 Hello, everyone. Good morning, good afternoon, depending on what part of the country you're in. Welcome to the supporting descendants who are saving their historic places session at Pass Forward 2022. My name is Omar Eton Martinez. I'm the Senior Vice President for Historic Sites here at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And before we launch into everything, I just wanted to do a quick introduction of our three panelists. We have Chief Ben Barnes, who is the Chief of the Shawnee Tribe. He'll be talking to us about his descendant preservation work around the story of the Indian boarding schools and the impact of all those things on his people as well. We're going to talk to Yamona Pierce, who is the founder of the Hamilton Hood Foundation, who has done some research on her denialogy and traced her descent to discover that she's connected to the folks who are laid at rest at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. So she'll talk to her about her story as a descendant and as a preservationist. And then lastly, we'll have Nancy Ukai, who is a writer and researcher and founding member of the Wakasa Memorial Committee. And she'll be telling the story of the Japanese incarceration and the preservation of the Wakasa Monument. And so we'll talk about all those three stories here today. With my opening remarks, I just wanted to allow us to set the tone a little bit here. I think that we understand fully the importance of descendants and the agency that they should have in telling the full American story and all of our sites. Not just our trust sites, but all of the sites across the country and arguably globally. There's been a phrase that's been uttered in different contexts over the years, but I like to evoke today and that's nothing about us without us. And it's a phrase that's borrowed from the activists who seek justice for our disabled or differently abled brothers and sisters, but it's absolutely a tenant that all of us who seek to tell the full American story should stand on. If we look at the rubric that was created back in 2018 by the James Madison Montpelier historic site with the funding of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which is part of the National Trust. There's a rubric called interpreting slavery. This most fundamental form when we talk about the definition of a descendant community is a group of people whose ancestors endured trauma. And certainly there was trauma and enslavement and incarceration and in these Indian boarding schools that we'll learn about today. We can talk about these in a way that transcend the limited definition of a genealogical connection because we know that they also can include ancestors who were not only enslaved, incarcerated or forcibly removed from a particular site or region, but also the families or community ties that are connected to those sites. So a descendant community can also welcome those who feel connected to the work that that institution is doing, whether or not they know of a genealogical connection. So it's important for us to kind of be rooted in what a descendant is, what a descendant community is, and how these three wonderful activist preservationists have really leaned into their work today. And so without further ado, I'm going to ask Chief Barnes to start his opening presentation. Thank you, Barnes. Good day. Good morning. I am Ben Barnes. I'm Chief of the Shawnee Tribe. And today I greet you from Sacramento, California, where I'm attending the National Congress of American Indians. 574 nations from around the United States gather each every year to talk about our issues. And I'm here to give testimony about boarding schools and the consequences of the United States boarding schools policies. So it's very apropos that I greet you today from the National Congress of American Indians. The Shawnee Tribe occupied 26 states across the eastern half of the U.S. If you could go to the next slide, please. Our history spans the almost half a millennium from the historic era where Shawnee people encountered Hernando Soto in the American Southwest in 1540. After the passage of the American Civilization Act of 1819 and subsequently the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Shawnees began to find themselves moving westward. Ultimately arriving in northeast Kansas, near Kansas City, Kansas. The American Civilization Act sought to remove the Indian from Indian children and destroy our cultures and communities. And missionaries were deployed and funds were taken from the Shawnee 2000 acres were taken from Shawnee peoples. And money's were paid for the materials and the labor that ended up constructing what was to become Shawnee Indian manual labor school. Next slide, please. The Shawnee Tribe has collaborated with the state of Kansas as we survey the three remaining buildings that stands to come up with an action plan to repair these buildings. Foundations are currently seen in this picture. You can see that there's daylight coming through the roof. Those three buildings stand, they are the oldest buildings in Kansas, the exception of the Rookery at Fort Leavenworth. But only one of these three remaining buildings is open to the public. We believe that the investment with Shawnee, a significant investment of research on the site, how best to have a historic structure report, how to repair these sites with materials. We can get these buildings back to the standards that they need to be on. This site is a national landmark on the national registry. And if you could go to the next slide. Currently exhibits at the one building that's open to the public contain no content from Shawnee people or from the other indigenous children from other tribal nations that attended the school. What we hope to do is rehabilitate some of the exhibits as seen in this picture. This is from the earliest part of the 20th century. It's not even from the time this photo is not even from the area of Shawnee people attended the boarding school. We hope to have a full story told of what those children endured. We hope we would like to see interpretation exhibits created that look at the historical documents, the letters that were authored by the Shawnee. But as well as as Shawnee's neighbors at