In this month’s newsletter:
- Take Action
- Announcements
- Events
- Online Resources
- Volunteering
TAKE ACTION
Join us June 11th against City’s problematic plans for Fort Chambers site!
Thursday, June 11: 6:30-8:30 pm at the Museum of Boulder
Right Relationship Boulder has very serious concerns about the City’s proposed design for the Fort Chamber’s site, a staging ground for the Sand Creek Massacre. View the design for yourself here.
Join us on June 11th to learn more, and consider how we can move the City towards a more truthful design and create “right relationship” with Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples.
Design problems:
- Begins with settler arrival, ignoring Indigenous presence on the land for 13,000 years.
- Problematic representation: The Arapaho and Cheyenne people are “artistically” represented in demeaning ways.
- Centers settler fears: The Design’s message is that the Boulder settlers were afraid of Indian attacks, their fears were manipulated by leaders who were acting in their own political interests, and their fears led them to commit acts of violence against Arapaho and Cheyenne people at a peace camp. This comes close to excusing the violence. And it ignores the fears that the Arapaho and Cheyenne were feeling: loss of their homeland, their hunting grounds, their security, their lives.
- Falsely equates settler and Indigenous stories. The Design presents two parallel stories — the Native people and the Settlers — as if these were moral equivalents. Instead, the Design should make clear that the Fort Chambers site is about Boulder men who trained as “Indian fighters” and set out to murder innocent Arapaho and Cheyenne people.
- Historically inaccurate: The Design depicts a gradual increase in Settler population and corresponding decrease in Native population. In fact, 100,000 settlers illegally invaded Arapaho and Cheyenne treaty lands in one summer, and Chief Nawath led his people out of the Boulder Valley to avoid conflict.
- Romanticized ending: In the Design, visitors return to the parking lot viewing “artistic” representation of decreasing Settler dominance in the Boulder Valley and increasing Native presence and influence. This is a fantasy intended to make people feel that all is well. Instead, visitors should leave with challenging questions: What have been the outcomes of Fort Chambers and Sand Creek for the Arapaho and Cheyenne? What have been the outcomes for the people of Boulder? How do we feel about the disparities? What would it mean to build relationships with the Arapaho and Cheyenne based on truth, respect, and justice.
Background: The City’s Open Space and Mountain Parks department developed an Interpretive Design for what they call a “Healing Trail” at Boulder’s staging ground for the Sand Creek Massacre. In 1864, 111 Boulder men took off from Fort Chambers to join Col. John Chivington’s “Indian Fighters.” At Sand Creek, the volunteer soldiers attacked a peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho and massacred more than 200 people. Watch a short Ken Burns video about the Sand Creek Massacre here. Now the City’s Open Space and Mountain Parks department is deciding how to tell this history at the site of Fort Chambers. City website on Ft. Chambers here. Ethnographic study results here.
Right Relationship Boulder invites you to support
The Annual Arapaho Unity Youth Gathering
Let’s give a generous welcome to Arapaho youth and elders when they meet here in their Front Range homeland.
Please donate now to meet our $30,000 goal!
In June, Arapaho youth and elders from Wyoming and Oklahoma will unite for a week of exploring and learning together. The Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center is generously hosting them! Right Relationship Boulder is raising funds to support their travel, food, and the elders who offer guidance and wisdom, including Arapaho language, history, and ecological knowledge.
The Northern and Southern Arapaho tribes have been geographically separated for 150 years, but “we are one people,” says Gathering organizer Fred Mosqueda. “By being together to learn the language, traditions, and culture, our youth will become more Arapaho, not more Northern or Southern. They will become stronger.” That’s the exciting goal of this UNITY gathering!
“This is an experience that will stay with the youth for the rest of their lives.” — Cedar Shirey
“Everyone who participated last year wants to come back!” – Fred Mosqueda
The ancestors of these Arapaho youths were forcibly removed from their Colorado homeland. Let’s begin a new chapter, welcoming them home. Please make a generous donation today!
Donate on the Right Relationship Boulder website: rightrelationshipboulder.org/donate (In the dropdown menu, select Land Group Projects).
Or mail a check via Mediators Foundation, our fiscal sponsor:
Mediators Foundation, 2525 Arapahoe Ave, E-4 #509 Boulder, CO 80302 (Be sure to write “RRB Land Group” on the memo line)
Tell Congress: Pass the Respect Tribal IDs Act
Native peoples are being harassed and detained by ICE as part of their racial profiling.
Now, there’s a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House and Senate that would require federal agents to respect Tribal sovereignty, including Tribal documentation.
The Respect Tribal IDs Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as Tribal Nations, to develop a standardized training for federal officers involved in immigration raids, including how to identify Tribal documents and Tribal IDs as proof of citizenship, and develop proper protocols for interacting with Tribal members.
Send your letter here.
National Park Signage
The federal government is dismantling Native and Black exhibits at national parks and museums.
From:
RRB:
If we care about telling accurate Native history in our National Parks, now is the time to lift our voices! See this Colorado Sun article for more information.
