Native Leaders in California Upset at Schools' Failure to Return Native Remains and Artifacts

Numerous Native American remains and artifacts are stored in boxes, confined to basements and museums across the California State University (CSU) System, including Sonoma State University, despite existing laws that require their return, the Press Democrat revealed, along with many more details in their reporting on the issue.

This issue raised concerns among Native American leaders and state legislators who demanded answers. The Select Committee on Native American Affairs, comprised of Assembly and Senate members, interrogated CSU representatives in Sacramento regarding their non-compliance with federal and state laws necessitating the inventory and repatriation of these items to their original homeland and people.

Assemblymember James C. Ramos, D-San Bernardino, who is also a Cahuilla tribe member, has proposed multiple bills to enforce accountability on public universities under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This act mandates that institutions receiving federal funds must repatriate Indigenous remains and cultural items taken from tribal lands to their lineal descendants and culturally associated tribes.

Similarly, the 2001 California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act enforces these standards for state-funded institutions. However, a state auditor’s report from June exposed that only 6% of 700,000 items, including remains, held by CSU have been repatriated. Officials anticipate this number to increase as universities assess additional boxes of Native items throughout the state.

The scrutiny of CSU’s adherence to the laws was triggered by a 2021 incident involving a San Jose State professor who shared a photo on Twitter (now X) with an ancient Native American skull, captioned “So happy to be back with some old friends.”

A prior audit also highlighted the University of California’s failures, revealing that UC Berkeley possesses the largest remaining collection, with 9,000 sets of Indigenous remains, as per a ProPublica analysis.

Prompted by the recent audit, Ramos organized a hearing where the committee questioned CSU Interim President Sylvia Alva and four other university presidents, including Min-Tung “Mike” Lee of Sonoma State University.

Sonoma State University, which had the highest number of collections during the audit, possesses 185,300 items, despite being one of the 12 CSU universities yet to complete their collection review. The report indicates that only 0.2% of Sonoma State’s collection has been repatriated.

Lee expressed his embarrassment and apologized, acknowledging the need for improvement while highlighting the university’s efforts to comply with repatriation laws. These efforts include a job listing for a full-time repatriation program manager, outreach to 141 tribes, 14 consultation meetings, and a policy prohibiting research on items without explicit permission from the originating tribes.

The hearing featured emotional testimonies from California tribal leaders expressing their profound disappointment and frustration with the CSU system’s failure to repatriate their ancestors’ remains and artifacts.

Lorelle Ross, vice chairwoman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, noted that her tribe has over 600 collections at Sonoma State, varying from a single item to 50,000 objects. Ross highlighted the tribe’s longstanding collaboration with Sonoma State, including the establishment of the Graton Rancheria endowed chair and the development of a Native American studies program.

“Even with the establishment of this relationship and despite some repatriations over the years, there are still thousands of cultural items that have not been transferred to the tribe,” she said.

“It is now time for the state to right these wrongs,” Ross said in Press Democrat reporting, “Return our ancestors, and cultural items and atone for the generations of maltreatment and neglect. Repatriation is an act of repairing the past. This is what makes us whole again.”

The baskets to be returned may include those made by great grandmothers, which bring families together via “rich history and storytelling,” according to Johnny Hernandez, vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which is located close to San Diego.

“There are remains of our loved ones, our ancestors, whose graves had been disturbed, and remains and sacred items held for research,” he said. “The recently conducted audit is disheartening.”

“It is an unfortunate reality of my people,” he said, asking non-Natives to imagine the remains or possessions of their ancestors being displayed for public education and learning.

“We’re talking about humanity, human rights, so we have to finally get this right and bring all our people home,” he said.

After the hearing, Lee said his major learning was a deeper appreciation of the Native American viewpoint on the significance of repatriation in an interview with the Press Democrat.

“It is so critical to make sure this is done properly and on a timely manner,” he said. “And I can see here very clearly how these are natural artifacts ― They have a spirit that is still here with us, and they have not been properly put to rest.”

The hearing, according to Lee, in the Press Democrats coverage, also made clear to him how crucial it is to involve tribe members at each stage of the repatriation procedure, including the creation of future plans.

“I’d like to apologize again,” he said. “Clearly we have the largest collection. And we have the very, very large responsibility, but we will move forward to make sure that we get this done properly.”