the Baptist Mission and the Quaker Mission, the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School was managed under contract by the United States with the Methodists to remove our children from our communities so that they might become quote American citizens. So next slide please. So we're hopeful that with our support, our resources, this research we've done thus far. We're hoping to help us to repair the remaining structures Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School, and that these buildings will be a monument, the testament of the survival of the Shawnee tribe, our languages, our culture, and our communities. Newea and Coach Chayet. Thank you. Back to you Omar. What an incredible narrative that we really have to lean on as Americans to understand the negative and horrible impact of these boarding schools having. And I look forward to learning some more so that we can continue to tell the full American story. Next up we have the Mona Pierce who's the founder the Hamilton Hood Foundation. Please come forth and tell us your story. Good afternoon. I am Yamona Pierce. I'm founder of the Hamilton Hood Foundation, and my presentation today will highlight the Remembrance Project, as well as my preservation journey at the historic Pierce Chapel African Cemetery located in Harris County, Midland, Georgia, and it is one of the oldest burial grounds of enslaved Africans in Harris County, Georgia. Next slide please. My decade began with my preservation journey began with two decades of genealogical research. This research allowed me to time travel to connect with my past people and places, and ultimately the discovery of Pierce Chapel African Cemetery, the final resting place of my third grade grandparents, and one of the oldest burial grounds of enslaved Africans in Harris County, Georgia. Next slide please. This is a street view of Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. Early in 2019, my family and I discovered Pierce Chapel African Cemetery again doing genealogy research and decided to travel to Georgia to pay our respects to retrace the footsteps of our ancestors. I grew up with a third cousin, my cousin Sarah who's 93 years old, and asked her if she would show us the location of Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. Well, she did. And when we arrived, as you can see, it doesn't have any clearly, it's not clearly defined where the cemetery ends or begins. There is no signage and it is hiding in plain sight. Would you please play the video. This video gives us a different perspective, an aerial view of Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. It shows two cemeteries, site by site of similar age. One that has been preserved, it has this history recorded and documented. The descendants have access to the cemetery and Pierce Chapel African Cemetery, of course, about six to paces from the other cemetery. With it history, not being documented, no signage and hiding in plain sight. The creek that you saw on the video is Flat Rock Creek. That creek was a baptism site at the border of Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. This slide shows history erasure at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. African American cemeteries are cultural heritage resources, and they are non renewable. Pierce Chapel African Cemetery has been impacted by the development of overhead power lines and cable lines. That being said, it is important that companies that serve communities coexist in these communities. That they integrate policies and practices within their companies that include cultural heritage perspectives. Next slide, please. This slide shows the archaeological burial site survey that was done at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. We've worked closely with an archaeological firm to do the survey and to identify the burial sites, to identify the cultural attributes and elements, as well as archaeological artifacts at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. The pink flags that you see on this slide identify the burial sites at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery, and according to the archaeologist, there are not less than 500 burial sites at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. Thus far, we have completed the archaeological burial site survey. We have had cadaver dogs come out to Pierce Chapel to further investigate sites that have been identified. We have completed ground penetrating radar to locate additional burial sites. We've also included LiDAR drone technology to identify areas that you simply can't see on a map and areas that may be of concern throughout our preservation project with the remembrance project. Next slide, please. We were successful in lobbying for the removal of the utilities power and broadband cable lines at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. The slide to my right, your right, actually shows what the open area where the lines were previously installed, what that area looks like now. Next slide, please. This slide shows a few of the headstones that can be clearly seen at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. There's a ledger stone to the left and a handcrafted slate box tomb on the right. Next slide, please. These pictures show what the landscape looks like at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery. It is a landscape of celebration and enslaved people in the United States held on to their traditional African culture in many ways through song, religion, soil cultivation, and even when laying family members to rest. These expressions of funerary art displayed on the screen can be traced back to the Asante peoples of West Africa and modern day Ghana. Their belief in death and afterlife has played a very important role in funerary rights and how a beloved family member is memorialized. We have the head of a hole in the upper left box. We have a white pottery vase in the upper right. There is an amethyst vase in the lower left corner of the screen as well as a white quartzite marker and an amethyst vase on the lower right hand side. Next slide, please. This is an extension of the traditional practices, West African practices. We have Periwinkle on the left hand