Sacred places article review

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Threatened and Damaged: Protecting Sacred Places
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The Native Americans living in the United States are increasingly finding it difficult to safeguard their traditional sacred places (Harjo 13). The federal government controls the ownership of the holy places, denying the Native populace the power and control of their land.
Due to the “Civil Regulations”, that was enacted into law in 1882 to 1935, the Native peoples lacked access to their holy sites. The rules ban the Native Americans from carrying out their rituals in these sites.
Because of this ban, the indigenous Americans could not gain entrance to their sacred sites. The ones who dared to enter the holy areas suffered retribution such as jail sentencing, forced hunger and penalizations.
These revered areas were affirmed as public land while some were sold to private organizations or American states. After repossession of these holy sites by the federal government, they put up “No Trespassing” symbols to inform the natives that the areas no longer belong to them. Indigenous students sought protection at The Wakarusa Wetlands as they run away from modernization in school. Family members of the learners risked retribution by performing federal government banned rituals at the wetlands.
Various sanctified regions risk extinction as they pave the way for infrastructural developments in the United States of America. The locals and business merchants now want to benefit from these holy sites.
These human-made developments include malls, resorts, casinos and the expansion of existing roads.

For instance, Medicine Lake, which is a sacred place of ceremony and healing for the Native tribes living in Northern California, is threatened by planned geothermal development, that intends to install 49 windmill turbines and other infrastructure.
Additional risks to the holy sites are human practices, specifically mining activities in search for gold and uranium. Chemicals used in extracting these minerals are dangerous to the environment and residents.
In 2007, the United Nations ratified the “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People”. This deposition gives Native peoples the freedom to exercise their rituals, prayers, customs and the right to enter their sacred places. Now the American Government is considering the assessment of ways they repossessed holy land belonging to the Native populace.
Reviewing ways of how the federal government obtained sacred regions is disputable because there was no consultation with the indigenous people.
The U.S State Department did not ask the Native people if they are willing to give away their land. The absence of consultation indicates a lack of consent while taking away land from the indigenous population.
There are cases where the indigenous people were compelled to forfeit their land.
Indigenous tribes lacking legal recognition suffered more afflictions because conferring on the safety of their land was difficult.
Forcing the Native tribes to move from their sacred regions, denied them access to their worship locations and burial sites. The natives could not access their healing herbs, and this was detrimental to their health. The indigenous people were also banned from visiting these sites hence no access to their plants or traditional rituals.
Some agreements with the federal government and native tribes were successful following the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. This law decrees consent discussions with traditional indigenous spiritual leaders to strengthen the relationship between native tribes and the federal government. These talks could encourage the Native peoples to go back to the sacred spaces.

Work Cited
Harjo, Suzan S. “Threatened and Damaged: Protecting Sacred Places” Expedition Magazine 55.3 (2013): 12-17. Expedition Magazine. Penn Museum, 2013 Web. 22 Sep 2018 http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/?p=18894