Please click on this link to submit comments to the Department of the Interior today. You can choose to comment about “signs and other information” about any specific site, so choose a site that is important to you. Or choose many sites and submit comments for them all. For example, one Colorado resident submitted this statement about the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site:
It is important to preserve the accurate history of Sand Creek as a massacre site, a massacre perpetrated by the US Cavalry against Native Americans (mostly the elderly, women and children). A marker referring to a supposed “Sand Creek Battleground” was removed in recent years because this was NOT a battleground, but a massacre site. This marker must not be returned to the site, as might be required by the “Secretarial Order” from the current administration. Please do not try to whitewash the history of this site. Historical accuracy is important, current political whims are not. Thank you.
RRB ANNOUNCEMENTS
Join RRB’s fundraising account with King Soopers!
Right Relationship Boulder has set up a fundraising account with King Soopers! Link your King Sooper’s Rewards Card to “Mediators Foundation” (the RRB fiscal sponsor) and King Sooper’s will donate 4% of your purchases to Right Relationship Boulder at no cost to you.
How to sign up:
- Visit: kingsoopers.com/i/community/community-rewards
- Follow the steps to link your rewards card to Mediators Foundation
Why it matters:
- King Sooper’s will donate 4% of your monthly grocery purchases to RRB
EVENTS
Register here.
Sign up here.
New Exhibit: Colorado’s People of the Sacred Land
OPEN APRIL 24, 2026 – JULY 5, 2026
Museum of Boulder
As we consider the meaning of the 250th anniversary of American Independence and the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood, let’s center the voices and perspectives of Indigenous people, past and present, and reflect on the legacies we inherit. This exhibit highlights key findings from the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) Reports, paired with artwork by Native artists addressing the personal impact of these histories.
The TREC Reports by the People of the Sacred Land detail the losses Colorado’s historic tribes incurred. The Historic Loss Assessment details land cessions – legal, illegal, and coerced – and the underlying circumstances that precipitated such events. Through extensive research of individual title transfers, they report the value of dispossessed lands to be approximately $1.17 trillion (market value in 2021). The Legal and Political History of Colorado Tribes explores the legal and political history of the Apache of Oklahoma, Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Comanche, Kiowa, Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, Shoshone, Ute Tribe of Utah, Southern Ute, and Ute Mountain Ute. The third report examines the history of Indian education in Colorado.
More information here.
NEWS
New Film: People of the Sacred Land
To be added to announcements about future screenings contact: eight16creative@gmail.com
The idea that we are living on stolen land isn’t new, or even novel; it’s a reality that exists across settler communities worldwide, and many people in the United States are aware of the blatant agendas, coercion, and profound immorality of the treaty process. What’s often missing from that conversation, however, are rigorous, comprehensive, academically supported Native-led studies proving that— even through the lens of modern law— large areas of what we call the United States remain illegally occupied. And nowhere is the evidence and culpability more dramatic than in the state of Colorado. PEOPLE of the SACRED LAND (2026, 32 min) follows Richard Willams (Oglala Lakota, Northern Cheyenne) as he recounts the findings of the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) of Colorado’s TREC Reports. While Rick’s story focuses on Colorado, the approach, implications, and impact of his work provide a model for Native leaders across the continent.
Richard Williams: Executive Producer
Dewi: Director, cinematographer, editor
Sarah Ortegon Highwalking: Field director
Jason: Cinematographer, finishing editor
Indigenous people honor, raise awareness for relatives
MAY 6, 2026 — Read more here.
Indigenous people and others gather in Colorado Springs on Saturday to raise awareness about Indigenous relatives who have gone missing or who have been killed.
When The Buffalo Were Introduced to a Wind River Reservation School, Students Began to Thrive
A program that brings buffalo into the lives of Native American students at an elementary school on the Wind River Reservation has doubled attendance and increased reading comprehension. It’s just the beginning.
Lawsuit Filed Against SD Board of Minerals & Environment
Watch the video update here.
The public hearing for the Chord Uranium Project is ajourned until further notice. The hearing began Monday, May 18th, and was scheduled to run through Friday, May 22, 2026.
On Wednesday, May 20th, community members and Craven Canyon intervenors, including Elizabeth Lone Eagle, filed a federal lawsuit against the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment.
The lawsuit was filed in response to the lack of due process around the board’s treatment of Lakota people during the Chord Project public hearing. Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation, a Canadian mining company, proposed the Chord Project, which seeks to drill 38 holes up to 750 feet deep near Craven Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Community Members Take Direct Action to Stop Drilling at Pe’ Sla
Read more here.
Dr. Valeriah Big Eagle: I write these words while sitting in the sun during a frosty morning at the Pe’ Sla Protectors Camp where Indigenous community members have successfully forced the drill rigs hired by Pete Lien & Sons out of the He Sapa.