side and Yuka on the right hand side of the screen. Next slide, please. Our preservation work at Pierce Chapel African Cemetery includes days of service where we engage descendants, the descendant community as well as the community at large, our community partners. The benefits of having this approach to preservation creates opportunities for us to connect more with the descendants and the broader community. It also helps us to connect more with our history in ways that we can educate the youth that come and participate with us. Our aims with the Remembrance Project at Pierce Chapel is to make this historic and culturally significant space more visible in the historic and cultural landscape of Harris County, Georgia, so that not only the descendants, but the broader community can come and learn more about the lived histories, the legacies of those that have been laid to rest at Pierce Chapel, and so many that have played a vital role in making the community what it is today. Thank you. Excellent presentation. Yamona, thank you so much for really laying out all the different things that you had to do to get it to where it is today. Anything from completing ground penetrating radar to lobbying for the removal of utilities. We appreciate your work and your sacrifice and we understand this is not for the faint of heart. But I know that our communities will be blessed as a result of your good and hard work. Next up we have Nancy Ukai. Please come forward and tell us your story. Thank you Omar. And thank you for these previous presentations about buried histories erased histories. I'm coming to you from Berkeley, California. Although my presentation today will be about an incarceration camp in Utah. And my parents, my mother lived near the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley and when she was a child they uncovered oloni artifacts, a mortar and pestle in the front yard. So I think our family has always been aware of the dispossession of peoples and that when we're on lands, in this case I'm on oloni land here. There are stories before that came before us. So today I'd like to talk about the Wacasa Memorial in Topaz Utah. I'm a founding member of the Wacasa Memorial Committee. It's a group of Japanese American survivors and descendants of a World War two prison camp in central Utah. The name of the campus Topaz and 12 of my relatives, including my parents and grandparents were incarcerated there for 12 for three years, living behind barbed wire, and under the armed watch of guard towers and this photograph here shows the barracks. It's in a camp that's south of Salt Lake City by two and a half hours. Next please. So in the spring of 1943, 125,000 Japanese immigrants who were not able to be naturalized by law and American citizens were rounded up from the West Coast and placed mostly in 10 remote concentration camps in the United States. My parents, as I just said, went to Utah and in the spring of 1943, just five months after entering an immigrant man named James Wacasa, who was walking his dog by the barbed wire fence was shot through the heart by a by a watchman. He died immediately parallel to the fence. But within hours, the government whitewash the story and said he was trying to escape. The next day, immigrant friends made a detailed map of the location of his death. And in this slide you can see that the watch tower is circled in red and the spot where Wacasa died. They even colored in they showed where the blood spot was is shown on this hot hand drawn map. There's 943 feet or 315 yards between the guard tower, and the place where Wacasa died. That's three football fields the government was a crack shot. So I found this diagram in the National Archives several years ago. Next please. The imprisoned people wanted to build a monument at the desk spot to Mr. Wacasa but they were denied by authorities, but they built one anyway. It was called impressive in according to government records within days the memorial however it was ordered demolished and government records say that no trace was left of it. In 2020 two archaeologists took the map which I had published on a website, and they went to Utah. They miraculously found the top of the Wacasa monument, peaking above the earth. The prisoners had not destroyed the memorial, it turns out, but they had buried it instead. That monument had laid buried for 78 years. And in this slide here, you can see the arrow pointing to the top of the monument. So here is the top sticking three inches above the ground, unnoticed for decades. A small group of us who had been following this. We're talking about it and there was shock, joy and the feeling that our ancestors had led this message of grief, outrage, resistance and remembrance for us. Because this was a World War II murder that our parents had talked about my mother used to talk about it at dinner time and I just remember how emotional she got and how angry she was that this elderly man he was 63 was walking his dog and killed. So after the discovery, a committee of experts from the National Park Service descendants, such as me and the local topaz museum board was formed was 14 member committee. And the topaz museum board had opened a museum about the camp several years before 16 miles away. The topaz camp by the way as a national historic landmark. So the archaeologists on this 14 member committee said, leave the monument in the ground. A lot of survey work has to be done. But nine months later, without telling Japanese American survivors or descendants or informing archaeologists, the topaz museum board unearth the monument. Next please. We used a forklift and a chain and descendants and survivors were only told after this terrible desecration had occurred. This photo was taken by the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, which actually the board had invited to attend a week earlier, even though they didn't tell us the descendants and survivors. In the photograph, you'll see a camera on the left hand side. And there's also a small one perched on the hole where that the monument was dug out from. And so our committee is now trying to view this, this video, which is two hours, apparently 30 minutes of digging hand digging around the, the stone and