Amid an onslaught of distressing news, a recent unanimous move by the U.S. Senate has given us all something to celebrate. On Thursday night, the Senate confirmed Chuck F. Sams III as the first Native American to head the National Parks Service (NPS), as reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Sams was confirmed by a voice vote, which is pretty cool in that it shows how uniform the decision was. Mind you, it’s fundamentally shameful that a Native American person hasn’t served as director of the NPS in its 100-plus-year history, but given the way our nation continues to uphold structural racism, it’s not terribly surprising.Sams is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He recently worked on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (a position to which, notably, he was nominated by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown) and has ample experience in land management. This is obviously a good thing, given that the Director of NPS role involves managing the national parks system (which includes hundreds of areas in every state, plus U.S. territories), battlefields, monuments, and historical sites.
This isn’t the only exciting news to come out of the Department of Interior within the last few days. While speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday evening, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon encouraged lawmakers to pass Sams’s nomination, describing Sams as “hardworking,” “committed,” and the right nominee to lead the NPS, as well as a role model when it comes to serving and protecting our lands and waters.
As a quick refresher, the NPS is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. The Interior is led by Secretary Deb Haaland, a citizen of Pueblo of Laguna. As you might remember, Haaland also made history when she became the first Native American person to serve in a presidential cabinet. Haaland has been supportive of Sams’ nomination since President Joe Biden nominated Sams back in August, praising his “diverse experience” as excellent preparation for the role. So, for Haaland and Sams to work together in these roles is, in itself, meaningful and historic.
Relatedly, on Friday, Haaland has moved to finally remove derogatory names from federal lands. If you’re not sure what this refers to, Haaland is taking steps to ensure that “squaw” is removed from federal land designations; “squaw” has long been a racist, misogynist term explicitly used in reference to Native women. Still, more than 600 federal land units technically include the term, and Haaland wants to get procedures moving to have those terms removed and names updated.
In a press release, Haaland stressed that lands and waters “should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage—not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression.” She added that removing these offensive terms will help “accelerate” our big-picture goal of honoring ancestors who have “stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”
There is truly a limitless amount of work to be done to repair systemic harm (and frankly, systemic violence) committed against Indigenous folks in the U.S. Getting Indigenous folks into office certainly isn’t the end of the road, but it’s still a step in the right direction and always worth celebrating and honoring.
Sams was confirmed by a voice vote, which is pretty cool in that it shows how uniform the decision was. Mind you, it’s fundamentally shameful that a Native American person hasn’t served as director of the NPS in its 100-plus-year history, but given the way our nation continues to uphold structural racism, it’s not terribly surprising.Sams is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He recently worked on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (a position to which, notably, he was nominated by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown) and has ample experience in land management. This is obviously a good thing, given that the Director of NPS role involves managing the national parks system (which includes hundreds of areas in every state, plus U.S. territories), battlefields, monuments, and historical sites.
This isn’t the only exciting news to come out of the Department of Interior within the last few days. While speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday evening, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon encouraged lawmakers to pass Sams’s nomination, describing Sams as “hardworking,” “committed,” and the right nominee to lead the NPS, as well as a role model when it comes to serving and protecting our lands and waters.
As a quick refresher, the NPS is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. The Interior is led by Secretary Deb Haaland, a citizen of Pueblo of Laguna. As you might remember, Haaland also made history when she became the first Native American person to serve in a presidential cabinet. Haaland has been supportive of Sams’ nomination since President Joe Biden nominated Sams back in August, praising his “diverse experience” as excellent preparation for the role. So, for Haaland and Sams to work together in these roles is, in itself, meaningful and historic.
Relatedly, on Friday, Haaland has moved to finally remove derogatory names from federal lands. If you’re not sure what this refers to, Haaland is taking steps to ensure that “squaw” is removed from federal land designations; “squaw” has long been a racist, misogynist term explicitly used in reference to Native women. Still, more than 600 federal land units technically include the term, and Haaland wants to get procedures moving to have those terms removed and names updated.
In a press release, Haaland stressed that lands and waters “should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage—not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression.” She added that removing these offensive terms will help “accelerate” our big-picture goal of honoring ancestors who have “stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”
There is truly a limitless amount of work to be done to repair systemic harm (and frankly, systemic violence) committed against Indigenous folks in the U.S. Getting Indigenous folks into office certainly isn’t the end of the road, but it’s still a step in the right direction and always worth celebrating and honoring.