The answer matters to David Andrews, a Paiute who believes his ancestors' history has been underplayed by the National Park Service.
Yosemite National Park's historical displays mention both Indian groups as having a presence in the glacially carved valley. But the park has generally given the Miwok more prominence.
Andrews believes that history needs to be rewritten. He has led a two-year effort to persuade the park to give the Paiutes a more prominent role in displays chronicling the Valley's earliest inhabitants.
Writerfellahere --
ReplyDeleteMaybe they were the long-lost Yosemite Sam-inoles?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Maybe Yosemite National Park needed an "Indian" group to OK to solve their NAGPRA "problems" so they got their current Indian employees to make-up a tribe to let them dig up the park.
ReplyDeleteThe application for the Southern Sierra Miwuk membership states you cannot belong to any federally recongized tribe.
No ask yourself this question why would the park service need to go into a 15 year agreement with a bunch of people who are NOT federal recognized Indians under the law?
Why would the park service want to build a two million dollar Indian Center and devote it to the Miwok scouts and guides descendents who helped the white militia capture the original Yosemite Indians who were Paiutes?
The Park Service actually pays the group of non-Indians over 87,000 taxpayer dollars for 'tasks'.
Meanwhile they have taken the story of Chief Tenaya, the original chief of Yosemite out the story of Yosemite. They have santanized his story and erased his story completely out of the Park in favor for the 'myth' of the Yosemite Miwoks.
Today Yosemite NPS uses photos of Paiute people when fabricating the story of the Yosemite Miwoks.
That is why Paiutes are upset.
DocBrocSux