Twenty months ago, Durango City Council decided the city needed an official statement acknowledging the cultural heritage and history of the land it was built on.
This week, City Council was presented with a final draft of the proposed land acknowledgment.
The land acknowledgment is 156 words long. But as Councilor Dave Woodruff observed at a City Council study session Tuesday, the paragraph is a product of consultations with a wide group of area tribes, individuals and organizations.
Kyle Dellamora, city Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Cross-Functional Team member, said the team created a focus group consisting of Four Corners tribal members with backgrounds in DEIB and social justice.
The focus group of seven tribal members met in two sessions while DEIB CFT performed outreach to tribes and conducted research into how other organizations such as Fort Lewis College and Durango School District 9-R crafted their own Indigenous land acknowledgments, she said.
Outreach to Indigenous tribes led to conversations that “brought light to stories of the land and the ceremonial places that are significant to each tribe,” she said.
She said the focus group was instrumental in crafting the land acknowledgment. It asked the statement to refer to Indigenous peoples in the present tense, to possess a specific, direct and assertive voice, and to be specific in references to atrocities of the past.
The land acknowledgment says Durango was built on the ancestral homelands of five Indigenous peoples, the Nuuchiu (Ute), Jicarilla Apache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Diné (Navajo) Nations.
It hearkens back to the grim past of the United States’ abuse of Indigenous tribes, including land grabs, forced assimilation and Indian boarding schools, before ending with a brighter message of reconciliation.
In full, the acknowledgment says:
“This is a call to honor and respect Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. As residents and visitors of Durango, we are called upon to educate ourselves about the history and cultural heritage of the land we inhabit. The city of Durango is situated on the ancestral homelands and territories of the Nuuchiu (Ute), Jicarilla Apache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Dine (Navajo) Nations. The original stewards of this land were forcibly removed and exposed to countless atrocities by the United States government, including repeatedly broken treaties, forced assimilation, the tragic legacy of Indian boarding schools, and the loss of ancestral homelands. We recognize lasting generational trauma exists within native communities today. We affirm the continuing importance of ancestral sites to descendant communities as integral to the living cultural landscape.
“This acknowledgment only becomes meaningful when combined with accountable relationships and informed actions. May this serve as a step towards inclusion, reconciliation, and reparations.”
The DEIB CFT also presented recommendations on where the land acknowledgment, if approved by City Council at a future meeting, should be read, printed and posted.
Spenser Snarr, DEIB CFT member, said appropriate times and places to feature the land acknowledgment include:
- The beginnings of City Council meetings and other public meetings.
- Durango publications such as the city’s Lake Nighthorse brochures and its Parks & Recreation Enrichment Guide.
- In the footer of the city’s website.
- At cultural displays at Durango-La Plata County Airport.
- And on the city’s social media bios.
“By engaging in an ILA (Indigenous land acknowledgment), we want to create broader public awareness of this community’s history,” Dellamora said. “We want to offer recognition and respect to the original stewards of the land in this community and inspire ongoing action and partnerships.”
Snarr said the land acknowledgment could also potentially be featured on plaques, in community rooms and spaces and at trail heads within city limits. The city could also make efforts to acknowledge Indigenous holidays practiced by regional tribes.
“There are a lot of ways to approach this. But we would like to highlight that we could bring awareness to issues affecting tribal communities and spotlight events occurring in Indigenous communities,” she said. “This could be an exciting way to connect communities and share important news and events.”
Long-term possibilities include a walking tour or interpretive guide to frame familiar settings such as buildings, trails and neighborhoods in a new light “that would reveal a more complete picture of the history and significance of this place,” she said.
Someday, with City Council approval, the city could hire a tribal relations specialist and put on educational campaigns and cultural celebrations, she added.
Woodruff said the tribes, focus group members and organizations that contributed to the land acknowledgment should also be recognized for their involvement.
“We talked about all the different tribes and all the people that were part of this,” he said. “… It might help people understand how much intention and work went behind the scenes to get to this paragraph. I think it’s really important to recognize all of those folks.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
