LaPointe has been an active advocate for the recognition of Sitting Bull’s descendants and for the proper handling of Sitting Bull’s remains and associated belongings.

He has been involved in ongoing discussions about where Sitting Bull’s burial remains should be recognized and what the appropriate relationship between the family, tribal institutions, and governmental and scientific authorities should be.

These are not simple questions, and the DNA study did not resolve them — something to which we will return.

The repatriation of the hair and leggings in 2007 was the result of the Smithsonian’s investigation and the process established by its repatriation statute.

The objects were returned to the family — to LaPointe and his sisters as the recognized descendants — not to a tribal government or to the U.S. government, but to the people who were Sitting Bull’s direct family.