State officials in California are preparing to build a monument to the state’s Native American tribes. Officials on Monday broke ground on a statue to honor the late William Franklin Sr., a well-known member of the Miwok Indians. Franklin’s statue will replace a statue of Father Junipero Serra, a Roman Catholic priest who worked to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Protesters tore down the Serra statue in the summer of 2020. They viewed him as a colonialist who worked to destroy Native American tribes and culture. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law last year to replace the Serra statue with a monument for Native Americans.
An Alleged Native American scalp seized from an auction house that specialized in Confederate and Nazi memorabilia….Authorities received an anonymous tip regarding an object listed for sale on the auction house’s website and described as a Mescalero Apache scalp. An American auction house that specialises in militaria was raided earlier this year by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly offering a Native American scalp for sale on its website. Poulin Antiques and Auctions in Fairfield, Maine, described the lot as a “Mescalero Apache scalp” obtained from a person killed at an unknown date in Johnson’s Run, Texas, and obtained by a third party in 1899. The sale and ownership of Native American human remains is prohibited under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act also called (NAGPRA)…