Tribal consultation and consent. Those were the key topics of this year’s fourth annual Sovereign Nations of Virginia Conference just outside Richmond.
A packed room and another 400 plus online listened to experts discuss the difference in those words as Tribes seek more power to protect ancient sacred lands, waters and burial sites.
"Everybody else has a burial ground and nobody bothers it. Our history was here for thousands of years and people walk on our history every day and they don’t even know it," Chief Anne Richardson explained after the conference ended. "And so when something is discovered, they have to stop and they have to consult with tribes."
The state’s dark history of Indigenous erasure and a sparse public school curriculum about the Tribes has led some Virginians to mistrust Tribal leaders. Governor Glenn Youngkin before signing a new law that will embed consultation into some state permits, removed the word consent. That did not go over well with Tribes.
"We would be there to analyze the data, to make sure the studies were done and they were done accurately," Richardson said. "And build a relationship with these people and help them to understand if we don’t give consent, it’s not because we’re just trying to stop your project. It’s because there is something there immensely important to us that we don’t want destroyed."
Tribes also are part of a new commission to update Virginia laws to incorporate the sovereign nations. That process awaits the governor to appoint an ombudsman. Tribal members have applied for that position.
Also worth noting, of the 11 recognized tribes, four now have women chiefs. Chief Joanne Howard of the Chickahominy Indian Tribe - Eastern Division, is the latest to be elected.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
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