In the earlier months of 2021, an excavation began taking place in Phoenix,AZ uncovering an ancient city and unearthing hundreds of Hohokam remains to clear the way for a new "holistic" and urbanized housing community.

While federal policy was upheld, government to government communications do not include communications with the indigenous communities who have a right to protect, preserve, and maintain their historical identity. As a result, descendants of the Hohokam, the O'odham, are learning about the excavation as it proceeds, wondering how they can protect their ancestors and furious as to why they were not informed.  

On April 30, 2021, a Notification to Halt the excavation was sent to the individuals and organizations responsible for the project to inform them of the rights they were violating, as well as allow the O'odham to take time as a community to learn about the archaeological site and determine how to move forward. The Notification was ignored. 

As the United States Government has aggressively utilized their power in dehumanizing and mobilizing indigenous peoples to create the nation we inhabit today, little effort has been made to truly acknowledge this history and mend the nation to nation relationship. 

In November of 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted as a federal law. However, this law favors the United States Government, enabling them to remove culturally significant items and remains, so long as they give items and remains to ancestrally tied tribes.

Please note that the term "repatriation" is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, "the act of restoring or returning someone or something to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship". The O'odham have inhabited the entire Sonoran Desert region since time immemorial, our Hohokam ancestors laid to rest throughout the valley by immediate family - NAGPRA is a direct insult to the indigenous peoples. It is not within our cultural belief to ever remove our loved one's physical body from the ground, as this is a very sacred process of the body becoming one with the Earth.

With economic development sweeping away our historical identity, destroying natural resources, and largely contributing to the negative effects of climate change, indigenous peoples throughout the nation are determined to now utilize their rights to protect the health of all people and the planet. 

As an O'odham mother, I write this petition to demand that the City of Phoenix immediately halts the current excavation and recognizes the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.