Native American leaders have pleaded with France to “look beyond short-term profit” and “do what is right in the eyes of humanity” by halting an auction of hundreds of objects sacred to their spiritual beliefs, reports The Guardian.
The artifacts scheduled to go up for bidding in Paris at the Eve auction house next week include a Plains war shirt made with hair from human scalps and a rare ceremonial shield. They are expected to fetch tens of thousands of euros.
Native Americans contend that whereas wealthy European buyers merely see something exotic and beautiful to adorn their walls, to them the objects are imbued with life.
“When these objects have been created for ceremonies within our community, a spirit goes into them,” Bradley Marshall, of the Hoopa Valley tribal council of California, told a press conference on Tuesday. “When we create the objects, we’re in prayer, we’re breathing life into the object. And so these objects are not just a mere object in some fancy collection. These objects are living beings to us. These objects are part of our family; these objects are part of who we are as a people; these objects have a sacred purpose within our community.
“At the auction coming up on Monday is one of these objects. We’re hopeful that somehow, some day, that member of our community, that member of our family, will be able to return home to us and continue its lifespan within our community. The auctions that take place around the world are deplorable. It harkens to me of the slave auctions that took place so long ago that we thought they were past.”
Since 2013, such auctions have been a diplomatic wrinkle between the US and France, where US laws prohibiting the sale of Native American ceremonial items hold no weight.
Ahead of the latest sale in Paris, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian held an “emergency meeting” on Tuesday with at least two tribes, the State Department and Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Steve Pearce, a US Republican representative from New Mexico who has proposed a congressional resolution urging federal agencies to seek the items’ return, was also present.