NY Reconsiders Capitol Artwork That Offends Native Americans

At an informal meeting last summer at the Executive Mansion in Albany, N.Y., Governor Kathy Hochul shared an anecdote about making an unpleasant discovery there not long after moving in: a painting depicting the wedding of Pocahontas.

The governor thought Pocahontas looked young and scared and had the painting removed. In its place was what she considered a more tasteful representation of the indigenous people in Niagara Falls.

But she was undoubtedly aware of a far more incendiary art display just outside her executive office in the State Capitol: a centuries-old mural depicting French explorer Samuel Champlain's victory in battle, with an accompanying caption: “Champlain Killing First Indian.”

No, Mrs. Hochul replied. She and her top lawyer, Liz Fine, said they were not familiar with that artwork in the governor's reception room, known as the War Room because of its many battle images. Ms Fine said the matter would be investigated.

Last week, the governor formalized the investigation. In her list of policy proposals in her annual State of the State message, Ms. Hochul pledged to conduct a comprehensive investigation into all “artistic representations of Indigenous peoples in the Capitol” and come up with a plan that has yet to be fully defined. to deal with.

“The New York State Capitol is for the people,” Ms. Hochul said in a written statement. “Everyone should feel welcome in the hallowed halls.”

The push to reconsider the paintings comes in a broader era of reconsideration of — and often reconciliation with — America's treatment of non-white people.

In the racial unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by police officers, several institutions faced questions about statues glorifying Confederate leaders and bloodthirsty explorers.

The village of Whitesboro, New York, made national news in 2017 when it finally decided to change its seal, which showed a white man with his hands around a native man's neck during a wrestling match. The state of Minnesota in 2023 has redesigned its flagwhich seemed to celebrate Native Americans being driven off their land.

Advocates have long protested artwork in the United States Capitol that depicts indigenous people fighting, shrinking, dying and dead. One sculpture, depicting a settler dominating a Native American, was deemed so offensive in 1939 that lawmakers called for it.ground into dust.” Still, it remained on display until 1958, when it was moved to storage.

In the New York Statehouse, the face of Christopher Columbus, reviled by many Native Americans for his brutality toward their ancestors, is etched into the red sandstone of the Million Dollar Staircase.

And on the east side of the Capitol stands a statue of a U.S. Army general, Philip Sheridan, who amassed a record of barbarism against tribes west of the Mississippi and is widely credited with coining the phrase, “the only good Indian is a dead man. Indonesian.”

“Unfortunately, offensive images and distasteful representations of people groups in the art adorning the Capitol can alienate visitors,” Ms. Hochul's staff wrote in the 2024 State of the State briefing book.

The report noted that Indigenous people in particular are often depicted in ways that “reflect harmful racial stereotypes and glorify violence against Indigenous people.”

The policy brief does not specifically mention the War Room, but examples of it are among the most disturbing.

Champlain is shown in hand-to-hand combat with a muscular, unnamed Native. In 1609, Champlain and a group of Native people he was traveling with encountered a group of Native people belonging to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy — also known as Iroquois, a term some now consider offensive — near the area that is now Fort Ticonderoga is.

A battle ensued and Champlain killed two of the group's leaders, sparking a larger war between the Confederacy and the French.

“They had guns. They came across a hunting party. They shot them,” said Oren Lyons, a Faithkeeper with the Onondaga Nation, part of the same Haudenosaunee confederacy. “Our people had a bow and arrow.”

The depiction of indigenous people – such as the fearsome warrior on the War Room ceiling – was not just an inaccuracy that could be consigned to the past, Mr Lyons said.

“They always call the Haudenosaunee – the Iroquois – fierce, fierce warriors and fierce warriors – and our mission has always been peace,” he said. This statue had a purpose then and it has a purpose now, he said, adding: “To put it bluntly, you really can't take a country away from a good guy.”

Ms. Hochul, like Governor Andrew Cuomo before her, has had a rocky relationship with indigenous groups. She clashed with the Seneca Nation in Western New York over disputed gambling revenues that she ultimately used to pay for the Buffalo Bills' new stadium.

Several vetoes of pro-Indigenous bills, including one a few weeks ago that cited racist court rulings from the early 20th century as part of the justification for denying state recognition to the Montaukett Indian Nation of Long Island, have also threw indigenous groups and their legislative supporters into turmoil. .

But Ms. Hochul also signed sweeping protections for ancient Indigenous graves into law last year and elevated Indigenous issues into her own office with the appointment of Elizabeth Rule, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, as deputy secretary of First Nations. Ms. Hochul also became the first governor in at least 50 years to visit the home territory of the Onondaga Nation.

In addition to confronting the offensive art, Ms. Hochul pledges this year to improve access to and financing of dental care for Indigenous peoples and to correct historical injustices inflicted on Indigenous children, including in New York boarding schools, by promoting strategies to the objectives of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

“Since taking office, I have worked to strengthen nation-to-nation ties between New York State and its indigenous peoples, and I will continue these efforts for years to come,” said Ms. Hochul.

Ms. Hochul's policy initiative includes plans to invite representatives from New York's nine recognized tribes to provide input and advice, although the governor would make the final decision on what to do with offensive art.

A spokesperson said possible solutions include providing additional materials such as brochures or placards that would help contextualize existing artwork, as well as adding Indigenous artwork to spaces in the Capitol.

Nowhere does the proposal mention the possible removal of paintings or statues. Still, at least one New York tribal chief, Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Nation on Long Island, is in favor of getting rid of it.

“I think it should be removed,” he said. “This is just a slap in the face.”

Robert Odawi Porter, former president of the Seneca Nation of Indians, said he would prefer to preserve the mural and use it as a “teachable moment” by including some sort of explanation for visitors to the Capitol. He recalled the many times he waited in the hall outside the governor's office to discuss often controversial issues between the state and his tribe.

He said the mural gave him the energy to advocate more fiercely for his people, who belong to the same confederacy as the one most likely depicted in the painting.

“It was always going to be motivating because I said this is the only real thing in the building,” Mr Porter said. “It's how they think about us.”