another 90 minutes of dragging it out of the hole. The inscription on the surface it might have been destroyed and certainly the archaeological evidence was permanently destroyed by the manner in which they pulled it out of the earth. So our committee of survivors and descendants immediately formed. We wrote a letter to the topaz museum board, which is illegal steward of the property, because they own it. We proposed six steps to move forward. The National Trust for Historic Preservation learned about our case through social media and has supported our advocacy. And we're, you know, we're laypeople were passionate about preserving our historic site, our historical artifacts, our cultural heritage and the stories, but we're not experts in archaeology and preservation. So the trust has been a tremendous ally in the face of resistance from the museum board to our committee request for collaboration. And it's also sessions like today where we can hear other stories and learn that these cases of erased history and an advocacy by survivors and descendants is so important. Next please. So this is the site one year after the removal of the monument. The circle shows where the monument was dragged out of the earth and the hole was filled with black backfill. It still remains in that condition today which is untouched and it's pretty traumatizing to go there this photograph was taken in July to see that nothing has been done. The X marks a spot where Mr. Mokasa would have died would died on his back. The photograph in the right hand upper right hand shows the monument. It's sitting on a construction pallet and a soiled piece of carpet, because that is what the forklift driver laid the monument on after it was pulled out of the earth. It's five feet tall, and it's 1000 pounds. And even the archaeologists who rediscovered the top were surprised at how large it was, which calls into question, how did these immigrant people place it where did they find it. The orientation of it. It was, because it was the way it was taken out a lot of these kinds of questions. We're not able to really know right now. The last picture on the bottom shows a ceremony that our committee held one year after the desecration. And what we did is, we tied hand folded paper flowers, each with the name of someone who died at the camp, 139 people. We tied them to the barbed wire fence, which is original from the guard tower to the point where Mr. Wokasa died. And we all walked retrace the steps, which symbolize the flight of the bullet, and also the walk of the archaeologists who rediscovered this monument. Next please. So we're now advocating for survivors and descendants to lead discussions about where the monument should finally be placed, and how to memorialize the site. There's just so much to talk about. And frankly, the museum board has claimed that their position as the stewards of the site gives them the privilege of making these decisions. And we as survivors and descendants obviously want to be at the table and lead these discussions. And this brings up the question of who tells history, what stories are told, how are they told and interpreted. So, as we think, we're still far away from talking about how the monument and the site will be memorialized. And luckily, because of our advocacy, we were able, we've been able to start discussions led by the Utah State Historic Preservation and attended by the National Park Service, the board, and survivors and descendants. We're going to be able to protect the monument over the winter by retrofitting a shed that will be placed over it, and also are discussing about how to preserve or at least protect the memorial site by laying a geotextile over it and laying sediment on top of it so that it won't face another winter of erosion. At the meantime, at the same time, we're also thinking about how we as survivors, descendants, and people who are interested in protecting the Civil Rights Monument, which is not just representing our camp that my parents went to but all the world were to And in fact, the buried histories that are lay under the ground in our country, how do we memorialize this site and Omar had suggested that we think about a quote to help us think about this. And I wanted to share this one. When you build a memorial, you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must repair the world around it and within it so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent and more whole. Thank you very much. Incredible story. Thank you so much for, you know, sharing your heart that way. And it really goes to show that, you know, what Marcus Godry said many years ago still holds true today that people without the knowledge of their past histories like a tree without roots. And so that's why it's so important the work that you three are doing is to reestablish those roots in a certain way and nurture them help them grow. We know that erasure is a tool of a white supremacy and other in a way that we have to combat it with evidence and with love and with perseverance and I just really grateful for all three of me and the presentations you gave. I'm going to launch into the next section of our session and begin asking some discussion questions but as a reminder to the attendees who are online please share your questions if you have not already in the chat box and will hopefully incorporate some of those questions as well. And so I'm going to go ahead and start us off with this first question I'll start with two barns. You know, again, I have a very much I'm very sensitive to the all things that deal with the ratio and so you know that's what inspires me to do this work but as a descendant to barns what motivates you when inspires you to protect historic places associated with their community history and culture. And why do you why do you bother to preserve these places. Well for myself I didn't start out wanting to be a chief the Shawnees or one and put up a office if there was a need in my community that need was language preservation. And my brother and I will always thought we always assumed there'd be elders that would handle teaching our language to our kids and our grandkids when I was thought to be available and one day we found ourselves in a position