Remarks at Sand Creek Land Dedication

Remarks at Sand Creek Land Dedication — As Delivered

Thank you, Director Hammond.

thank you to Governor Wass-a-knee for your words and for being here, and so many others here today for your powerful words.

We’re here to remember one of the most shameful mornings — not only in Colorado’s history but in all of American history.

As others have recounted, the morning when U.S. soldiers massacred over 230 Cheyenne and Arapahoe camped along Big Sandy Creek.

And for years, the official marking here as was said described Sand Creek as a battleground.

It wasn’t a battleground.

It was the site of a mass murder. An atrocity. A crime against humanity.

Sand Creek stole a generation from the Cheyenne and Arapaho and left a wound that Native people carry to this day.

And it left every American with the responsibility to grapple with what happened…

Not just that terrible morning.

But everything before that allowed it to happen:

The proclamation from that Senator Hickenlooper read from Colorado’s Territorial Governor, authorizing citizens “to kill and destroy, as enemies of the country…all hostile Indians.”

The false promises in the treaties of Fort Laramie and Fort Wise.

And the years of dislocation, broken treaties, and violence against the first peoples of this land.

This dedication is about ensuring every American can come to understand this horrendous part of our history.

But more than anything, it’s about protecting this sacred ground for the descendants of those murdered at Sand Creek.

As representatives of the U.S. Government, that is our shared responsibility.

It’s why I am so grateful to Secretary Haaland for being here today.

As a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, and a 35th-generation New Mexican, she knows the history of what our government did to Native peoples in the West.

It’s a history terrible and tragic enough to shake anyone’s faith in our country and its commitments to human freedom and equality — especially if you are Native American.

But that’s one of the reasons I admire Secretary Haaland so much.

She hasn’t turned her back on the nation responsible for Sand Creek — and so many terrible events like it — she stepped forward to lead, again and again…

As an organizer in Native communities fighting for equal access to basic services and the ballot.

As one of the first Native American women to serve in the United States Congress.

And as the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Secretary Haaland joins a legacy of great Americans who’ve used the promises and the words in our Constitution to try to ensure that all of us — including Native peoples — enjoy the rights and privileges that document promises.

And although we have a long way to go, I take comfort in knowing that she is there leading the way.

Secretary Haaland, thank you so much for being here.