“The City of Boulder is committed to doing some real things to educate our community around chapters of our history that have been misrepresented or ignored. So a group of us got together – natives and non-natives – to help implement the city’s resolution. Our goal is to promote ‘right relationship,’ which you can’t have until you understand history.”
Did you know? On the day previously observed as Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day has become part of a national effort to honor the existence, culture, and contributions of the original inhabitants of North America.
On Aug. 2, 2016, a resolution was passed by Boulder’s City Council to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day close to home. To further promote awareness and knowledge about indigenous peoples locally, your Community Foundation funded Right Relationship Boulder – a volunteer-run grantee – to create videos as part of a robust roster of annual activities.
“From renaming ‘Settler’s Park’ to workshops emphasizing the influences of indigenous peoples on our laws and our lives today, there’s a growing momentum to correct history,” says Jerilyn DeCoteau, a semi-retired lawyer who originally came Boulder to work for the Native American Rights Fund.
“We take our workshops all around the country, and part of our motivation in creating videos is to show other communities what we’re doing in Boulder, to inspire their own ideas to ensure ‘right relationship’ toward indigenous peoples in their communities.”
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Jerilyn’s interests – among others – include Indian law and policy, human rights, and tribal courts. Her areas of expertise further include anti-racism work focused on the effects of colonialism on Native Americans in the United States, and on the effects of boarding school policy.
She adds, “The City of Boulder is committed to doing some real things to educate our community around chapters of our history that have been misrepresented or ignored. So a group of us got together – natives and non-natives – to help implement the city’s resolution.
“Our goal is to promote ‘right relationship,’ which you can’t have until you understand history.”
To date, the group maintains a mailing list of some 800 interested individuals, as well as monthly meetings to plan and undertake related projects – including working with schools to offer curricula around the untold histories of indigenous peoples.
