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Native American workers at the Environmental Protection Agency's Ariel Rios building in Washington are protesting five murals in the north building that they say depict American Indians as savages.

The National Congress of American Indians adopted a resolution during their 2004 Annual Session last week to request a meeting with officials at EPA and the building's landlord, the General Services Administration, to discuss removing the paintings. The National Congress, as well an anti-discrimination lawyer group, have condemned the fifth- and seventh-floor paintings, stating that they perpetuate stereotypes of Native Americans as savages, murderers and sexual predators.

EPA officials say the issue has to be resolved by GSA, but officials there were unable to able to comment on the issue Thursday.

In 2000, EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner had the paintings covered, agreeing they "perpetuated stereotypes demeaning to various groups of Americans." GSA in the past has said the National Historic Preservation Act prevents them from removing the paintings without good reason, but are hoping to work out a solution with the National Congress. Now, the paintings are blocked by wall panels, but people are still able to walk behind the panels to see the paintings

One of the paintings has been controversial since its placement in the 1930s because it portrays a nude woman about to be scalped by an American Indian. "Dangers of the Mail," by Frank A. Mechau, depicts a massacre where Native American men are murdering and scalping white men and women. A stagecoach is overturned and Native Americans on horses are seen looting and marauding.

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law denounced the paintings in a statement, saying that Native American EPA employees work in a place that displays racially and ethically demeaning murals. EPA moved its headquarters to the Ariel Rios building, which used to house the U.S. Postal Service headquarters, in the late 1990s.

Jacqueline Johnson, the National Congress's executive director, said there is a place for the paintings in art museums, but American Indians are uncomfortable with the paintings' prominent display. "If you want to have good works of Native Americans, let's put up good works," Johnson said.

Bob Smith, an EPA worker represented by the Lawyers Committee, said he is sickened by the violent images the paintings portray. "The paintings are historically inaccurate, promote racial stereotyping and their interpretations reek of prejudice and racism," Smith said.

Indian Trust Fund

A federal judge stated that the Interior Department has failed for decades to fulfill fiduciary duties owed to Indian Trust beneficiaries.

Denying a motion by the Justice Department to strike from the record language that had to do with the honesty and ethical behavior of Interior officials and their Justice Department lawyers, Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote in an opinion that the Interior Department's attempts to "erase all reference to its misdeeds" won't be successful and "nothing can remove the stain of Interior's actions from the record in this case."

Assertions by the Interior Department that claims by Indian Trust beneficiaries are "groundless" is laughable, according to Lamberth. "If Interior remains unable to recognize its own sordid history of mismanagement and neglect, then that history will likely continue to be repeated until there is no trust left to manage."

The motion and order are the latest developments in Eloise Pepion Cobell's 1996 class action suit involving about 500,000 Indian beneficiaries which alleges that the Interior Department has failed to properly manage Indian lands since the late 19th century.

Claiming that more than 50 million acres of land once held in the trust has been reduced to 11 million, Cobell is trying to force the Interior Department to account for the money held in the trust and reform the management of the fund.

Eloise Pepion Cobell v. Interior Department (96-1285), Oct. 22, 2004.