Brandon Dean Freshmen Seminar African Burial Ground Post

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of November 16, 1990

Native American human remains, graves, and ritual objects located on federal and tribal land are encouraged to be protected in situ . In cases where in place preservation is not possible, or if archaeological excavation is necessary for planning or research, or if the remains are inadvertently discovered, then consultation is necessary prior to excavation under an Archaeological Resources Protection Act permit. If remains covered by the law are discovered, the project will be stopped for 30 days while the review and consultation process proceeds.

What is clear from this summary of legislation protecting ancient burial grounds for American natives is that no such protection exists for sites that include a majority African American population.  The above act requires consultation with the descendant community as to how to the remains will be interred and how studies will be performed on the remains.  This is a clear injustice to the African American Community and blatant oversight by individuals who have observed the established of the African Burial Ground National Monument as a complete victory.  In fact the establishment of the monument is only a part of the continued effort that African Americans of the descendant communities for the ancestors must make to ensure that justice is served to those who died at the hand of “old brutal slavery”. The first step towards progress is to write letters to our members of congress asking them to draft legislation similar to that of the 1990s protecting the Indian Burial Grounds. The second step is receiving the endorsements of caucuses on Capitol Hill for the legislation. Those bodies could include but are not limited to the Congressional Black Caucus.  The third step in ensuring the success of the legislation is mobilizing students across the country with a genuine concern for the preservation of the ancestors of the African Diaspora. I will personally be taking on this task and I invite my colleagues to join me in creating this necessary piece of legislation which protects what Governor David Patterson once referred to as “our Ellis Island”.