Saturday, July 25, 2015

CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE CHAIRMAN BISHOP CALLS NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACTS "BULL CRAP - NOT AN ANTIQUITY"




 Rock art at Basin and Range Nat. Monument.
Photograph from www.protectbasinandrange.org.


 Rock art at Basin and Range Nat. Monument.
Photograph from www.protectbasinandrange.org.


 Rock art at Basin and Range Nat. Monument.
Photograph from www.protectbasinandrange.org.

The examples of rock art shown here, and many, many more, were called "Bull Crap" by House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rob Bishop, who represents Utah's first Congressional District.


Rep. Rob Bishop, 1st.
Congressional District, Utah.

Reported by the staff of Native News Network on July 13, 2015, the story reads:

WASHINGTON - House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rob Bishop, dismissed the historical value of Native American artifacts as a basis for establishing national monuments last Friday (July 10, 2015), as first reported by Greenwire in a story about President Obama's designation of three new national monuments:

"There is nothing that Obama did today that had anything to do with antiquity," Bishop said. "There are criteria for using the act. There is nothing Obama announced that had anything to do with the criteria."


Utah's First Congressional
District. Wikipedia.

When he was asked about the Native American artifacts at the Basin and Range National Monument site in Nevada, including cave paintings, he said, "ah, bull crap. That's not an antiquity."

Ranking committee member Raul M. Grijalva released the following statement in response.

"The natural and cultural resources protected by these designations are, in fact, antiques; species and trees and rocks and cave paintings and beautiful landscapes are all quite old. We want them to remain antique, House Republicans want them to become extinct."

"Grijalva thanked and congratulated President Obama earlier today for his designations of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in California, Waco National Monument in Texas, and Basin and Range National Monument in Nevada."

When we are faced with such staggering ignorance and insensitivity what can we do but keep trying to preserve the beauty and knowledge. Don't give up the cause. Perhaps we who feel strongly about the cause of protecting rock art should consider boycotting all businesses in Utah's First Congressional District in protest, but that would also hurt the many innocent citizens and voters there who value preservation and rock art, like all the great members of the Utah Rock Art Research Association. I hope that they will express their disapproval of Rep. Bishop's statements and opinions, perhaps at the ballot box?


REFERENCES:

https://www.facebook.com/nativenewsnetwork


https://www.protectbasinandrange.org

Wikipedia.

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