This win would not have been possible without prayer, community support, and direct action. When we first learned that the drilling had started in Pe’ Sla, we swiftly began to mobilize a plan to stop it through ceremony and direct action. We had already exhausted our legal pathways and knew the hearing for a temporary restraining order would not happen until Monday, May 4th.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 5th, the Pe’ Sla Protectors engaged in peaceful negotiations with the US Forest Service to ensure Pete Lien & Sons dismantled the one other unoccupied drill site before we allowed them to enter Pe’ Sla Protector Camp.
Land Back: Fond du Lac Band Celebrates Return of 3,400 Acres in Historic Transfer
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa marked a historic moment Wednesday as approximately 3,400 acres of land known as the Cloquet Forestry Center were officially returned to the Band through the signing of Minnesota’s state bonding bill.
Read more here.
Online Resources
NEW: Indigenous House
Welcome to Indigenous House, the new digital media platform and YouTube channel celebrating Indigenous voices, creators, and culture. Building on the groundbreaking work of IllumiNative, we are a visionary lifestyle brand powered by Indigenous cultures, creativity, and community — bold, forward-looking, and unapologetically Native.
Our digital collective brings together diverse voices, stories, and perspectives that celebrate our innovation, joy, and legacy. We don’t just tell stories. We shape the future.
ITEP Indigenous-Led Conservation Chapter
The Status of Tribes and Climate Change (STACC) report series elevates the voices and efforts of Indigenous Peoples, Nations, and communities and provides a space within published literature to share stories about the climate change impacts we are experiencing and the solutions we are implementing in our communities. The reports are acts of resilience and self-determination intended to uplift Indigenous experiences and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in local, national, and global conversations.
To further uplift these Knowledges, ITEP is excited to announce a webinar series dedicated to the STACC Report, Volume 2, which was released in Spring 2025. The webinar series brings to life discussions amongst chapter authors and provides a space for public conversation and questions. The Indigenous-Led Conservation webinar is designed to be a community conversation.
Truth, Restoration, and Education Reports (TREC) link
The Truth, Restoration & Education Commission, led by the People of the Sacred Land in Colorado, has been examining the legal and political pasts of the state’s tribes, with a focus on restoring the status of tribal nations. In one of the final reports, the commission reveals a history of genocide, land grab, theft in perpetuity and the elimination of Tribal Sovereignty in Colorado, and recommends actions for restoration and reparations.
First Nations’ colleague and People of the Sacred Land President Rick Williams (Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne) tells CBS News, “We would like to see the state of Colorado and the federal government own their responsibility for restoring justice to Indian people in Colorado. It isn’t doing land acknowledgments…. It’s about helping us protect sacred sites. It’s about trying to find ways to maybe bring these people home.” See the 3 min. interview and article here.
The Truth About 250-150 Project
Click here for the StoryMap
The Truth About 250–150 Collective unites Wakáška Yuza – Native Youth Leaders, Control Group Productions, and Create áyA to tell Colorado’s true history through Native-led art, performance, and story. Together, they are developing a mobile history and art exhibit that will travel statewide in 2026, blending Native truth-telling with contemporary creative expression.
At its center is The Breathing Healing Bus, an immersive gallery and theatre experience by Control Group Productions in collaboration with Cinnamon Kills First, Bill TallBull, and Kaden Walksnice (Cheyenne). In 2024, the Bus carried audiences from Denver to the Sand Creek Massacre site, confronting Colorado’s violent origins and offering a space for reflection and healing.
In 2025, the project expanded to tell the broader story of Native Colorado, including the enduring presence of the Ute Nations, through their voices, and to highlight findings from the Truth Restoration Education Commission (TREC) report that includes the legal and political histories of ten Tribal Nations that ceded land to what is now Colorado.
In 2026, the Breathing Healing Bus will anchor the Truth About 250–150 Mobile Tour, a Native-led initiative DISRUPTING Colorado’s official 150th-anniversary celebration. The tour will share untold stories of displacement and resilience while affirming the truth that “We Are Still Here.”
How to Show Up in a Good Way: Lessons for white settlers in Indigenous-led movements
Access the Zine here.
This Zine (a short, illustrated booklet) shares advice from activists with the movement against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline on how white folks can show up in a good way to an Indigenous-led movement.
The Zine is free — please feel free to share, print, and distribute, and consider donating to an Indigenous-led climate justice nonprofit or movement. Brigid Mark and Timothy Cominghay compiled the information in the Zine, and artist Jackie Fawn created the illustrations, and many other activists contributed to and provided feedback on the Zine.
Access the Zine here.
Learn History of Colorado’s Ute Tribes
This PBS Colorado Experience documentary film gives a good overview of the history of the Ute tribes in Colorado, mostly in the words of Ute tribal members themselves.
Building Relationships with Native Peoples: Examples and Tips from Colorado Communities
We invite you to watch this recording of an April 16, 2025 webinar that was hosted by the Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples program.
Speakers from Right Relationship Boulder, the Longmont-Northern Arapaho Sister Cities program, and the Broomfield-Cheyenne and Arapaho Sister Cities program shared their experiences of building relationships with tribes whose ancestors were forcibly removed from the Boulder Valley. Watch the recording here, and forward it to others who might find it useful and inspiring as they consider ways to build right relationships in their own communities.