staffers working toward that end in recent months.   
   The museum also announced this month that it would cover the expenses of   
   tribal members traveling to campus as part of the repatriation process.   
      
   The revised regulations released in December by the U.S. Department of   
   the Interior are related to the Native American Graves Protection and   
   Repatriation Act of 1990. The changes include expanded requirements for   
   consulting with and receiving tribes' consent to exhibit and conduct   
   research on Indigenous artifacts, including human remains and funerary,   
   sacred and cultural objects.   
      
   Native American groups have long complained that museums, colleges and   
   other institutions dragged out the process of returning hundreds of   
   thousands of culturally significant items.   
      
   “The only exception to repatriation is if a museum or institution can   
   prove they received consent at the time the item was taken,” O’Loughlin   
   said. “But most institutions can’t do that, of course, because these   
   items and bodies were usually taken through violence, theft and   
   looting.”   
      
   Decatur said in the letter that rather than simply covering up or   
   removing items in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains Halls, the ones   
   closing this weekend, the decision was made to shutter them entirely   
   because they are “severely outdated.”   
      
   Meanwhile, some displays elsewhere in the museum, including ones   
   showcasing Native Hawaiian items, will be covered, he added.   
      
   Decatur acknowledged one consequence of the closures will be the   
   suspension of visits to them by school field trips. The Eastern   
   Woodlands Hall, in particular, has been a mainstay for New York-area   
   students learning about Native American life in the Northeast.   
      
   The museum remains committed to supporting the teaching of Indigenous   
   cultures, Decatur said, and officials are reviewing the new federal   
   regulations to understand their implications.   
      
   O’Loughlin of the Association on American Indian Affairs said there   
   isn’t as much gray area as museum officials might suggest.   
      
   “The new regulations make it crystal clear,” she said. “It doesn’t   
   prohibit research. It doesn’t prohibit exhibiting native cultural   
   heritage. It only requires prior and informed consent before doing so.”   
      
   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-famed-nyc-museum-is-closing-two-nativ   
   e-american-halls-harvard-and-others-have-taken-similar-steps/ar-BB1hkKf9   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)