Sacramento State Univ. Fails to Return Native American Remains, Artifacts
Frustration and pain were on display during a legislative hearing where tribal leaders joined lawmakers to ask 'what's the hold up' as the California State University system has failed to repatriate nearly 700,000 Native American human remains and artifacts.
Transcript
00:00 - Very cool.
00:00 All right, in Sacramento, frustration and pain
00:03 was on display during a legislative hearing
00:05 where tribal leaders joined lawmakers to ask,
00:08 what's the holdup from the California State University
00:10 system failing to repatriate nearly 700,000
00:14 Native American human remains and artifacts?
00:17 An auditor uncovered multiple campuses failed to comply
00:20 with the federal and state Native American Graves Protection
00:23 and Repatriation Acts.
00:25 These laws lay out how to handle human remains
00:28 and artifacts with dignity and respect,
00:30 and violations of these acts can be both criminal and civil.
00:33 In Sacramento State's case, it's ranked as having
00:36 the third largest collection, more than 115,000
00:40 human remains and artifacts, with only 5% repatriated.
00:44 Chairman Jack Potter of the Redding Rancheria Tribe
00:47 says it's not only about returning what rightfully belongs
00:50 to California's first people.
00:52 - Each nation, we're going through a nation rebuilding,
00:56 but if we can't get our ancestors back,
00:59 we're not gonna be a whole nation.