Tribes praise new museum

WASHINGTON — Amid a cacophony of feathers, beaded buckskin and songs of joy, thousands of American Indians from across the Western Hemisphere celebrated Tuesday the long-awaited opening of the National Museum of the American Indian — the latest of museums under the Smithsonian Institution umbrella.

Indian nations from South America to Alaska, as well as from Utah, were quick to praise the first new shrine on the National Mall in more than 15 years, and the first national museum to be dedicated exclusively to American Indians.

"This is a spiritual marker for the ages," said W. Richard West, a Southern Cheyenne and director of the museum.

The celebration brought together Indian nations — some clad in traditional regalia but many more bedecked in T-shirts and football jerseys — that have not seen eye-to-eye throughout history. In fact, there is a bloody enmity among many that stretches back thousands of years.

But Tuesday, with all tribes standing shoulder-to-shoulder, was a time of "cultural reconciliation," West said.

"This is a memorial to bring us all together," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

Inouye and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., are credited with making the museum a reality. Both are Native Americans who helped secure the funding and legislative authorization for a $199 million museum and another $20 million for exhibits.

For members of Utah's Indian tribes, a national museum is a symbolic honor and a sign that the nation recognizes its history did not begin with the pilgrims but in the traditions rooted in thousands of years of Native American culture.

Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, cultural natural resource manager for the Northwestern Band of Shoshone in Brigham City, said the museum's biggest impact will be for Indian children.

"It gives them something to be proud of," she said. "You go to Washington, D.C., to see the history of America. Now you can go to D.C. to see the history of the native people who lived here before there was an America."

Northern Ute Tribal Councilman Roland McCook said the museum is "a recognition by the general public to afford us a place to preserve our heritage, our culture and perhaps a sense of healing from the past."

McCook, vice chairman of the Smithsonian's Advisory Board for Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, said the three Ute bands — Northern, Southern and Mountain — together donated $100,000 to the museum.

About 8,000 objects are on display (the museum has 800,000 objects in its collection), as well as three exhibits on various Native American themes. None of the exhibits features Utahns.