Skeletons In The Closet

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a small suburb of Washington, D.C., a non-descript beige building houses thousands of Native human remains. The remains are currently in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution. But for the past decade, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has been fighting to get some of them back to Florida to be buried. The controversy over who should decide the fate of these remains has raised questions about identity, history, and the nature of archaeology.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jean D'Embi and this is Code Switch from NPR.
0:05.0	And I'm joined this week by my teammate, Kumari Dave Arrogion.
0:07.0	She's a producer on the team.
0:08.0	Y'all probably heard her name in the credits.
0:10.0	Was good, Kuku.
0:11.0	Hey Jean.
0:12.0	Alright Kumari, so I know you have a story for us
0:14.0	that you've been reporting out for some time.
0:16.0	I have no idea where this story is going.
0:18.0	So I'm hopping in your metaphorical car
0:21.0	and letting you drive us to wherever you're driving us.
0:23.0	So where are you taking us?
0:25.0	So about a 45 minute drive outside of Washington D'Embi.
0:29.0	There's a small Maryland suburb called Suitland.
0:32.0	And it's your typical suburb.
0:34.0	Lots of strip malls, the whole deal.
0:36.0	But there's this one spot in particular on this busy road.
0:40.0	Across from a nail salon and a ventist and a liquor store.
0:46.0	And a gas station.
0:49.0	And so behind this very secure black fence
0:52.0	with barbed wire and signs that say no trespassing.
0:55.0	There's a couple of huge ugly beige buildings with no windows.
	...

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