[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  COMMEMORATING OPENING OF AMERICAN INDIAN MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

  (Mr. GRIJALVA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the native 
people of my district and of Arizona to commemorate the opening of the 
American Indian Museum today in Washington, D.C. This is an historic 
moment when, at long last, the indigenous people of this continent have 
a place to call their own on our National Mall and in our national 
consciousness.
  The museum is not a place that will display relics of the past but a 
living monument to the multitudes of cultures, arts, and languages that 
exist in the Americas. This museum will be a living legacy to those who 
have come before and a gift to those who will be born in the future.
  This morning I had the honor of seeing the procession of Native 
American people on our National Mall. Thousands of people from every 
corner of the continent filled the Mall. They came to make a ceremonial 
and symbolic journey representing the millions of native people who 
live and thrive on this continent.
  So let us honor our first Americans and let us remember this day as a 
day where we continue to working and looking forward to extending the 
support and the respect that the first Americans deserve.

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