there was no they were they were gone. They went to the next world. And so my brother and myself said you know we're going to start teaching the tribes language and once we started teaching language we realized we didn't get here accidentally. It was it was there was a pogrom to remove the language from us that the erasure of our civilization who we were who they who we who we are self determination on becoming the people that we dream to be was taking taken from us. During the 19th, the 18th, 19th and even the 20th century, and then it was up to us to restore language. And so it's these boarding schools these places we this site that we have in Kansas City Kansas is a beautiful site on 12 acres. The original 2000 acres that's all it's left now is 12 acres for three buildings remain. And if you drive by it everything looks fine to start examining the buildings you see the foundations are crumbling. There's bad roofs. There's daylight coming through and you can actually see you can see the outside from the inside the attic and that's a terrible shape and we want the buildings to be monuments of survival. When we go to Washington DC or elsewhere we visit these monuments to pay homage to the things that people went through whether it's the Vietnam wall where it's the Lincoln Memorial for this place, the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School. It was a work in Shawnee children and it was at this place that we survived. It was at this place in spite of things done to us. We still have our language. We still have our culture. We still have our tradition and we're still a coherent people and community with multiple communities spanning 50 states. So I very much view that this place is a sacred as any monument. One of ours. It's a great story of resilience. I love it. Thank you for sharing that your Mona. What motivated you to do this work. Thank you for that question Omar. You know, my journey began with two decades of genealogy research, and I've always felt a great deal of kinship to my ancestors. Serving these historic and culturally significant places helps us to create a foundation to where we can document and interpret the lived histories, the experiences of our ancestors, ancestors, and to ensure that the preservation work authentically conveys those lived histories. Historic places such as Piers Chapel are a testament to the lives and our collective history and the protection of the landscape and artifacts are but one facet of the preservation. These sacred places give rise to the importance of our unique history and cultural traditions values and reflect the community that extends from our ancestors. Awesome. You know, it's a it's so it's such an important thing to really uplift the ancestors and show those connections and empowers us. And it really just is the first place I go to to combat a lot of the lies that you know we all grew up with in terms of some of the American exceptional stories that we were indoctrinated with in our in our in our school systems. But Nancy I'd like to hear from you as well like what drove you to this important work. Well, frankly, I had been researching the Topaz Museum opened in 2017. And I had been researching the death of Wacasa, which some historians when they reviewed the narrative that was going to go up, you know, on the walls of the museum said, Oh, his story wasn't adequately told. And I just was part of my childhood history, my memory of my mother becoming so upset and saying they didn't have to kill him. He was deaf. Well, it turns out that he wasn't deaf. And it was part of the distortion of his life and his death that I began to learn about in the National Archives when I uncovered documents saying that this monument had been built. But there's no trace left that he was fighting for the rights of the prisoners to get payment from unemployment in California, that he was an immigrant cook from Japan and he became a real person in other words. And when it turns out that this. So I wrote this article about the what I call the demolished monument in 2020. And that was when Confederate statues were being torn down. People were out in the streets, protesting the murder of George Floyd. And I thought here's a monument that once existed, but it doesn't anymore. It was too dangerous to exist. Who has the power to build monuments. Why was this monument destroyed. So when I posted the map on this website 50 objects that the National Park Service funds and that I'm working on to elevate the World War two stories the artifacts to work he all later went to the map and discovered the top. So that mobilized people and like, oh my gosh. And it just was a retraumatization when the board lifted it out the way they did without telling us so disrespectfully with construction machinery. And then the year has been has gone by, and without being able to be at the table to discuss how to handle it in the future and so we're still in this fight. And it's, it's, it's been pretty, pretty traumatizing. But also a way for people to connect and for us to connect here. So I'm so grateful for this opportunity. I'm glad you said that Nancy because for me, what made this session so powerful was the fact that we were able to talk about these stories from the perspective of different demographics. Sometimes we lean in on one affinity over another for some natural reasons. I think there's a lot of power in learning about each other struggles. Right. I mean, you guys have all different and all different types of barriers and struggles and doing the preservation work you're doing and I'm hoping that we can start building coalition around this work so we can really support each other and have some season sustainable change within our lifetime would be great. I'm going to go to the chat. And for the attendees if you're wondering I'm not exactly going in order I'm kind of grabbing the different questions that I see that I think are really, really pertinent. I'm going to read what Lillian Wynard said. She wrote, How do we incorporate these important stories into school curriculum. I want to ask for historic preservation advocate within the Department of Education and resources for partnering with state education departments. So she knows she