Over the past couple of days, I’ve had conversations and reviewed numerous letters from individuals within the City and County of Denver, all of whom are committed to ensuring the continuation of Scott Gilmore’s work.
My great-great-uncle once said:
“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one: They promised to take our land, and they took it.” — Chief Red Cloud (Oglala Lakota, known as Mahpíya Lúta).
There is a significant divide between what is being promised and the reality of keeping that promise. We know that you cannot replace Scott Gilmore in the City of Denver, no matter how hard you try. Stop fooling yourself and listen. We know what is best for us. Listen to us.
The individuals who made the decision to include Scott Gilmore, who worked for years in the city’s Parks Department, in last week’s layoffs never consulted with our community. These “officials” never do. We are the forgotten people, the invisible people who are thrown away because of money. Who in the Denver City administration was ever adopted in a Sacred Hunka ceremony?
The action is going to hurt 100,000 American Indians living on the Front Range directly.
Who amongst the Denver administrators knows our creation story of the Buffalo? Who amongst you is going to the sweat lodge and pray with us as we make plans about Buffalo restoration? Who has ever been in a Pipe Ceremony? Who knows how to handle that pipe? What is its significance?
It is doubtful that any of your staff will get invited to a Yuwipi Ceremony. These are things that cannot be learned from a book; they can only be realized through participation. You can’t just expect to participate because you want to. You must be invited. It takes many years to develop the respect of our people. And even longer to develop the trust. It takes even longer to become a part of our Sacred Circle of Life.
We have a different way of seeing the world and everything around us. This is our homeland. This is where our ancestors died protecting a way of life. We have never forgotten our ways despite the torture and brutal actions to convert us to your ways.
We had our civil ways of interacting with other people. Among the Cheyenne, we had a sacred council of peace, called the Council of 44. The members were peace chiefs. We did not seek out war against people coming to our homelands. We sought peace until such a time that our destiny and continued existence were in jeopardy. Then and only then did we retaliate to protect our families and a way of life.
The people who came here ignored all those good ways and forced their concept of civilization on us. All my life, I have said that I hope that I never succumb to becoming civilized. Now more than ever, when I look across America and see what is happening on the national level, I see the devolution of your civility. That kind of future is bleak and uncomfortable at best. That is not what we want.
Who amongst you knows the leadership structure of the Denver Indian community? Who speaks for our Denver community? Do you know perhaps even one person? Do you have any connections with the leaders or community members in our area? Our community is small, and when someone like Scott comes along, we are comforted and start growing confidence that perhaps the city administration will look back at the iniquitous history that left us landless in our own homeland.
Our ways strongly condemn breaking promises. It emphasizes the importance of keeping one’s word, highlighting the negative consequences of dishonesty and the value of trustworthiness. We use “careful consideration” before making a promise and stress the need to fulfill it.
The city has put us in a difficult position because we know that you will never be able to fulfill your promises. It took Scott most of his entire career to gain the confidence and trust needed for us to trust and respect him. He earned it, and he knows the secrets needed to make and sustain good relationships with our diverse community.
My people think differently from you. We always have and always will. That is the innate nature of our people. Our values are vastly different than yours. The first law of our people is respect, something that is sorely lacking in the ways of the people around us.
The second way of our people is about relationships. We try to treat everyone as relatives. This is hard to do because it is a foreign concept for others. We end our prayers by saying mitaku oyasin …. all my relatives.
We tell our children to listen and only speak when spoken to. We have similar expectations in all our relationships. Listen! That is difficult for many people who make critical decisions for the people. We are a small community with no degrees of separation; we all know each other. We are asking you to bring Scott Gilmore back. It is a straightforward request to fulfill.
You have seen many letters from many of our people. And only a few responses promise things that we know can’t be kept.
We are watching and organizing our future action. Please don’t try that famous historic tactic of divide and conquer. It would only exacerbate this situation.
We want to negotiate with you and find a meaningful compromise that works for our people. We want you to listen, we want you to hear our concerns, because we are tired of looking back and seeing the genocide of the past. We want a rightful place in creating a meaningful future for our people in our homeland.
Richard B. Williams is a Lakota Elder who has lived in Denver for 54 years.
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