It’s funny to think that in 2021 Indigenous people are still having to explain themselves and why images that are supposed to portray them are racist and hurtful.
I humbly come before you to express my opinion around the caricature that sits in front of Toh-Atin Gallery. And I also want to make myself clear that this has nothing to do with the gallery itself, but has everything to do with the harmfully racist and outdated image that the caricature portrays.
I grew up on the Southern Ute Reservation and am a Southern Ute tribal member. I remember when my family would come into town and see “the Chief” and I remember wondering why? Why was it up? What did it mean? Who was it?
I remember relating it to those old cartoons in which Native American characters were dressed like the Chief, but they weren’t the heroes in these cartoons. Nope. They were usually the villains and portrayed as savages, undisciplined, and needing to be saved or killed. It’s funny that this sign is called the Chief when in our local tribal traditions, whether that’s Ute or any of the other ancestral tribes that called Colorado home, the real chiefs looked nothing like this sign.
It’s dehumanizing, having to see this image then and even now. What more do I even need to say as an Indigenous woman?
Even now I try to avoid the street that this sits on. Why? I think it is just a response to the trauma that Indigenous people have been through and to feel treated and seen as a caricature or character with no real value or feelings but just an image in a costume, simply a character for people to take pictures with or stare at. But I have to admit that seeing this sign causes me sadness and anger because for months now, indigenous people all across this land have been calling for its removal but have been told by people who don’t represent our tribe, our people, or share our indigenous blood that there is nothing wrong with the sign. I would compare this to Germans telling the Jewish people that the harmful cartoons they used to portray them as “less than” are not harmful and that it’s a sign of respect or honor – when in reality it is neither.
We talk about our missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives; the dehumanization this image stokes or invokes in people is a direct link to them. We are human, we aren’t just characters. You can’t treat us like characters; we have feelings and needs. We have our culture and traditional teachings. We as Indigenous people don’t use such images when we celebrate our people, our culture, our traditions, or even when we promote our dances or ceremonies. The dehumanization of Indigenous people has to stop!
In an article in the June 2020 issue of the journal Race, Ethnicity and Education, “The psychosocial effects of Native American mascots: a comprehensive review of empirical research findings,” Laurel R. Davis-Delano, Joseph P. Gone and Stephanie A. Fryberg say that Native American mascots yield negative psychological effects (e.g., depressed self-esteem, community worth, and future achievement-related goals, and increased negative feelings of stress, distress, depression, dysphoria and hostility) among Native American students. This is equally true of the Chief and I urge you to look up this report and read it in its entirety.
With the name changes of sports teams such as the Washington football team and others, let’s ask ourselves why is it still hard to listen to people who are being hurt by these images? And why is it that Indigenous people are often ignored when it comes to who they are and what makes them beautiful and unique?
I’m going to ask the really hard question; if this were an African-American caricature, would this still be up or would the City of Durango have already removed it without Indigenous people having to beg?
If I told you that there are Indigenous people who are hurt by the Chief would you listen to us? I have spoken with individuals who are hurt by this image, who don’t like seeing it in a town they go to school, live and work. These are our people, our youth, the ones who will be our leaders, our teachers and storytellers! Why aren’t we hearing them and listening?
Is it because it doesn’t hurt you enough to want to take action? Or because you like the Chief? What if I told you it brings memories of trauma and shame to some? Would that change your mind? What if making this world a better place for our people meant taking down a caricature statue? Just that easy, right?
As an Indigenous woman, I ask myself these questions all the time: Why do I even have to fight to get this caricature taken down? Why am I having to explain my hurt and pain?
A couple of facts about what’s happened with the conversation about removal of the Chief:
An anonymous donor is willing to pay to have the Chief taken down and pay for a new piece of art to replace it. No money would come out of the gallery owners’ pockets. An Indigenous artist would get paid a commission for the new art piece. But the Clarks have stepped out of conversations and have said they are not willing to take the Chief down.
How privileged must we be to portray imagery of a group of people we have no lived history, education or knowledge about other than what we fantasize them to be, as brutal or as romantic as we please?
Gallery owners should remove the Chief, and if they want to display an image or statue representing Indigenous people who call Colorado home, we’re here and open to discussion.
Tog’oiak. (Thank you.)
Trennie Burch Collins is a Southern Ute tribal member and local activist.
