S.J.R. 1 Enrolled

             1     

JOINT RESOLUTION ON MUSEUM RECOGNIZING ATROCITIES

             2     
AGAINST AMERICAN INDIANS

             3     
2014 GENERAL SESSION

             4     
STATE OF UTAH

             5     
Chief Sponsor: Stuart C. Reid

             6     
House Sponsor: Jack R. Draxler

             7     
             8      LONG TITLE
             9      General Description:
             10          This joint resolution of the Legislature strongly urges the United States Congress to
             11      support, establish, or construct a national museum recognizing atrocities against
             12      American Indians.
             13      Highlighted Provisions:
             14          This resolution:
             15          .    strongly urges the United States Congress to take action to support, establish, or
             16      construct a commemorative museum to recognize atrocities against American
             17      Indians;
             18          .    strongly urges each of the states to pass a similar resolution; and
             19          .    strongly urges American Indian tribes to call upon Congress to support, establish, or
             20      construct a national museum and to support similar resolutions in the states in
             21      which the American Indian tribes reside.
             22      Special Clauses:
             23          None
             24     
             25      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
             26          WHEREAS, the indigenous peoples of this land are the original inhabitants of land that
             27      now constitutes the United States;
             28          WHEREAS, conservative estimates numbered the American Indian population in North
             29      America at approximately 10 million in 1500;


             30          WHEREAS, by 1900, the American Indian population was reduced to barely 237,000;
             31          WHEREAS, this immense population reduction was caused by disease or intentionally,
             32      and was intensified by forced migration, deprivation of nutrition, and neglect after relocation to
             33      unfamiliar, barren lands;
             34          WHEREAS, American Indians were the subject of centuries of circumstances that
             35      deprived them of land, liberty, livelihood, and life;
             36          WHEREAS, once an expanding nation found attractive the land occupied by American
             37      Indians for centuries, the land was often simply taken, and frequently by force;
             38          WHEREAS, American Indians, displaced by the taking of the lands of their fathers and
             39      mothers, then had their liberties further violated through forced relocation, including the young
             40      being separated from their families to be sent away for schooling and assimilation;
             41          WHEREAS, American Indian tribes that resisted relocation and land takings were
             42      subdued by force and were, in some instances, pursued to extinction;
             43          WHEREAS, relocation stripped American Indians of the livelihoods they had made for
             44      centuries from their lands' often plentiful natural resources and forced them to scratch out a
             45      new life on lands with little value and few usable natural resources;
             46          WHEREAS, American Indians today, as descendants of those against whom the
             47      original atrocities were perpetrated, have great resilience;
             48          WHEREAS, through this resilience, American Indians continue to progress beyond the
             49      consequences of past atrocities;
             50          WHEREAS, establishing a national museum recognizing atrocities against American
             51      Indians and recognizing American Indians' valuable contributions to America, its history, and
             52      its culture would not only illuminate a vital chapter in American history, but would also
             53      implore that such atrocities should never happen again; and
             54          WHEREAS, establishing a national museum recognizing atrocities against American
             55      Indians would be an important step toward reconciliation and intergenerational healing from
             56      these atrocities:
             57          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah


             58      strongly urges the United States Congress to take action to support, establish, or construct a
             59      national museum recognizing atrocities against American Indians.
             60          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah strongly urges
             61      each of the states to pass a similar resolution urging the United States Congress to support,
             62      establish, or construct a national museum recognizing atrocities against American Indians.
             63          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah strongly urges
             64      each American Indian tribe to call upon the United States Congress to support, establish, or
             65      construct a national museum recognizing atrocities against American Indians and to support the
             66      resolutions for this purpose in the states in which the tribes reside.
             67          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of
             68      the United States; the Secretary of the Interior; the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs; the
             69      Majority Leader of the United States Senate; the Speaker of the United States House of
             70      Representatives; the chair of the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; the House
             71      Committee on Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs; the
             72      leader of each legislative house in each of the other states; to each tribe; and to the members of
             73      Utah's congressional delegation.


[Bill Documents][Bills Directory]