Charles "Chuck" F. Sams III Opening Statement - Nominee, National Park Service
Channel: indianz
Date: 2021-10-20

Charles "Chuck" F. Sams III delivers an opening statement at his confirmation hearing to serve as director of the National Park Service in President Joe Biden's administration.

Sams is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, based in Oregon. He also has ties to the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Cocopah Tribe.

"My great-grandmother, Mary, was a Walla Walla and Cayuse tribal member and the daughter of Chief Peo Peo Mox Mox, headman of the Walla Walla people," Sams told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on October 19, 2021. "My personal history is deeply interwoven with the fabric of our shared American history."

The hearing is the first step in the confirmation process for Sams. The next step would be for the committee to hold a business meeting and vote on his nomination.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Sams would be the first Native person to lead the National Park Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior.

INDIANZ.COM: Native American news, information and entertainment. Owned by Ho-Chunk Inc., an economic development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe, an Indian nation with homelands in Nebraska and Iowa.
Website: https://www.indianz.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/indianz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indianz
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/indianz
Tumblr: https://indianzcom.tumblr.com