Thieves apparently armed with power saws, ladders, generators and other heavy equipment gouged out ancient petroglyphs etched into the volcanic stone landscape in eastern California, removing six and damaging dozens of the carvings, which are sacred to the Paiute tribe, according to a tribal member and government archaeologist.

"This is by far the worst example of vandalism in my career in my field office," said Greg Haverstock, archaeologist for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Bishop, Calif., about 150 miles due east of San Jose. "I think it’s akin to someone going and cutting pieces out of the Wailing Wall."

The Bishop office of the federal bureau oversees 750,000 acres of public lands in the Eastern Sierra mountain range, near the California-Nevada border. On what is called the Volcanic Tablelands, there are hundreds of rock art sites that date back more than 3,000 years, and tens of thousands of archaeological sites, Haverstock said.

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Some of the carvings are recognizable representations of hunters, big horn sheep, lizards and deer. Others are geometric designs and other symbols, with meanings that have been lost to history. The Paiute see the carvings as a window into the souls of their ancestors.

"These petroglyphs — in our language, rock writings — are held sacred to the people here," said Raymond Andrews, a Paiute who serves as the tribal historical preservation officer for the Bishop area. "Our ancestors etched messages in them, so they are sacred... People go and pray to them and try to seek guidance."

The remote area is largely open to tourists, but Andrews said the bureau will close off the roads to rock-writing sites from time to time to ensure privacy for Paiute ceremonial functions. The damage was discovered Oct. 31 by a volunteer in the Bishop stewardship program, who periodically visits the site and reports any change or problem.

New 'intelligence' body set to fight illicit trade in world's priceless treasures

The thieves left scars along a 650-foot cliff band, according to Haverstock, with petroglyph panels as large as 20-by-40-by-6 inches extracted, and many of the carvings in between apparently damaged by the equipment. Some slabs of stone were sawed off 15 feet above the ground.

"We’ve had a few (petroglyphs) taken in the past — sawed away — but not on such a massive scale like this," said Andrews. "Usually it’s been like one. Or there’s like someone who wants to add a little more to the petroglyphs, not knowing they are desecrating them."

Haverstock said that there is an illicit market for any archaeological relic, and the rock carvings are no exception, but he said the dollar value is only in the $500-$1,500 range per piece.

The bureau has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to arrests in the theft of the artifacts, which is a felony.

Even if the missing carvings are recovered, there’s no way to adequately repair the irreplaceable, so the bureau may use the damaged site to highlight the importance of historic preservation, Haverstock said.

"Like (other) indigenous groups, we believe in karma," said Andrews. "Something is going to happen. We can try to investigate, but some things are out of our hands."

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The Supreme Court has ruled that the government must fully reimburse Native American tribes for millions of dollars they spent on federal programs.

The federal government had agreed to fully reimburse money tribes spent on programs like law enforcement, environmental protection and agricultural assistance, but Congress capped the amount of money earmarked for that reimbursement. The tribes sued, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the money must be fully reimbursed.

The high court on Monday ruled the Ramah Navajo Chapter and other Native American tribes must get their money back.

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion for Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito dissented.

"We stressed that the government's obligation to pay contract support costs should be treated as an ordinary contract promise," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority ruling which confirmed a Colorado appeals court decision.

"The government was obligated to pay the tribes' contract support costs in full."

Congress allocated $1.6 billion to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for "the operations of Indian programs" in 2000, according to news agency AFP, but only $120.2 million was paid out.

"Between FY [financial year] 1994 and 2001, appropriations covered only between 77% and 92% of tribes' aggregate contract support costs," the judgment read.

UN official: US must return control of sacred lands to Native Americans

Rodger Martinez, president of the Ramah Navajo Chapter in New Mexico that was a plaintiff in the case, told The Guardian newspaper that they were sad the case had to go to the Supreme Court, but "happy that they sided with us."

"This gets us back to the principle that the government must pay us what we are entitled to," he added.

Lawyer Jonathan Cohn, who jointly represented the tribes, told The Guardian that the judgment was a "big victory." He said that it was rare for the Supreme Court to side with the tribes.

"The government was trying to treat tribal contractors differently from all other contractors. If you were talking about a defense contractor, I don't think this case would have reached the Supreme Court – the government would have paid up long ago," Cohn added.

A massacre or a war?
Meanwhile, a dispute has broken out over plans in Chicago to mark the 200^th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Dearborn, in which 60 Americans and 15 Native Americans were killed.

Chicago Alderman Edward Burke, who has pushed for a "Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation" on Aug. 15, gave a speech describing in grisly detail how Native Americans scalped and tortured their enemies and then suggested it was time to "smoke a peace pipe."

"This is what kids are learning today," said Joseph Podlasek, executive director of the American Indian Center of Chicago. "These types of stereotypes and myths are several generations old, and people tend to believe them."

Game hunt for sacred white buffaloes riles Native groups

Burke's comment about a peace pipe took an item sacred to Native Americans and reduced it to the status of a movie prop, Podlasek said, citing it as yet another example of the kind of trivializations and distortions of Native American traditions and history that he and others have spoken out against.

