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21 September 2004

Opening of Indian Museum Draws Thousands to Celebration

Ceremony begins with colorful procession of Native tribes

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Thousands of American Indians, many wearing colorful native regalia, poured onto the National Mall in Washington on September 21 to celebrate the opening of the first international institution of living cultures.

The celebration honoring the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) began with a procession from the Smithsonian Castle, the oldest of the Smithsonian buildings, to the NMAI, the newest.

Members of nearly 500 native nations from throughout the Americas walked or danced, accompanied by rhythmic drumming, down the pedestrian lane to the opening ceremony on the north side of the museum. Thousands of other people -- tourists, office workers, and other spectators -- looked on.

At the end of the procession, all were greeted by NMAI Director W. Richard West, a chief of the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma; Smithsonian Secretary Richard Small; Peru President Alejandro Toledo, a Quechuan and the first indigenous American head of state; and the two U.S. senators who sponsored the legislation that authorized the museum. The U.S. Capitol served as a backdrop to the festivities.

The NMAI "is a monument to native peoples' gifts to humanity," such as traditions of democracy, said Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne and the first American Indian to chair the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The senator wore ceremonial tribal clothing.

Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii said he was inspired to introduce the museum legislation into the Senate some 17 years earlier when he realized that "in a city of monuments, there was no statue or monument honoring American Indians ... and something had to be done."

Dressed in the traditional clothing of his tribe, West said the NMAI is "a symbol of hope" that all Americans "will welcome the diversity of the first citizens" of the Western Hemisphere. It was designed, landscaped and curated with input from native communities from the Artic to the southernmost tip of South America, he said.

The museum houses the most comprehensive collection of American Indian cultural objects in the world, according to the Smithsonian.

Having now opened its doors to visitors from around the world, the National Museum of the American Indian finally takes its "rightful place along the Mall" where so many other cultural achievements of peoples are recognized, West said.

He said the historic building represents "the past, present and future" of all Native Americans.

President Bush, in a welcoming letter read by Representative Tom Cole, a Chickasaw from Oklahoma, said the museum is "a powerful reminder of the pride of native people."

The museum is not without controversy. In a press release issued the same day, leaders of the American Indian Movement said the museum "falls short" by not portraying the "tragic history of America's holocaust against the Native Nations and the peoples of the Americas."

Indeed, Campbell said, because of European settlers' introduction of disease and despair to the Americas' indigenous peoples, the history of native peoples has been one disproportionately characterized by poverty, alcoholism and suicide. With Native American populations reduced from an estimated 15 million at the time of the settlers' arrival in the hemisphere to just slightly more than 200,000 by 1900, American Indians became "the first endangered species in America," Campbell said.

The senator noted that 100 years ago, the Indian leader Chief Joseph -- of the Nez Perce tribe -- reminded U.S. government leaders that "all men were made by the same great spirit."

The museum is now proof of "the re-emergence of native peoples," Campbell said.

Toledo, the president of Peru, called the museum "a profound symbol of reconciliation," adding that "respect of religion and cultural diversity by all peoples is directly related" to the establishment of human rights, civil society, and poverty reduction.

He said Peru is committed to creating a sustainable development model that integrates native people into its economy. He said policies that promote the inclusion of indigenous people into the world's economies will allow governments to "put a human face" on globalization.

The ceremony also featured performances by the Black Eagle drum group from the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico and by the White Oak Singers of North Dakota. It included a flag presentation the Hopi Honor Guard from Arizona and a Flag Song, the Native American equivalent to a national anthem.

The museum's dedication ceremony also marked the launch of a six-day First Americans Festival of song, dance, storytelling, arts and demonstrations, held on the National Mall.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)