Wednesday in Washington DC – 12 July 2023

“You wanna walk!?!”

We are getting used to American incredulity at our request for directions to walk to anywhere.

So Susan loaned us her car and I drove us down to Glenmont Metro Station for a trip to National Museum of Native Americans.

We got on the Metro at Glenmont Station and traveled to Judiciary Square. The staff member at the top of the escalator at Glenmont was lovely showing us how to buy our SmarTrip tickets to pay our fares and for parking. He was all smiles and wished us a good trip.

The journey was quicker than predicted by Google Maps. When we came up into Judiciary Square we asked the police woman to point us towards the Smithsonian and her immediate response was “You wanna walk!? I would get on the Metro and go two stops to Chinatown.” But we insisted we were walking and she gave us directions through the courthouse and government buildings to The Mall.

The inside is on a circular plan and the information clerk recommended starting at the top (4th floor) and working our way down to the restaurant and shop floor (1st/ground floor). The major exhibition was on the history of treaties between Europeans and Native Nations. Each panel noted the Native American assumptions and attitudes and the European assumptions and their concept of owning land. As a descendant of European immigrants the theft of the land and genocide of the Native American nations is still painful to read and acknowledge.