![]() ![]() “The only reason I took it out of the sale yesterday is to satisfy these crazies,” he said, adding that he wasn’t even sure of the skull’s authenticity.Ĭavalier-Keck said she only found out about the auction because a friend who’s an archaeologist in Mebane, Danny Gregory, alerted her. However, in a comment to The News & Observer, gallery owner Jon Lambert claimed protesters were “trying to get attention.” The Mebane Antique Auction Gallery did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment Wednesday. “That is a very sacred item and no one should be touching it and definitely not wearing it.” “I just cannot imagine someone having that spiritual item in their house or then even trying to …wear it,” Cavalier-Keck said. Sometimes, during the celebrations, the person wearing the attire would faint and die, and the regalia would usually be buried with the person or passed to other family members.) (Cavalier-Keck’s husband, Jason Keck of Creole Choctaw Louisiana descent, told The Daily Beast that the regalia was worn in spiritual celebrations during a time when many Native Americans in the West were forced into assimilation. ![]() Though Cavalier-Keck’s mission was to stop the sale of the skull, she ended up winning the bid-$220-on Lakota Nation Ghost Dance regalia to prevent it from being culturally appropriated. Cavalier-Keck said there was artwork of an enslaved man, a Jim Crow-caricature figurine of a Black woman, Indigenous children’s moccasins, and alleged photos of Native American code-talkers. The skull was not the only controversial item up for sale. “The original owner, to my understanding, wants to do what’s right with the remains and give them to the tribe it belongs to,” she said. Cavalier-Keck told The Daily Beast the owner contacted the auction house because they were trying to downsize their estate, but they were open to returning the skull to its original owners after learning activists were at the sale. She said she spoke to a representative for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to assist on what to do with the skull and how to get it back to its proper owners.Īccording to The News & Observer, the owner of the skull, who now lives in North Carolina, purchased it in Canada during the 1960s. And so we wanted the remains to be covered to just show respect and dignity… Even though this is another nation, this is our relatives,” Cavalier-Keck said of Indigenous Canadians. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cavalier-Keck said the item, which was sitting in a glass case without any cover to shield it from the public, was promptly removed and given to her so she could return it to tribal members in Canada, where the skull possibly originated. Then, in the midst of the auctioneer shooting off other bids, the owner of the auction house suddenly announced to the room that the skull was no longer for sale, The News & Observer reported. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. The attorney for a local tribe also contacted the auction house urging them to stop the sale. The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology was contacted with concerns days beforehand, The News & Observer reported, and Indigenous tribes and advocacy groups piled into the gallery on the day of the auction. Protests rained down on the auction house before the event even began. Like, would you want somebody selling your ancestors’ bones?” she said in a video during an early morning drive to the auction house. “I just don’t know where the humanity of this person is that owns this business to be selling bones of people. On Saturday, Cavalier-Keck uploaded more videos detailing her urgent mission to stop the sale of the skull. (Some experts disputed that interpretation of the laws.) She said she wasn’t sure of the exact origins of the skull, but said it appeared to be that of a little girl and was part of an estate sale.Ī spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office in Orange County told The News & Observer that they looked into the matter before Saturday after being contacted by state officials who had got wind of the sale, but they determined that the skull was too old to have violated recent laws barring the extraction, sale, or purchase of Native American remains. “I think it’s disgusting that this owner of this art auction house is selling off bones of a Native American person,” Cavalier-Keck continued. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |