B2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 , 2019
buried in the Congressional Cem-
etery and the Liberty and Free-
dom Lummi totem poles — dedi-
cated by the Lummi Nation after
the 9/11 attacks — wrap up the
tour. It also notes the Indigenous
Peoples March that was held on
the Mall in January.
“Indigenous people have been
here, continue to be here and as
you go through the stops in the
app, it progresses through time,
and that’s why I think there’s
pieces of both modern and his-
tory,” said Wendy Helgemo, direc-
tor of the GWU center.
In art scattered throughout the
Capitol, Native Americans are fre-
quently depicted as either subser-
vient to white colonizers and mis-
sionaries or as violent aggressors.
In the Rotunda, a frieze shows
Pocahontas saving Captain John
Smith from being clubbed to
death by violent Native Ameri-
cans. A relief carved into the sand-
stone wall above one of the Rotun-
da doors shows Daniel Boone be-
ing threatened by a Native Ameri-
can with a fierce expression and a
hatchet. A painting shows Chris-
topher Columbus and his crew
landing on a beach as Native
Americans hide behind trees
nearby, one bowing down.
The imagery “reinforces nega-
tive stereotypes of Native Ameri-
cans,” Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.)
told The Washington Post in a
statement. In January, Haaland
and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.)
were the first two Native Ameri-
can women elected to Congress.
“The guide to Indigenous DC is a
way that Native American stu-
dents are taking back the narra-
tive so that we can tell an accurate
history of this country.”
Gregory Smith, an attorney
who specializes in representing
tribes and tribal organizations,
said the images of Native Ameri-
cans in the Capitol are harmful,
but he uses them to inform peo-
ple.
“Education is the answer,”
Smith said. “When we educate
people, they move toward tribal
positions.”
Most Americans — 62 percent
— who live outside native lands do
not know any Native Americans,
according to a report issued in
June 2018 by the nonprofit First
Nations Development Institute.
“Here we are in contemporary
society, and Native Americans re-
main invisible,” Helgemo said.
“We want to make them visible
here in D.C. and other places.”
Rule, an enrolled citizen in the
NATIVE FROM B1 Chickasaw Nation, said the idea
for the app came after conversa-
tions with high school and college
students learning about native
history.
“I really wanted our students to
know that when they come here
... they’re following in the steps
of their ancestors, by coming
here, working on behalf of indig-
enous people, being representa-
tive of their people in the federal
government, in the Capitol, in
advocacy offices,” she said.
Rule consulted with tribal com-
munity members on the app as
she researched potential places
and wrote the site descriptions.
From the concept to the fin-
ished product, the app took about
a year and a half to create, Hel-
gemo said. Rule said it’s still
evolving, and she’s looking for-
ward to expanding it by adding
new tours and exploring partner-
ships with tribes and other or-
ganizations.
If D.C. tourists look closely,
they’ll see the legacy of Native
Americans all over the Capitol. In
the exhibition hall, several statues
represent Kamehameha I, Ha-
waii’s first king; Po’pay, who led
the Indian Pueblo Revolt; and
Sakakawea, who’s better known
as Sacagawea and famous for
helping the explorers Lewis and
Clark.
Atop the Capitol building, the
bronze Statue of Freedom de-
signed by Thomas Crawford and
completed in 1863 wears a crested
Roman helmet, with an eagle’s
head and feathers. It was “sug-
gested by the costume of our Indi-
an Tribes,” Crawford wrote, ac-
cording to the Architect of the
Capitol, the office in charge of
maintaining the buildings and
grounds of the campus.
The American Indian Alaska
Native Tourism Association,
which partners with GWU, con-
sulted on the app. The associa-
tion’s executive director, Sherry L.
Rupert, said she visits Washing-
ton on a regular basis, as other
tribal members do.
“When you go to these metro-
politan areas, you don’t often
think about the history of that
place and how native people are
connected to those places and, in
fact, in many places are their
indigenous homelands,” Rupert
said. “To have this app I think is
really important. Now when I go
to D.C., I’m able to visit these
different places in D.C. and learn
about the people that were there
and have made history there —
[it] makes me proud.”
[email protected]
Native American history abounds in the nation’s capital
and that’s a person who’s a bully
to staff and to people below them.
I think that’s cowardly.”
Cheh, who voted against re-
moving Price from the board in
July, said she is now convinced he
should step down and may rein-
troduce a resolution to force him
off the board in September, when
the council returns from its sum-
mer recess.
Cheh said there is “growing
disquiet” among council mem-
bers about Price remaining on
the Metro board.
Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who
also voted against removing Price
in July, said this week he was
“deeply concerned with his ac-
tions on the ethics committee,
and I question how much he’s
representing the District’s inter-
ests at this point.”
A spokeswoman for D.C. Coun-
cil Chairman Phil Mendelson (D)
said he plans to discuss Price’s
future with the mayor next week,
when Mendelson returns from
vacation.
Bowser dismissed the docu-
ments showing that Price joined
Evans in pressuring the Metro
lawyer.
“I can’t really comment on if a
phone call is pressuring some-
body,” Bowser told reporters
Wednesday. “All [Metro] board
members can get access to infor-
mation, so I don’t think there’s
any allegation against Corbett
Price other than making a phone
call.”
Asked if she still had confi-
dence in Price, Bowser didn’t
answer directly but said, “What’s
very important to me is our inter-
ests [are] protected on that
board.”
Saying it was “also important
PRICE FROM B1 that Metro get its ethical house in
order,” she noted that the council
has acted to investigate Evans,
“and that’s what has my support.”
In a phone interview, Price
disputed some of the descrip-
tions of his conduct by Metro
officials and in the investigative
documents and said his critics
were involved in a “rush to judg-
ment.”
