Over the last decade, several hundred Native American students and their families helped design, carve, and paint a series of totem poles for the Eugene 4J School District’s NATIVES program. Five were installed outside Eugene schools, often with the burning of sage and traditional drumming.
Backers say the poles celebrate and empower Native students in the school district. But others in recent years have called them inappropriate, inaccurate, and harmful.
Now, those same poles will be removed…