by Kim Malinowski
| The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) on Friday a voted to advance a notice of proposed rulemaking that would defang Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), one of the few laws that requires the federal government to consult with Tribal Nations before approving federally funded or permitted projects. New rules proposed by the ACHP would make Tribal consultation and public participation largely optional, and would drastically limit the law’s scope to historic properties that are geographically compact, excluding rivers, mountains and other Traditional Cultural Landscapes that are core to the history and identity of many Indigenous people. The proposed changes require further review and a 30-day public comment period before becoming final. —Earthjustice, July 27, 2026 |
Beat the drums of war.
They stole history at sunset,
went against their rules,
against their own Federal law,
voted against protecting
cultural heritage—fancy way of saying
knowledge of our past.
Beat the drums of war, even those who do not understand
Section 106. Because loves,
not many of us study this law into our marrow.
I might be one of the last.
It didn’t stand in the way of progress. It protected it.
Sacred sites were gone around, archeology was done before
the neighbor’s pool was dug in the historic district.
The dead were found before they were uncovered.
Beat the drums of war for me.
For the tribal leaders that can write a public note
but not be consulted sovereign nation to sovereign nation.
Cemeteries and homesteads,
historical buildings and archeological sites endangered,
all for “progress” that could still progress
just with careful documentation.
All those places George Washington stayed at aren’t safe.
A strip mall might be more useful than a mansion.
But that’s what Section 106 was for.
It wasn't perfect, but we sought
collaboration, review,
public comments, outreach,
that now forbidden knowledge.
Beat the drums of war my friends.
Not just for the archeologists and historians,
but for your history.
Bloody and messy truth.
I don’t want massacres paved over in books or in soil.
My trowel begins at sunrise.
My pen at midnight.
Beat the drums of war.
Today, we fight for our history.
Kim Malinowski is a lover of history and words. She is the author of six poetry collections and is currently earning her Master's Degree in Cultural Heritage Resource Management (Archeology).