He said comments like those
from Cheh, in whose ward he
resides, would deter qualified
people such as himself from tak-
ing on civic roles.
“How many people in her ward
actively participate in boards and
commissions, actively giving
back to the city? I guarantee there
are very few. It’s a thankless job.
It’s very time-consuming,” Price
said. “I’m a volunteer. I’m serving
out of civic responsibility. I can
understand why we cannot get
corporate leaders to serve on
these boards of the city because
of this foolishness and nonsense.”
Along with his family mem-
bers and companies, Price donat-
ed more than $35,000 to the
mayor’s 2014 campaign and inau-
gural committee, campaign fi-
nance records show.
Between 2016 and 2018, a con-
sulting firm owned by Price’s wife
received $300,000 per month to
manage United Medical Center,
the District’s struggling public
hospital. The council voted not to
extend the contract after Post
stories on ongoing financial
problems and fatal lapses in pa-
tient care at the facility.
Evans, the District’s longest-
serving elected official, is the
subject of a federal investigation
into his relationships with vari-
ous businesses. In March, The
Post reported that Evans circulat-
ed business proposals to local law
firms, offering to use his connec-
tions and influence to benefit the
firms’ clients.
That revelation spurred Metro
to launch an ethics investigation.An outside law firm hired by the
agency found that Evans repeat-
edly used his position as the
board’s chairman to try to benefita parking company that was se-
cretly paying $50,000 per year to
a consulting firm he owns.
The board’s ethics committee
ultimately decided that Evans
committed a single violation of
an ethics code by failing to dis-
close a conflict of interest. How-
ever, Price — a member of the
committee — helped Evans block
the panel’s conclusions from be-
ing made public, or even divulged
to the full Metro board, according
to confidential agency docu-
ments and interviews.
Evans and Price were de-
scribed as repeatedly phoning
and pressuring Metro General
Counsel Patricia Y. Lee at the
time. Evans was also described as
threatening the jobs of Lee and
corporate board secretary Jenni-
fer Green Ellison. Evans’s lawyer
disputed that he did so.
Evans did not return calls
Wednesday.
The Metro documents include
handwritten notes from then-ethics committee Chairman Clar-
ence C. Crawford and Metro Sen-
ior Vice President Lynn M. Bow-
ersox describing Evans and Price
as threatening to skip a meeting
of the full Metro board, thus
denying the board a quorum to
review the ethics committee’s
findings.
Price denied the allegation. “I
would not threaten to deny a
quorum for the board,” he said,
noting that the District has two
alternate members who can fill
in. “If I’m not available, there are
two additional alternates.”
Price faulted Crawford for
sharing information with Bower-
sox about his positions regarding
the board meetings. “Crawford
lacked sophistication and com-
petency in terms of his role as
chair of the ethics committee,” he
said.
Price also disputed the ac-
counts that he behaved rudely
toward Lee.
“I did not harass Patty Lee,” he
said. “I never yelled at her.... I
called [her] for clarification.”
An emergency resolution to
quickly remove Price from the
Metro board would require nine
votes on the 13-member council.
In addition to Cheh, the four
council members who voted in
July to oust Price — Elissa Silver-
man (I-At Large), Brianne K. Na-
deau (D-Ward 1), Robert C. White
Jr. (D-At Large) and David Grosso
(I-At Large) said this week that
they still favor his removal.
Council members Vincent C.
Gray (D-Ward 7), Anita Bonds
(D-At Large) and Kenyan R.
McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who voted
against his removal, did not im-
mediately respond to requests for
comment.
Council member Brandon T.
Todd (D-Ward 4), who also votednot to remove Price, said he
would need to review a Post
article from last week about ef-
forts to block disclosure of the
Metro ethics investigation before
commenting.
Council member Trayon White
Sr. (D-Ward 8), who was absent at
the time of the July vote, did not
immediately respond to requests
for comment.
The ethics committee’s deci-
sion in May to keep secret the
results of its inquiry has drawn
criticism not only of Price but
also of panel member David
Horner, who represents the fed-
eral government on the Metro
board. He joined Price in favoring
confidentiality.
Nearly 300 people have signed
a petition on the pro-transit web-
site Greater Greater Washington
calling for resignations of Price
and Horner.
But Horner seems to have be-
haved differently than Price in
key respects. He was the first
ethics committee member to
publicly back Crawford’s account
that the panel found Evans had
committed a violation, at a time
when Evans and Price were say-
ing the opposite. Horner also has
not been alleged to have pres-
sured Metro staff.
Horner has said he opposed
public disclosure of the commit-
tee’s decisions because he was
dissatisfied with its procedures,
especially the lack of a standard
to judge what evidence was suffi-
cient to prove Evans had violated
the ethics code. Given those limi-
tations, Horner told a Metro
board meeting June 27, it was
“important to err on the side of
fairness and caution.”
[email protected]Perry Stein contributed to this report.Pressure grows on Metro board member Price over allegations in Evans probe
PHOTOS BY BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POSTTOP: Wendy Helgemo, head of
the AT&T Center for Indigenous
Politics and Policy, explores
Congressional Cemetery last
month. “Here we are in
contemporary society, and
Native Americans remain
invisible,” said Helgemo, above.
“We want to make them
visible.” RIGHT: Sculptures of
Kicking Bear, a Lakota chief
who fought in the Battle of
Little Big Horn, line the
Dumbarton Bridge.ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Corbett Price, a voting Metro board representative for the District,
faces pressure to resign after allegations that he took steps to
conceal an ethics violation by Jack Evans, a former board member.“There’s one thing I
really dislike, and that’s
a person who’s a bully
to staff and to people
below them. I think
that’s cowardly.”
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh
(D-Ward 3), on allegations against
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