Steve Laravie Jr., a great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear, performs during the unveiling ceremony of Ponca Chief Standing Bear's statue in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
A statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear of Nebraska, after its unveiling in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of Nebraska's Indian Affairs, and Steve Laravie Jr., a great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear, pose after the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
Author Joe Starita (left), who wrote "I Am a Man" and Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of Nebraska's Indian Affairs, pose before the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
When Judi gaiashkibos turned on her television to see the chaos inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs worried about her country.
And she worried about Chief Standing Bear.
In September 2019, the leader of the Ponca people had been immortalized in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, his bronze hand outstretched — as it was in an Omaha courtroom in 1879 in a landmark civil rights case, declaring to the judge: “I am a man. The same god made us both.”
Gaiashkibos was there in 2019, a leader in the effort to have Standing Bear’s likeness represent Nebraska in Washington.
Last week, on the day Congress was set to certify election results confirming Joe Biden’s victory, she had been in a meeting and drove by the north side of the Nebraska Capitol, shocked to see Stop the Steal demonstrators.
Her daughter, Katie Brossy, an attorney in D.C. who had worked hundreds of hours to help navigate regulations and details for the 2019 ceremony, called to tell her about the insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol.
“We were praying Standing Bear would not be targeted and he would be unharmed,” gaiashkibos said Thursday.
She reached out to Congressman Jeff Fortenberry’s office on Jan. 7 and was assured that Fortenberry had gone to the hall to check on the 9-foot statue.
Fortenberry’s chief of staff emailed her a photograph of the unharmed statue, which gaiashkibos sent along to Standing Bear sculptor Ben Victor, benefactor Don Campbell and Ponca Chairman Larry Wright Jr.
And when word came that state capitols should be ready for armed protesters this Sunday, gaiashkibos and the Indian Commission removed several 3-foot replicas of the statue from the Nebraska Capitol and are storing them in a secure location.
She feels very protective of Standing Bear and all he stands for, she said.
“To think he endured so much in his life and was truly a brave leader, not a cowardly terrorist like those who took over the Capitol, and then in a sense he had to witness this.”
VIDEO, PHOTOS FROM STANDING BEAR DEDICATION
Watch the ceremony
Jeff Fortenberry
John McCollister
Deb Fischer
Don Bacon
Tony Vargas
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (from left), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Steve Laravie Jr. and Judi gaiashkibos applaud the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in Washington. Laravie is a great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts makes remarks following the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall on Wednesday.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of Nebraska's Indian Affairs, and Steve Laravie Jr., a great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear, pose after the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
A statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear of Nebraska, after its unveiling in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
A Native color guard attends the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recognizes guests including Ponca Tribal Chairman Larry Wright, Jr. (left) and Steve Laravie, Jr., (right), great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear during the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, in Statuary Hall of the US Capitol, September 18, 2019, in Washington, DC.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Ponca Tribal Chairman Larry Wright Jr. offers the invocation during the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in September 2019.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
A statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear of Nebraska, after its unveiling in Statuary Hall of the US Capitol, September 18, 2019, in Washington, DC. Standing Bear, who won a groundbreaking civil rights case for his tribe, replaces William Jennings Bryan. MIKE THEILER For the Journal Star
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Author Joe Starita (left), who wrote "I Am a Man" and Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of Nebraska's Indian Affairs, pose before the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) makes remarks following the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, in Statuary Hall of the US Capitol, September 18, 2019, in Washington, DC. Standing Bear, who won a groundbreaking civil rights case for his tribe, replaces William Jennings Bryan.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (from left), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry and Sen. Deb Fischer listen to remarks during an unveiling ceremony of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall in September.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Nebraska Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon pauses as he concludes remarks at an unveiling ceremony of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall. Brewer is seeking to add the flags of four Native tribes to the state in the state's legislative chamber.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Steve Laravie Jr., a great-great-great-great-grandson of Standing Bear, performs during the unveiling ceremony of Ponca Chief Standing Bear's statue in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in 2019. The statue escaped harm in last week's Capitol attack.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts makes remarks following the unveiling of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall.
CHIEF STANDING BEAR
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (from left), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Sen. Deb Fischer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Roy Blunt and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bow their heads at the conclusion of an unveiling ceremony of a statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @TheRealCLK