understands and acknowledges the long process to change in that curriculum that I want to learn how to make that impact so that future generations learn understand on and discuss the truth of our country. So I want to ask you three. And this time I'll start with your Mona. How do you think we can incorporate these important stories into school curriculum. That's a good question, especially given what's taking place around the country and certain states with the denial and dismissal of certain parts of our history. I think we can continue to work alongside historic preservationists to navigate these local state and federal agencies to ensure that these stories do not go untold. Thank you for that. What do you think about it Nancy. I think we first of all have to collect the facts about the history and and from there. Hopefully put it into curriculums in schools being aware of the standards and being aware that legislatures in different states kind of piecemeal. Even though some are trying to suppress what they call, you know, critical race theory and they're misrepresenting it. Illinois for example recently passed legislation to mandate Asian American history. So that's a positive move. That is a positive move. What do you think, Ben? What we have done is we've worked with our allies at the National Indian Education Office as well as the White House's liaison with Native education. But I really think it's important to instill and allow for descendant communities to have occupy these sites in these places so that we tell the stories. But also what we've done is take that message on the road. You know, go into places like Shawnee Mission High School and give presentations about our history in the area. Because for a lot of people they think this is a pretty dog park and they don't even understand that this was a reeducation center. The same kind of reeducation center that we're talking about, Uighurs in China, that happened here in the United States. So it's important that we invest in opportunities for descendant communities to be part of the storytelling process. You know, you mentioned at the very beginning, nothing about us without us. Absolutely, absolutely. And I would say, in my experience, I've been with the National Trust for a few months now. So I'm not, I don't have a lot of specific examples with the trust doing that yet, but I'm sure some of my colleagues who are helping me here with this session will pop some examples in the chat. But I will tell you that I know in other agencies that I work with, what we've done was we work with local social study standards. And usually in state level tests, you have to, you have to do this document based questions and they have to be able to use their critical thinking skills to discern their answers based on the questions and the Socratic piece, which is usually a picture of an historic site or some type of object or maybe a quote from someone. So I think if there's ways to get your site, your objects, your narratives, even with quotes as Socratic pieces of these document based questions, then you'll be able to really start to see some impact and how you can start changing curriculum because if it's a required test that means they have to learn it in order to pass and get a degree. Okay, so I think we have a specific question here for your Mona. Can you talk more about the use of cadaver dogs at the Pierce Chapel African cemetery site. Did you partner with the local police department. Thank you that's a very good question so we did not partner with the local police department, however the organization that we use the owner work with the Georgia Bureau of investigations for I think over 25 years and she handled the cadaver dogs within that organization. We resourced this organization because the archaeological firm that we use indicated that there were burials that needed or sites that needed further investigation and we should use all resources available, including cadaver dogs. The cadaver dogs came out and they searched for evaluated the inside and outside parameters at Pierce Chapel African cemetery and they did identify positive findings. The same areas that were identified by the archaeologists. The cadaver dogs can up sent with they identified the sites is that they picked up a scent and that sent is only unique to a burial that has not been preserved and so right and so with that, once they identified the location picked up the cement those areas were put into a GPS coordinate and included on a map for Pierce Chapel African cemetery. Thank you. Thank you. Well, that's that's incredible for those of you who are in that mode preserving your sites. You know this is a decent great detailed information for you to hopefully use on your sites. If we need something like that. I wanted to read a comment that was directed to Nancy from Emily Lawson said thank you so much for your presentation good work. My Japanese American mother-in-law her siblings and parents were incarcerated at Minidoka and Crystal City. They were separated from their father who was a minister at the Seattle that's when Buddhist temple. So he's going to share that with you. And can I just mention following on this piece about the cadaver dogs. An example of something that we descendants are and survivors are learning about which is that Mr. Wachosa was cremated and Ogden Utah after the funeral. And no one knows what happens to his happen to his ashes. And one speculation was, could one of the people who buried the monument thrown in some of the cremains. And archaeologists said there are technologies which allow you to detect that so it wouldn't be cadaver dogs because in your bonus cases is, you know, a different case of cremains. But these are the kinds of things that preservationists are helping us with which we're so grateful for. That's amazing. I mean, it's amazing how science can help us with with this very much deeply humanity driven project is to go to show you that these disciplines that we've always been taught are not separate. They're intertwined, especially when it comes to people of color I find. Let's start this question off with chief Barnes. How do you recommend organizations and people who are not made up of descendants or survivors to best