Healing Justice’s Black Student Alliance Event

Healing Justice SB Co-executive Directors Simone Akila Ruskamp and Leticia Forney Resch invite the Black community and supporters to their annual event titled, “2026 Black Student Alliance Leadership Adventure Day,” Saturday, July 18, from 11 am to 5 pm, at SB City College Campus. The event is a collaboration with Healing Justice SB and the SB City College Umoja Program. The HJSB Black Student Alliance (BSA) is the local SB chapter of the national organization, The Black Student Alliance, with chapters on college campuses across the U.S. 

The HJSB BSA mission statement is: “The Black Student Alliance is a dynamic mentorship program designed to empower Black-identifying high school students by providing a platform for self-expression, visibility, and advocacy. Through this initiative, we strive to build a strong sense of community among students, fostering an environment where they can connect, share experiences, and support one another as they navigate the challenges of adolescence and education. Our Student Mentors play a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation of leaders by equipping them with essential skills, resources, and guidance. This mentorship not only promotes academic success but also encourages personal growth, resilience, and confidence. Ultimately, our goal is to amplify the voices of these students, ensuring they feel seen, heard, and valued. By advocating for their needs and fostering an inclusive, supportive space, we aim to create lasting positive change in their lives and empower them to be advocates for themselves and their communities.”

RSVP is required on/before July 15, by 5 pm.

The event programming includes a full day of leadership building activities, bonding with new friends, lunch, and refreshments. There are outdoor team building activities, like kayaking and treasure hunts, and goal setting sessions with Black Student Alliance leaders. 

The Montecito Journal wishes to join Healing Justice SB in congratulating its three staff members on their June 2026 graduation from UCSB, and for their work with the Black Student Alliance, administrative and outreach work, and more. They are Faith, Nyela, and Amina. 

411: www.hjsb.org/
www.sbcc.edu/umoja/index.php

SYBCI Receive Ancestors and Cultural Items Repatriated

We are happy to report that the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (SYBCI) announced the successful repatriation of cultural items and ancestors from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and the Yale Peabody Museum. 

The SYBCI press releases explains, “The repatriation followed two separate Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) notices issued by Harvard and Yale and represents the culmination of years of consultation and collaboration between the Tribe and both institutions.”

Kathleen Marshall, NAGPRA representative, Museum board chairwoman and lead language teacher for SYBCI, says she hopes the successful collaboration with Harvard and Yale serves as an example to other Tribal nations pursuing repatriation efforts, demonstrating that meaningful consultation, persistence, and mutual respect can lead to the return of ancestors and cultural items.

Marshall, “This repatriation has formed a solid relationship between our Tribe, Harvard Peabody and Yale Peabody. It has taken four years to complete, with many visits to the East Coast. Working with these two institutions have proven to be a rewarding endeavor. They learned from us, they listened. It did not come without conflict and hard conversations, but ultimately, they did the right thing. The people who are in place now respect cultural knowledge, and it ended up with our ancestors and their belongings coming home in a positive way, leaving behind respectful relationships.

“Our ancestors and their belongings were stolen from their resting place, a place where their families and communities prayed and grieved, leaving them to rest. For them to be taken, stolen, and put in wood trays or boxes, traveling all over the country and all over the world, is cruel and inhumane. The institutions that receive federal funding are all now following the NAGPRA process to ensure the ancestors return to the federally recognized Tribes. With these returns, the ancestors receive a proper ceremony with all Chumash nations. We are guaranteeing their return to our Mother Earth is done privately, and they are placed back to the land they came from.”

In response to the SYBCI repatriation requests, Jane Pickering, the William & Muriel Seabury Howells director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University said, “It has been an honor to collaborate with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians on this repatriation. We are tremendously grateful for their generosity and trust as we worked through the process to return these important items home. The Peabody Museum is committed to conducting repatriations in ways that help heal the wounds of historical trauma and with a deeper understanding of our responsibilities to Tribal communities past, present and future.”

And adding remarks on this work, Jessie Cohen, assistant director of Repatriation at Yale Peabody Museum, stated, “Over the past four years, the Yale Peabody Museum has had the unique privilege of consulting with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians towards this repatriation. Through open and honest collaboration, the Tribe and Museum engaged in consultations leading to the Museum’s largest repatriation of cultural items to date. The removal of these materials from traditional Chumash homelands has caused trauma and harm, and we hope their return brings healing to the Tribe.”

This important work on repatriation was first reported in the Montecito Journal on March 2024 (https://tinyurl.com/MJ-Chumash-Repatriation-2024) and in 2025 with the grand opening of the SYBCI Museum and Cultural Center (https://tinyurl.com/MJ-Chumash-Museum-Open). 

NAGPRA, a federal law enacted in 1990, establishes a process for federally recognized Tribes to seek the return of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony held by institutions receiving federal funding.

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians is located in Santa Barbara County. Its reservation was established and officially recognized by the federal government in 1901. Today, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians remains the only federally recognized Chumash Tribe in the nation. The Tribe is a self-governing sovereign nation and follows the laws set forth in its Tribal constitution.