Durango’s Community Relations Commission is seeking a formal apology from Durango City Council after the city published a “Happy Columbus Day” post on Facebook that ignited outrage, offense and controversy earlier this month. But members of the commission also said “sorry” isn’t enough – they want action.
The city of Durango published the “Happy Columbus Day” post to its official Facebook page on Oct. 10, the second Monday of the month, which the city formally designated as Indigenous Peoples Day in 2016. The designation was in recognition of the area’s rich Indigenous history and the oppression faced by Indigenous peoples during and following colonization of the Americas, according to the city’s resolution.
The post depicted a cartoon of Christopher Columbus, a 1490s-style Spanish ship and an American flag along with a quote attributed to Columbus that said, “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
It prompted backlash from Durango-area residents and Facebook users, which led to the post’s removal and replacement with an “Indigenous Peoples Day” post. The city pinned a comment to the top of that post apologizing for “creating the confusion and misunderstanding.”
The comment also said the Columbus Day post had been “inadvertently created by an employee who is new to Durango and still getting familiar with the city’s DEI efforts,” and denied any ill intent.
Tom Sluis, spokesman for the city, said the city spends a lot of time, money and energy on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The post was made by a new employee who came from a place where Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day are celebrated.
“I understand and the city understands the sensitivity about this,” he said. “But again, there was no intention to slight anybody or to hurt anybody.”
For members of the Community Relations Commission, the damage was already done. During a public meeting on Wednesday, several members agreed that a formal public apology from City Council is in order and that additional action from the city is needed.
“We will be requesting a formal public apology,” Trennie Burch Foster, commission member, said in an interview on Thursday.
She said members of the Indigenous community she has spoken with want action, but for the commission, it’s back to the drawing board to determine what steps will create meaningful change.
During the Community Relations Commission on Wednesday, Tirzah Camacho, commission chair, said Durango was the first municipality in Colorado to officially adopt and recognize Indigenous Peoples Day and the city has an opportunity to serve as a role model.
She said the Columbus Day post wasn’t a “small mistake” and it and other “posturing” by the city, such as Thanksgiving decorations featuring pilgrims and American Indians plastered on city buildings, are “garbage” and a “farce.”
“So the city’s posturing in ways and has in the past that are conflicting,” she said. “How can we help? How can we get the city to listen and work with us around sharpening these things up?”
Ideas proposed at the meeting included a letter to City Council naming specific impacts that language and depictions have on Indigenous and marginalized communities, the danger and trauma such depictions pose, and work to be done with the city’s internal DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Committee.
Foster said she wants to see City Council members become more involved with the Indigenous community in more meaningful ways than, for example, riding on a float in the Southern Ute Tribal Parade, which she has seen City Council members and Mayor Barbara Noseworthy do before.
“I think it’s way more than just that,” she said. “You don’t get to just show up and act like you’re learning or you’re accepting or you’re supporting us when in actuality on the other end of that you’re showing your true colors.
“I think for me, seeing them at the tribal fair and then seeing the Columbus Day post is really a slap in the face. You want to show up and act like you’re supporting us but yet these things happen under your watch.”
Efforts to reach Noseworthy for comment were not immediately successful Friday.
Foster said things like “The Chief,” a large and controversial sign depicting a Native American character in cowboy attire owned by Toh-Atin Gallery, and city government posting about Christopher Columbus in a positive light, encourage more hurtful depictions and push complacency.
She said that after the Columbus Day Facebook fiasco, people protesting the removal of the post attended an Indigenous Peoples Day event in Durango.
“I think for us, that really made us timid and be really, really aware of where we were and what we were doing,” she said. “That’s the life we live. In our reality, those are the things that we deal with every day.
“It gave them some sort of pass to feel like they have been seen and heard and that it was OK.”
Community Relations Commission member Enrique Orozco-Perez said he is not Indigenous and supports whatever steps the Indigenous community deems appropriate.
“I will say this is a continuation of what we see from not only the government of Durango but the city of Durango, where voices of color, especially Indigenous voices, just continue to get marginalized and disrespected,” he said. “We need a reminder that we are on stolen land and that Indigenous people are to be respected. Historical figures like Columbus are not to be respected for their genocidal acts.”
During the Community Relations Commission meeting on Wednesday, he said apologies are hollow these days.
“‘Sorry’ is just a word,” he said. “And if there’s nothing behind that word in actual, real-life stuff then that word means absolutely nothing in today’s day and age.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