service allies to those local communities how best can we approach these difficult topics without seeming in genuine. Well as Nancy and Yamona was just visiting about cadavers I was thinking about the nature of this very meeting with National Trust, given a platform, given a panel creating opportunities. And Yamona and Nancy talk about cadaver dogs as we, Shawnee Travis, are beginning our search for our kids. You know, now, you know, this technique of cadaver dogs road is new to us we haven't heard it but meanwhile we're working with scientists as archaeologists through section one of six of the Historic Preservation Act and with the National Park Service and visiting with them about how are we going to do GPR magnetometry search for bodies. And so Yamona and I connected and we talked about her search and our search. And whether it's Nancy story moment story or my story. Our community stories. This is really all the same story really right I mean we're all we're just we're we're trying to reclaim a piece of our pages of our history and say no, we need to be the ones to investigate and interrogate these documents these stories and these pages of history. We need to be included in discussions. We need to be included in your research designs and as you said Omar, whatever we're talking about these issues these are not they don't live in silos they're interdisciplinary. So creating an opportunity for people to come together and have conversations. I think there's some synergies and power from that that's not really that's not there. So just platforming people giving their megaphone opportunity speak I think that's very powerful. I think I think thank you for that team I think I will tell you that this session serves as anything this serves as a platform or springboard for building coalition around this movement that we win. So let's let's continue to keep these questions coming and hopefully we can connect on the platform that we have established to the National Trust here and continue these conversations beyond what we have in the 60 minutes. Yamona or Nancy did you want to respond to that question also. Well, I would just like to say that meaningful changes are needed in aspects of historic preservation and whomever these allied organizations might be. It would be wonderful if they would work alongside the descendants to create a descendant centric policies and practices and advocate with the descendants when interpreting these sacred spaces to ensure they authentically convey the heritage the histories the lived experiences of our ancestors and the values of of the community. Thank you. Um, I wanted to pick up what you said about education and objects and you know objects are obviously physical evidence that something happened. And it's so important to preserve them, which is why the desecration of them or the mishandling of them is so painful. And I think that by allowing these objects not only to learn about the materially and the stories and the cultural meaning connects us. And also it breaks the silence about the history. And, and, and so I was going to just say thank you to Emily for talking about her family history. What this will cost a monument has done for us is not only point out that the immigrants because they mostly spoke Japanese their story is least old. And yet here's this 1000 pound thing that is their voice. And it's bringing not only us together here, but also other members of our community who were after the war dispersed and became a diaspora communities broken up. So, objects speak. Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. So, one of the, you know, we're definitely starting to crystallize this idea of coalition building through shared oppressions and different barriers that affect all of us. So, one of the questions that was posed by one of the attendees Emily, she says this is a transnational question. All these topics and issues are also being discussed in Canada. And, and she wondered if the panelists have a connecting across the border. As an American living in Canada. She's a strong believer that we're stronger when we work across the border, when working on the sadly controversial and very complicated issues. My question to either three of you have you work with anybody across borders and I guess the implication here is outside of the United what we call the United States, or have you considered it if you haven't. We currently are actually we we attended the United Nations permanent form on indigenous issues. And so we connected our brothers and sisters from Canada, the the Truth and Healing Commission that was formed in Canada to talk about and in the Canadian boarding school experience that that all broke loose was thousands of bodies are found to Kamloops was involved while we were having architectural discussions about Shawnee Indian menu Labor School. So we felt obligated to talk about our kids are missing children. So, whether it's at the international venue such as United Nations are also working with the specific First Nations groups in Canada. These the ideas there is a cross-pollination from north to south across that medicine line of the US Canadian border. Wow, that's a great. I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm sorry Omar, I would just like to add that the preservation work that we are doing at Pierce Chapel African cemetery, of course involves genealogy research and we are working with a team of genealogists that have taken the internment lists that the descendants have created and doing a genealogy search for to identify descendants and family members. We're hoping with this documentary history is to share it with a larger project and international project called enslaved.org. Their work is to identify every single person that was sold into the transatlantic slave trade. And we're hoping to make a connection and fill in some of the missing gaps of information with the information that we research recording document at Pierce Chapel African cemetery. And I would like to just simply add with the genealogy research, my family and I have taken a DNA test, which has helped me to connect with a relative that is born in Nigeria. And so, you know, personally, I've not made a personal connection with him. It