Soapbox

I also participated in the Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Rage event on Oct. 10 and I appreciate what Riley Neugebauer wrote in the Telegraph opinions Oct. 21. With Native American Heritage Month and Thanksgiving in November, now is the time to finally remove the caricature statue of “The Chief” outside the Toh-Atin Gallery.

The Indigenous organizers have done so much to pave the way for increased public awareness of the harm this caricature causes every day in the lives of our Indigenous neighbors. They have asked white folks to use our individual and collective white privilege to once and for all take down this sign of ignorance and discrimination.

Representing Indigenous people as a crude mascot perpetuates white beliefs that Native Americans are relics of the past that can be exploited without recognizing the thriving current culture and modern lives of our tribal neighbors, including the Nuuchiu (Ute), Diné (Navajo) and Jicarilla Apache, among others.

Not that this would be my preference, but if the owners of Toh-Atin are so attached to an old timey Wild West feel, put up a caricature of a cowboy instead. Caricaturize your own race if you are attached to a “Cowboys and Indians” mentality.

Or if their value is around having a Native American draw attention to the artwork inside the gallery, take up the anonymous donor on their offer to remove “The Chief” and replace it with artwork by Native artists. In terms of brand alignment, the crass “Chief” is in stark juxtaposition to the beautiful artwork inside. The Toh-Atin is not a roadside trading post, it is a classy art gallery with a gorgeous assortment of Native art. The Toh-Atin website highlights the artists in a respectful way. Wouldn’t a beautiful statue by a Native artist outside the gallery draw even more attention by appreciators and collectors of Native American artwork, and thereby increase sales? As it stands, the offensive sign likely turns away many potential shoppers, myself included.

Taking actions toward a more inclusive culture and community doesn’t mean defeat; it means winning together. Let’s get out of the “either/or” thinking that if one group achieves success, the other side loses. No! We can all be winners in this together. I encourage the Clarks to take action to heal some of these wounds and help bring our community closer together.

Everyone, please talk to your friends, write letters, attend City Council meetings and take a photo at the statue with the hashtag #notyourmascotdurango. – Sandhya Tillotson, Durango

Lights, camera, action

There’s quite a bit of nothing to do on a movie sets. Now that there was a tragic shooting death in Santa Fe where bored staff used live ammunition for target practice with the same gun that took out a young mother/cinematographer, how about having a delivery of ping pong tables and other non-lethal games to all movie sets? The games could be donated to Boys & Girls Club or other organizations afterwards, which is a lot less expensive than civil lawsuits.

The loss of a human life followed by mean-spirited comments from lawmakers Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene should be addressed at The Capitol.

More horse sense in Wild West settings and less hate all-around would be nice. – Sally Florence, Durango

Where the grass is always greener.

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Biden has a choice to make: Does he want to establish his legacy as a president who fought for voting rights, or not?

In order to be remembered as a president who fought for voting rights, Biden must do more than ask the Senate to pass voting rights legislation. He knows as well as we do that bills like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act won’t make it through the Senate unless we abolish the filibuster.

Biden must publicly and unequivocally support abolishing the filibuster to clear the way for these crucial reforms. It’s time for Biden to be the leader he promised to be and call on the Senate to end the filibuster and protect our right to vote.

We’re counting on him to do the right thing.

– John Vreeke, Ignacio

True cost of military

Congress is currently considering two infrastructure spending bills totaling $4.5 trillion. The dollars will be spent over a 10-year period on roads and bridges, railroads, the power grid, internet access, water infrastructure, cyber security, climate change, public transportation, airports, affordable housing, clean energy, health care, education, child care, wildfire prevention, and much more. That amounts to $450 billion per year.

By comparison, over the past 10 years, we’ve spent $6.3 trillion on defense, or an average of $630 billion per year. The 2021 defense budget is $753 billion. That goes toward the cost of military operations; equipment maintenance; pay, retirement and health care for military personnel; weapons and equipment; and construction and management of military facilities.

The U.S. spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, U.K., Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia – combined.

It is proposed that infrastructure bills will be fully paid for by tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy as well as various fund reallocation strategies for already approved, but unspent stimulus dollars.

Defense spending comes from the discretionary federal budget, funded primarily through income taxes and borrowing.

Granted, it’s not an “either/or” situation, but in the long run, which do you think provides a better return on our investment? – Greg Phillips, Durango

Retire The Chief’s legacy

I write today to join the chorus of people, Native and non-Native alike, calling for the removal of “The Chief,” the controversial sign owned by Toh-Atin Gallery.

I was born and raised here in so-called “Durango, Colorado, USA” and have lived in this community for the entirety of my nearly four decades on this Earth. I am a beneficiary of conquest and genocide, living on stolen, occupied Indigenous land. Never have I seen The Chief as anything other than the racist caricature that it is. Such caricatures are designed to reinforce the stereotype of the happy and grateful Native who welcomes the theft of their land and the destruction of their culture with a smile and an invitation to commerce. The caricature also reinforces the idea of the success of the “White man’s burden” of supposedly civilizing the “merciless Indian savages” (language from the U.S. Declaration of Independence) who dare resist the theft of their land and annihilation of their people. Such caricatures and stereotypes actively harm living Indigenous people through their portrayal of the acceptance of subjugation and dehumanization, reinforcing colonial narratives of European superiority, justifying conquest and destruction.

In short, The Chief is so beloved to some because it represents settler-colonial entitlement to Native land and resources, the supposed success of the settler-colonial project of cultural genocide (which to be clear, is genocide nonetheless), and the supposed elimination of the direct threat represented by Native autonomy and genuine self-determination, which cannot coexist with colonial occupation. This is the source of the virulent backlash some have unleashed in defense of The Chief’s continued presence in our community. To challenge such a caricature is to challenge, albeit rather mildly, the very project of settler-colonialism itself, and thus the legitimacy of our nation, and such challenges must not be tolerated. Or so the defenders of colonialism believe.

It may be that the Clarks (owners of the gallery) are not prepared to face their own legacy and role in colonial exploitation, and will not do the right thing by taking down The Chief and retiring it to a historical institution such as the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Undoubtedly, their business will suffer for it, if not their consciences.

But we, people of conscience seeking to reckon with the violence and trauma inherent in our cultural foundations, aren’t going anywhere, and we will not stop until all celebrations of and monuments to the horrors of colonialism and white supremacy fall. One day, The Chief will be but a memory of a harder, harsher, more brutal time. Until that day, we struggle on.

My heartfelt thanks to all who have spoken out thus far, all who have taken action in the streets and board rooms and City Council meetings, and all who have yet to join us, but soon will.

All power to the people! – Nathan Coe, Durango

Journey for J. Wagoner

The poem lifted across the wind, Over the feathery mares tails And floated down the river Of dreams. It drifted down the mountainside Where no one could see And slid across the golden moon Of memory. The poem sang in the laughter Of children running in the park. It left the lips of longing lovers Huddled from the rain And rose with the sun, Dappling ancient trees. It kissed bending flowers And echoed from the belfry. Contented, It whispered lovingly Into the ear of the poet, Deciding to rest With strokes of blackened ink. – Burt Baldwin, Ignacio