There's long been dispute between Native Americans and mainstream historians about what happened at Fort Dearborn and in other battles involving American Indians. Three years ago, the city of Chicago changed the name of a park at the approximate location to Battle of Fort Dearborn Park, abandoning the former reference to what happened at Fort Dearborn as a "massacre."

How genocide wiped out a Native American population

The fight happened during the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. As U.S. soldiers and civilians evacuated Fort Dearborn, they were attacked by Potawatomis allied with the British.

Podlasek didn't dispute the outcome of the battle or the number of dead but said there's no evidence to support the violent descriptions of atrocities recited by people like Burke. There's no evidence scalps were taken at the fort, Podlasek said, and he questioned how much can be known about what was, in the end, a 15-minute battle.

"How come every time native people win it's a massacre, and when we lose it's just a war?" he asked. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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By Chiara Sottile
NBC News

After he dropped out of the University of Oklahoma, Blue Tarpalechee of the Muscogee-Creek tribe worked more than 20 jobs in two years: fast food restaurants, movie theaters, and eventually his tribal casino. He was 21 when he got a job counting money at the Creek Nation Casino Okmulgee. He would wake up hours before the sun, put on his uniform -- a black, sleeveless and pocketless jumpsuit -- and report to the casino's vault.

The room was cramped with tables and filled with the constant flick-flick-flicking of the money counting machines. For six hours each day, Tarpalechee counted the money box of every machine in the casino. And counted them again. And a third time. One morning as he "counted someone else's money" in the confines of the vault's faded yellow walls, Tarpalechee realized this was not the path his life was meant to take, and he had to make a change.

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That's when he found the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico on a serendipitous weekend visit. "The Institute is really special," said Tarpalechee. "They honor our traditions and where we come from and the communities that we represent." On a windy Friday in May, Tarpalechee, now 26, not only graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Moving Images from IAIA, but graduated as one of three valedictorians.

IAIA is one of 37 tribal colleges in the United States and the only institution of higher education in the world dedicated to contemporary Native American art. Like the other tribal colleges, IAIA was created and chartered by American Indian people with the specific purpose of offering higher education based in American Indian culture.

It is a place where you might find an atole pot on the stove of the student center during finals, where the subtle citrus scent of Palo Santo might drift across campus on prayers said in Native languages. And for Jamie Figueroa, it was also home for the last four years.

'I felt totally safe'

Figueroa, 35, graduated as a valedictorian at IAIA's ceremony on May 11th. She says that from the first time she stepped into the "sage fields, high desert, clean air, and enormous sky" at IAIA's campus, she knew it was the place for her.

Before coming to IAIA, Figueroa had enrolled and taken classes at five different colleges and universities between the ages of 17 and 29. At the time, Figueroa said she thought to herself, "Clearly I did not belong in academia. Clearly I had trouble finishing what I started. Clearly I was not smart enough."

But at IAIA, Figueroa felt nurtured by the school's inextricable connection between culture and curriculum. "Every time we talked about something, we did it from our perspective," said Figueroa, who is Taino and Puerto Rican. Her courses discussed authors from William Shakespeare to N. Scott Momaday, and rarely did a lecture not mention power, assimilation or cultural hybridity.

"I felt totally safe" at IAIA, said Figueroa, who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. "I could let down so many defenses. Before I always felt I was fighting but when I didn't have to fight anymore then I could actually get to learning." It was a feeling she had never experienced at the previous schools she attended.

In her valedictory speech, an impassioned Figueroa told her class that their graduation was, "a gift we not only give ourselves, but to everyone in our lives. It is an honoring of our ancestors and to future generations as well." Indeed, the class of 2012 not only welcomes a new generation into IAIA's 4,000 alumni, it also marks the Institute's 50^th year since its founding.

The emergence of American Indian education

The Institute of American Indian arts was established in 1962 as a high school for American Indians, and then became a two-year college in 1975, three years before President Jimmy Carter signed the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act that authorized federal assistance to American Indian colleges.  

Indian control of education dates back to the school systems of the Cherokee and Choctaw in the 19^th century and tribal colleges themselves have made great progress since the first one, Navajo Community College, was established in 1968. Tribal colleges got another boost from the federal government when they were designated as land-grant institutions in 1994, giving them the opportunity to apply for millions of dollars in grant money. Since Congress authorized this change in status, all the educational programs in tribal colleges designated as land-grant institutions have grown.

But the United States government has not always been a benefactor of American Indian education; in fact, thousands of Indian people were sent away to government-run boarding schools from the 1870s into the 1960s. Historians have documented the abuse the American Indians endured at those schools, where they were forced to abandon their traditional ways. 

“Tribal schools have largely been a response to the boarding schools,” said Tom Grayson Colonnese, Chair of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington.

“Native Americans haven’t done well in higher education because of the stigma of boarding schools trying to break up Native culture,” said Colonnese. Tribal colleges were founded as "Indian-centered and Indian-run institutions," as a response to the “traumatizing” boarding schools, he said.

