In April 2025, Fort Lewis College denied Jackson Clark II, owner of Toh-Atin Gallery, the opportunity to present his talk “Saving Navajo Weavings” at their Life-Long Learning Lecture Series because of protests fearing Clark would use the platform to promote “white savior-ism.” Was that Clark’s intent? Might it have been something else? Whatever it was could it have facilitated civilized discourse from two opposing sides? Isn’t that a critical function of higher education?
We’ll never know. Jackson Clark, life-long resident of Durango, passed away Aug. 28 (Herald, Aug. 29). With him, he took his encyclopedic knowledge of Southwest art and Indigenous cultures. A talk with a spirited discussion afterward might have spread a ray of light, may have changed some minds. But that chance has past.
Fort Lewis, you denied renowned expert Jackson Clark II the opportunity to share his vast knowledge and perspective because of student protests? And now he’s gone. What a spineless move.
john van becay
Aurora and Durango