helps me to make that international connection again of confirming my DNA and my heritage. Amazing. That's that's that's awesome. Nancy, do you have any stories about that. Yeah, that we're actually connecting with people in Japan and trying to find descendants of Mr. Wakasa because he was a bachelor. And frankly, his case probably would have been created a lot more serve he'd had a widow children to keep it alive. And so we're in touch with Japanese genealogists. And I would frankly like to go there and go into the town where he went to school and see if records can be found. And I love the way you mean and you brought up the Western African traditions of burial. So I think that's the kind of repair that helps our hearts. Absolutely. Absolutely. I can tell you at the trust, our very own Elon Cook Lee has led us with the reimagining international sites of enslavement. So we connected some of our trust sites with sites of enslavement and other places in the world like in the Caribbean and some sites of slave trade like in Europe. And so that's been heartening to see some of that work. We actually got to go to Scotland recently to, to visit and meet some of those folks who've been doing that work with her over the last year or so. And then also I like to remind people that, you know, you have great organizations like United Nations, which what Chief Van Bonn just mentioned, but they also in the UNESCO have the International Decade of African descent, which is from 2015 to 2024. And I'm really hoping to see many more sites and culture keepers and cultural institutions in the United States get involved with that because it's a powerful opportunity to really tell the stories globally. So that's, so those are definitely great ways we can continue this conversation transnational. So, I wanted to ask a question, a little bit more of a serious question about these barriers, right, these barriers that you all have encountered. So this time I like to start with Nancy if you could talk about I mean you've already you kind of sussed out a little bit. Some of the barriers you've encountered. Can you talk to us about what strategies you have been able to use to start to address overcoming the barriers that you've encountered in doing your work. I'd say that the social media has been so important in finding advocates finding supporters getting the word out, heightening awareness. And part of the problem with our case has been that the story history has been so distorted, and people have been so traumatized into silence that, you know, we're not even getting as much of the kind of powerful advocacy that we need. But it's been a year and we're now thanks to the Utah State Historical Preservation Office holding meetings. And I think we're on a good track, but there's still so much to do and to continue to raise awareness and finally decide what should happen to this stone. You know the site and the stone have been violently separated now they're out of the earth what do you do with them it's an ongoing question. T Barnes I know you're dealing with different institutions and doing your preservation work. What have you done to overcome these boundaries barriers. Coalition building a lot of coalition building because we can't carry we can't carry the message to enough. I can't travel to the places I need to be all the places I need to speak on this issue. Working with folks like the National Native American Coalition, and just pressuring our congressional delegations as well, because we also need federal, we need federal partners, not just federal partners but also our state legislative partners. And I have we have found that if you just have a conversation they understand this issue within 15 minutes of having these conversations. You know, if you can avoid the political rhetoric the right versus left Republican versus Democrat conversations just talk as people. We have found allies on both sides of the party lines at state capitals and in DC. I believe that sometimes you take people out of the, the fish ball over here, the conversation can get a little bit easier. What about you, your Mona. Well, to echo Nancy's and chief Barnes sentiments about engaging the community and using social media and coalition building. We've done the same thing at the Hamilton foundation we've worked with various organizations, various community partners, we've worked with the National Parts Conservation Association we've worked with national religious for the preservation of the environment, cultural heritage partners, the Buffalo soldiers, Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints family search We've worked with a plethora of just community community supporters and friends to help us and work with us to navigate one the lobbying the successful lobbying removal of the power and broadband cable lines, and our days of service, where we discover and uncover more of the history at Pierce Chapel African cemetery. We take those days as as opportunities to educate the youth that come and to educate them on the experience objects the archaeological material artifacts, the various types of headstones and the white quartzite stones the horticulture that you find at Pierce Chapel African cemetery. Excellent, excellent work. Thank you so much. Can I just call out the power of these conferences to because I'm Mari Carpenter of prayer Connie Connor Museum, invited me to be a part of a panel about the mental and emotional trauma of museum collections, and she invited, and I was able to attend the Association of African American Museum conference. And it was so awesome to be in this room of African American Museum professionals who immediately got the story and that has carried me and I so honored to be here with everybody and chief Barnes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Amona everybody. Wow, well that's a great way to end it for me shout out to triple am as a proud president of boy directors of triple and I thank you for your endorsement Nancy. That was great. Thank you three for again sharing your hearts with us today. And I just like to wrap it up by saying the great Dr Cornell West said it best to me. He says justice is what love looks like in public. Thank you. I hope I didn't talk too much.