Despite prior attempts to suppress American Indian culture in education, Native traditions still thrive. Tribal elders and esteemed artists encouraged the graduating class of IAIA to develop their connection to their Native traditions through art. N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer-prize winning author; James Luna, a groundbreaking performance artist; and John Trudell, actor, recording artist and poet all spoke at the IAIA graduation.

Bridging the achievement gap

The road to graduation was a rough ride for Figueroa, Tarpalechee and many of their fellow 49 graduates, but then, so are many of the roads in Indian Country.

American Indian students continue to face a formidable achievement gap compared to non-Native peers, according to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress. 

Limited economic opportunity, lack of healthcare and justice inequities perpetuate this underperformance. But reports show, and American Indian students and educators agree, that a lack of cultural sensitivity also hinders American Indian success at mainstream institutions. In Education Secretary Arne Duncan's report "Tribal Leaders Speak: The State of American Indian Education, 2010," he wrote that educators across Indian Country indicate that school curricula are not appropriate for American Indian students and that there is a systemic failure to include Native language and history in mainstream education.

Figueroa hopes to empower her community with the author's voice she developed at IAIA. While a student, she volunteered with a community arts group in Santa Fe called Little Globe and an ESL reading program called El Otro Lado, where she helped others find their writing voice. "It takes a tremendous amount of courage to tell one's own story, and then to share that story takes even more courage," said Figueroa.

As for Blue Tarpalechee, his first mission will be working on a new seven-part film series called "Growing Native" for Native American Public Telecommunications.  

In addition to art and film, Tarpalechee stays connected to his Creek culture through the game of stickball, a traditional Native game from the tribes of southeast. He founded the stickball club at IAIA and also led the way for a stickball field to be built at the school.

On graduation day, in addition to his black mortarboard and gown, Tarpalechee wore a red and white sash with blue trim and a stickball motif. Traditionally, stickball players would wear sashes to mark important events, and Tarpalechee explained that "each design tells you about the personality of the wearer."  It isn't only a game to Tarpalechee, but a daily link to his tribe, and a tradition he hopes his brother -- now a student at IAIA -- will carry on.

"Sometimes you're not sure where you belong or where to turn to for answers," said Tarpalechee. "I turn to stickball and stickball is a part of my culture. So give your culture a shot."

The United States must do more to heal the wounds of indigenous peoples caused by more than a century of oppression, including restoring control over lands Native Americans consider to be sacred, according to a U.N. human rights investigator. 

James Anaya, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, just completed a 12-day visit to the United States where he met with representatives of indigenous peoples in the District of Columbia, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Washington State, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. He also met with U.S. government officials.  

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"I have heard stories that make evident the profound hurt that indigenous peoples continue to feel because of the history of oppression they have faced," Anaya said in a statement issued by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva Friday. 

That oppression, he said, has included the seizure of lands and resources, the removal of children from their families and communities, the loss of languages, violation of treaties, and brutality, all grounded in racial discrimination. 

Anaya welcomed the U.S. decision to endorse the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010 and other steps the government has taken, but said more was needed.

'History of oppression'
His findings will be included in a final report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. While not binding, the recommendations carry moral weight that can influence governments. 

"It is clear that this history does not just blemish the past, but translates into present day disadvantage for indigenous peoples in the country," Anaya said. 

 "There have still not been adequate measures of reconciliation to overcome the persistent legacies of the history of oppression, and that there is still much healing that needs to be done," he said. 

Game hunt for sacred white buffaloes riles Native groups

In Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, where some Native Americans depend on hunting and fishing, Anaya said tribes face "ever-greater threats ... due to a growing surge of competing interests, and in some cases incompatible extractive activities, over these lands and resources." 

"In Alaska, indigenous peoples complain about a complex and overly restrictive state regulatory apparatus that impedes their access to subsistence resources (fish and wildlife)," he said. 

Native American tribe gets permit to kill bald eagles

Mining for natural resources in parts of the country has also caused serious problems for indigenous peoples. 

"Past uncontrolled and irresponsible extractive activities, including uranium mining in the Southwest, have resulted in the contamination of indigenous peoples' water sources and other resources, and in numerous documented negative health effects among Native Americans," he said. 

Mount Rushmore
He said indigenous peoples feel they have too little control over geographic regions considered sacred to them, like the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona and the Black Hills in South Dakota. Anaya suggested such lands should be returned to Native peoples. 

"Securing the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands is of central importance to indigenous peoples' socioeconomic development, self-determination, and cultural integrity," Anaya said. 

"Continued efforts to resolve, clarify, and strengthen the protection of indigenous lands, resources, and sacred sites should be made," he added. 

How genocide wiped out a Native American population

Mount Rushmore, a popular tourist attraction, is located in the Black Hills, which the Sioux tribe consider to be sacred and have territorial claims to based on an 1868 treaty. Shortly after that treaty was signed, gold was discovered in the region. U.S. Congress eventually passed a law taking over the land. 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that the seizure of the land was illegal and ordered the government to pay compensation. But the Sioux rejected the money and has continued to demand the return of the now public lands. 

Anaya said he will make specific recommendations on these and other issues in a full report later this year. 

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