Indian employees, “May you prosper, grow, advo-
cate, get under people’s skins.”
September 16
The Native Sun Symphony Orchestra makes
its premiere performance.
Conceived four years earlier by Mescalero Apache
José Cordero, the Native Sun Symphony Orchestra
performs its first concert at Connecticut College in
New London. The concert presents original works
by four American Indian composers—Louis Bal-
lard, Brent Michael Davids, Jerod Tate, and David
Yeagley. Orchestra members include more than 70
musicians and composers from 65 tribes.
September 25
The U.S. government gives Kennewick Man
to five northwestern tribes.
After four years of dispute, the Department of the
Interior agrees to turn over Kennewick Man, a 9,300-
year-old skeleton, to five tribes in the Northwest.
The Indians claim Kennewick Man as an ancestor
and wish to bury him by tribal rites. Since the skel-
eton was discovered (see entry for JULY 19, 1996),
the tribes have been embroiled in a battle with scien-
tists intent on studying it. The government’s decision
prompts eight anthropologists to file a lawsuit in fed-
eral court seeking continued access to the bones.
October
The Mescalero Apache and Comanche go to
court for “Geronimo’s headdress.”
Two tribes—the Mescalero Apache and the Co-
manche—file suit to obtain a 19th-century
headdress that, according to legend, was last worn
by the Apache war chief Geronimo (see entry for
OCTOBER 1881). In 1999, the FBI confiscated the
headdress and arrested its non-Indian owner for il-
legally trafficking in eagle feathers after he tried to
sell the artifact over the Internet. The Mescalero
claim that, as one of Geronimo’s possessions, the
headdress belongs in their museum. The Comanche
counter that they should have the headdress because
its style marks it as a Comanche, not an Apache,
war bonnet. The Department of the Interior plans
to display the headdress in one of its museums until
either the Mescalero or the Comanche can prove
their claims of ownership.The Yakama’s alcohol ban is challenged
in court.
The state of Washington files suit against the Yakama
Nation to force the tribe to lift a recent ban on al-
cohol sales. The ban was instituted by tribal leaders
alarmed at the high rates of alcohol-related accidents
and fetal alcohol syndrome on the Yakama’s reser-
vation in eastern Washington. The state maintains
that, despite the Yakama’s sovereignty, the tribe does
not have the right to impose the ban on the 20,000
nontribal members living within reservation bor-
ders. The lawsuit is supported by owners of taverns
and liquor stores on the reservation, most of whom
are non-Indians. (See entry for DECEMBER 2000.)October 7Indians protest Denver’s Columbus Day
parade.
More than 140 Indian and Hispanic activists are
arrested in Denver, Colorado, during a parade to
honor Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (see
entry for OCTOBER 12, 1492). As part of their non-
violent protest, they pour a line of red paint across
the parade path to symbolize the blood shed by In-
dians at the hands of the first Europeans in North
America. To placate the activists, the city had agreed
to publicize the event only as a celebration of Italian
pride, but at the last minute the city reneged on its
promise by designating it a Columbus Day parade.October 10Spokane school puts an end to a
dramatization of George Custer’s death.
Following discussions with Indian leaders, offi-
cials at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane,
Washington, agree to abandon a show dramatiz-