Wayne D. King, Founding Director, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, W. Richard West Jr. has one-word for efforts to shackle the Smithsonian – RESIST, InDepth NH, 28 September 2025
“I am dismayed – dismayed beyond words – at what is happening in our country, but I do have an ultimate faith in better outcomes,” W. Richard West Jr. said.
Though home for him is now Los Angeles, Rick and his brother Jim grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as citizens of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. Rick is also considered a favorite son of New Hampshire, where he and his brother Jim and their father W. Richard West Sr. (Wah Pah Nah Yah) were campers and staff at Camp Mowglis, School of the Open on Newfound Lake. (see INDEPTHNH.org – The Extraordinary Legacy of W. Richard West Sr.)