COVER
COVER
Grand
Opening of the Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian
BIOGRAPHY
I
Have a Story To Tell
BOOKS
New Editions From Carr Collection
COMMUNITY
Ask a Cop
CULTURE
Canada's Gift to the National
Museum of the American Indian
Defenders
of our Sacred Mother
HUMOUR
Bee
in the Bonnet: Enough to Drive an Injun Crazy!
ENVIRONMENT
Joint
Stewardship Project for Luna Reached on Vancouver Island
HISTORY
Stoney
Point History Reveals Burial Site in Provincial Park
POLITICS
Aboriginal
Leaders Meet with Ministers on Health Care
National Museum of the American Indian
A contemporary museum built to recognize and celebrate the diversity, collectivity and fortitude of Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere
By Shauna Lewis
"It is a monument to a people who were here on this land before
the birth of a boy King in Egypt called Tutankhamen, and before the Greek
poet, Homer wrote the Iliad, and before Caesar watched the chariot races
in the Circus Maximus, and before Christ walked the hills near the Sea
of Galilee."
-U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Cultural pride and solidarity were in abundance on September 21, as Indigenous people from all regions of the western hemisphere united under the same sky on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Arriving
in groups as large as forty, approximately 50 Nations and communities
from as far north as Alaska to the southernmost regions of Ecuador and
Chili, came together to celebrate the grand opening of the Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).
The first structure to be erected on the National Mall in nearly 20 years, and the eighteenth Smithsonian museum; the NMAI not only occupies the last allocated parcel of land within the National Mall, but its location also makes it the museum in closest proximity to the United States Capital Building.
Kicking off the day's events, as many as 25,000 Indigenous people marched in a two-hour procession from the first erected Smithsonian museum, the Smithsonian Castle, to the festival stage located a few hundred feet away from the U.S. Capital Building. With colorful dress, lively accord, and a strong sense of pride, the Indigenous Nations of this continent made their way up the length of the National Mall.
As drums beat in rhythmic percussion and song resonated throughout the crowd: Grandmothers, grandfathers, adults, youth and children marched for their Nations, their ancestors, and the future of Indigenous people everywhere. They marched in celebration, they marched in pride and they marched in attainment for what has been noted as long overdue.
Canada participates
Along with southern, eastern and central representation, various First
Nations participants from across Canada also participated in opening day
festivities. Traveling a great distance to join their brothers and sisters
in celebration was the Coast Salish, Métis, Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw,
Cree and others.
It was a beautiful sight as the National Mall overflowed in a cultural cornucopia of both tribal diversity and Indigenous collectivity. A sense of achievement flowed through the procession and into nearby onlookers, as the issue of inclusion and integration had finally been addressed and nationally recognized through the creation of this newest Smithsonian building.
With the National mall a buzz and the feeling of reverence contagious; the Native and non- Native individuals in attendance of the opening celebration were not only witness to, but also active participants in, the historic occasion. Pride on the faces of those who marched, coupled with the spectator's warm reception, proved beyond a doubt that Indigenous people everywhere had finally found a place where we could merge in solidarity, and be recognized globally for our contributions to humanity.
When the procession concluded, approximately 50,000 people took their
seats in front of the festival's main stage. In the sunshine of the fall
equinox and with a multitude of dragonflies overhead, the ceremony commenced
with Richard West, Master of Ceremonies and Director of the National Museum
of American Indian, addressing the vast audience.
"Today Native America takes its rightful place on the National Mall in the very shadow of the Nation's capital itself," declared West. After dedicating the building to all Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere, West then illuminated to the museum's structural symbolism through stating that the building is "a powerful physical, cultural and spiritual marker for the ages."
Joining West on the festival podium were various ambassadors, and the current and past chairs of the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian. One such dignitary was the Secretary of the Smithsonian, Larry Small. The first speaker of the day, Small addressed the crowd with an exuberant welcome and thanked those first Americans of the western hemisphere for their participation in the poignant and historic procession.
In relaying the importance of the day, Small declared that the museum is much more than a testimony of the past; it is an "ongoing living testimony to the vitality of Native cultures, a vitality that is vibrantly on display here today."
"We hope this day will mark the beginning in our Nation's undertaking of First Nations living history- a history that they will write," declared Small.
In assertion that the newly erected museum is much more than its beautiful architecture, Small recognized that the structure and its contents represent an "ongoing living testimony to the vitality of Native cultures, a vitality that is vibrantly on display here today." While such an undertaking may have taken "decades and generations to be realized," Small acknowledged the permanence of such a cultural informative building through the statement, "you're here and the National Museum of the American Indian will always be here for you and for all Americans and for visitors around the world."
Words of gratitude were also expressed, as Small recognized and thanked those dignitaries at the federal and local level who, we key in the museum's creation. A big thank-you also went out to the hundreds of thousands of individuals who contributed so much to the project "from the schoolchildren who saved their pennies for this undertaking, to Native communities who gave millions."