"Many who touched the pole during its journey 'burst into tears because they could feel the energy’"

"Douglas James stood Thursday on the Mall in front of the 25-foot totem pole he and a team had spent three months hand-carving and painting from a 400-year-old red cedar tree.

James, a member of the Lummi Nation in Washington state, and a group of supporters and volunteers from his tribe hauled the pole on a flatbed truck more than 20,000 miles along the West Coast and across the Midwest before arriving in the other Washington, where the pole will stay as part of a campaign to protect sacred tribal lands.

“The pole speaks for itself,” James said to the crowd. “It’s been reaching out and touching many hearts.”

The roughly 5,000-pound pole and its crew arrived a day earlier at the National Museum of the American Indian, where a small crowd welcomed the addition. It will stay outside the museum until Saturday, then be moved to Rawlins Park near 20th and E streets in Northwest, where it will stay for a month before a permanent home is found in the D.C. region, organizers said."

Dana Hedgpeth reports for the Washington Post July 29, 2021. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Haaland, Native American Leaders Press For Indigenous Land Protections" (The Hill) [3]

"Indigenous Groups Urge Biden To Protect Sacred Sites" (Thomson Reuters Foundation) [4]