ATADA
No lists of items of inalienable cultural
patrimony exist. This information is often
privileged and known only to tribal initiates.
U.S. laws cannot rely on secret information
that is not available to the public, especially
given STOP’s harsh penalties: ten-year imprisonment
for unlawful export of items
with low monetary value.
ATADA has taken a strong stand against
STOP II as unconstitutional and unnecessary.
ATADA president John Molloy said,
“ATADA supports returning important objects
needed for tribal spiritual activities.
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Meanwhile, a renewed version of the STOP
Act is again before Congress, and in Europe
the European Union Commission has proposed
regulations that would drastically curtail
access to antique and ancient art from
around the world, violate citizens’ right to
privacy, and open the door to further restrictions
and criminalization of the art trade.
STOP II: A FEDERAL PROGRAM TO
RETURN ALL INDIAN ART TO TRIBES
Constitutionally dubious legislation that
failed to pass in 2016 was reintroduced this
summer. The ostensible goal of the 2017
Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act
(S.1400, H.R.3211) was to return important
cultural objects to Native American
tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations by
halting their export from the United States.
While the new act, known as STOP II, attempts
to improve on the 2016 version by
incorporating a voluntary returns program,
it remains deeply flawed. STOP II is moving
slowly through the legislative process.
Like the 2016 bill, STOP II would create
dangerous legal uncertainties for private
owners of American Indian art and artifacts.
By failing to give notice of what items are
illegal to export, STOP II violates the due
process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
That’s our policy, and we’ll continue it whatever
happens to this bill.” But, he added,
“This bill wasn’t thought through. It won’t
achieve the tribes’ goals of bringing back
important sacred objects from overseas. It
will discourage the legitimate market, and it
sends totally the wrong message to museums
and collectors.”
The federal proposal is different from the
successful ATADA Voluntary Returns program.
STOP II makes it U.S. government
policy to encourage the return of all “significant
objects, resources, patrimony, or other
items or other items that are affiliated with a
Native American culture.”
These all-inclusive terms cover everything
made by Native Americans: commercial jew-
FIG. 2 (right): Charles C.
Pierce, Two Hopi Indian
Kachina Dolls (Male &
Female), c. 1906.
Print from glass plate negative.
17 x 22 cm.
USC Libraries Special Collections,
California Historical Society
Collection, acc. 4046.
These kachinas have been in
Western hands for more than
a century and likely served an
educational rather than a sacred
function, but they could be subject
to repatriation if STOP II were to
pass.