To: Auburn University Administration and Board of Trustees

Auburn University holds the remains and sacred ceremonial items of Muscogee (Creek) ancestors  who were dug up from their resting place at Hickory Ground (Oce Vpofv) to make way for a casino.

These are not “artifacts.” They are human beings—our families, and ceremonial leaders. Their graves were desecrated, their remains boxed and stored away in plastic tubs where they have been left to deteriorate in mold and unsanitary conditions. This is wrong in any culture. It is a callous disregard for human dignity.

Under federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) requires institutions like Auburn to return ancestors and sacred items to their rightful Tribal Nations and lineal descendants. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Mekko George Thompson have repeatedly called on Auburn to comply with the law and to do what is morally right: rehumanize and repatriate these ancestors so they can be reburied with dignity.

Instead, Auburn has refused.

Every day deepens the harm. Imagine if it were your own family’s cemetery bulldozed for profit, your own loved ones’ remains boxed up and neglected. That’s what Auburn is responsible for.

We demand Auburn University:

1. Immediately repatriate all Muscogee (Creek) ancestors and sacred items being held to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Hickory Ground’s ceremonial leader, Mekko George Thompson.
2. Comply fully with NAGPRA and stop blocking justice for Indigenous peoples.
3. Apologize publicly for its role in desecrating Hickory Ground and for continuing to hold ancestors against the will of their people.

This is not just a Muscogee issue. It is a human rights issue. How we treat the dead reflects our values as a society.

Join us in calling on Auburn University to return our ancestors now.