{"id":39492,"date":"2025-11-16T05:54:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/historic-bond-paves-the-way-for-cultural-embassy\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T05:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T10:54:34","slug":"historic-bond-paves-the-way-for-cultural-embassy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/historic-bond-paves-the-way-for-cultural-embassy\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic bond paves the way for Cultural Embassy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Ute<\/a><\/p>\n

Ute Chief Sevara and family. (Photo courtesy of public domain)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

DENVER\u2014In a landmark vote with national implications, Denver residents have approved a $20 million bond measure to create an American Indian Cultural Embassy \u2014 the first of its kind in the United States devoted to restoring relationships between ten Native Nations and their ancestral Colorado homelands.<\/p>\n

The measure, part of the city\u2019s broader Vibrant Denver Bond initiative, applies specifically to ten Tribal Nations with legal, treaty, and congressional title to land in present-day Colorado: the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe of Utah, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache of Oklahoma, Eastern Shoshone, Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapaho, and the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

While these ten tribes form the legal foundation for the embassy, its vision has galvanized Native and non-Native allies across the Front Range \u2014 including Lakota citizens whose ancestors regularly hunted and wintered in Colorado. \u201cThe Lakota have a special relationship with the land,\u201d said Rick Williams, president of People of the Sacred Land and a member of the Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne Nations. \u201cLakota used to come to Colorado every year, and they would hunt. There are reports that Chief Old Smoke had a camp on Cherry Creek and would winter here and then go back to the Black Hills in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the city of Denver, the bond\u2019s passage represents the first formal commitment in its 160-year history to rebuild ties with Native Nations forcibly removed from the region. The idea for an embassy grew from the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) \u2014 a privately funded, Native-led inquiry into Colorado\u2019s colonial history, organized by People of the Sacred Land, Rick Willams director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a report,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s shocking to understand the real history of Colorado. The 1864 proclamations by Territorial Governor John Evans basically legalized genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who spearheaded the commission\u2019s research, discovered that Evans\u2019s wartime orders \u2014 one declaring war on all \u201chostile Indians,\u201d the other authorizing Colorado citizens to kill Native people and seize their property \u2014 were never officially rescinded until 2021. \u201cUp until three years ago, it was still legal to kill Indians and take their property in Colorado,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce we got those rescinded, I was furious. I wanted to know more about the history of Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TREC report chronicles how those proclamations led directly to the Sand Creek Massacre, the destruction of Cheyenne and Arapaho villages, and the systematic removal of tribes from the Front Range and eastern plains. Between 1848 and 1878, 204 settlers were killed in Colorado; during the same period, 710 Native people were killed, and more than 200 military expeditions were launched to remove them. \u201cToday we call that genocide,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Unable to persuade state officials to establish a formal truth and reconciliation process, Williams raised private funds to launch one independently. \u201cI called it the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but a friend told me you can\u2019t call it reconciliation when there was never any conciliation,\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cHe was right. I changed it to Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s final report \u2014 hundreds of pages of legal, historical, and economic analysis \u2014 documents 170 years of forced relocation, land theft, and human-rights violations. It concludes that deliberate genocide and illegal dispossession created the economic foundation of Colorado\u2019s modern prosperity.<\/p>\n

The report also recommends concrete restoration measures, including repatriating land to tribes, co-management of sacred sites, curriculum reform, and the establishment of a permanent cultural embassy in Denver to represent the ten historic tribal nations.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore, who represents Denver\u2019s far-northeast district, read the TREC report and was \u201cshocked\u201d by its findings. \u201cShe quickly and quietly took aggressive action to begin a process of restoration and conciliation,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI\u2019ve called her an angel. I believe there was divine intervention in making this dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmore introduced the proposal to her colleagues during planning for the city\u2019s Vibrant Denver bond package. Mayor Mike Johnston later endorsed the idea, adding the $20 million allocation that voters approved this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may be the first time in modern history that Native Nations removed from their homelands will have an official embassy that could help them develop a meaningful relationship with their homelands,\u201d Williams said in his announcement to supporters.<\/p>\n

The embassy will differ from a traditional diplomatic mission. Instead of representing sovereign nations abroad, it will serve as a permanent cultural and diplomatic space within Colorado for those tribal governments whose ancestral territories lie within the state\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people who have been gone for so long almost don\u2019t know what their homeland was like \u2014 and now they are going to find out,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAlmost every nation we\u2019ve talked to has been really excited about it.\u201d One tribe, he added, has already expressed interest in re-establishing a reservation in Colorado.<\/p>\n

At a Fall Gathering Celebration scheduled for November 9 at The Commons on Champa, People of the Sacred Land and Councilwoman Gilmore will host a community event to mark the victory and discuss next steps. \u201cA vision is a dream, an idea is a developing thought, and the work is the reality,\u201d Williams wrote. \u201cToday, we have a vision and a dream come true. We must be nimble, creative, critical thinkers to develop the ideas that will lead to plans and work to make our dream a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams estimates a three-year timeline for development. The tribes themselves will guide the planning, design, and governance of the new institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope,\u201d he said, \u201cis that this embassy becomes a living bridge \u2014 a place of truth, restoration, and education that helps Native nations reconnect with their homeland, and helps Colorado understand the truth about its own history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The embassy\u2019s creation stems from more than historical correction; it\u2019s also a moral reckoning. The TREC report argues that Colorado\u2019s wealth was built on the exploitation of tribal lands, labor, and resources. It calls for \u201crestorative justice\u201d through land return, economic restitution, and educational reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans cannot naively espouse ideals that our own historic actions refute,\u201d the report quotes former Sen. Bill Bradley. \u201cFailure to come to terms with having broken treaties and destroyed hundreds of thousands of people undermines our moral authority. How liberating it would be to escape the hypocrisy and become a society that lives by its professed ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said that ideal is now within reach. \u201cFor the first time in 160 years of existence, Denver has committed to Native Nations and to the local American Indian community to create a new relationship that will change the future history of American Indians in Denver and Colorado,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken the first step in a journey that can last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Historic bond paves the way for Cultural Embassy<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ute Chief Sevara and family. (Photo courtesy of public domain) DENVER\u2014In a landmark vote with national implications, Denver residents have approved a $20 million bond measure to create an American Indian Cultural Embassy \u2014 the first of its kind in the United States devoted to restoring relationships between ten Native <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> November 16, 2025<\/p>\n

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