A nearly 200-mile walk led by American Indian tribes ended on the steps of the state Capitol with songs, chants and somber speeches.
Sunday marked the conclusion of the 18th annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run/Walk, which joined people from all over the U.S. who are interested in commemorating the history of the Sand Creek Massacre. The walk was organized relay-style, with about 100 people participating. They started at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site near Eads and walked or ran to a stopping point, where other participants would take over, with Denver the ultimate goal.
“It was my first time, and it was really fun,” said Sonny Wannaweeke,12, who came from Montana and was bundled up in a large jacket and was carrying a staff half his height. “I will do it again next year.”
The members of the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes held drums and staffs made of bald eagle heads and large feathers. Organizers of the event spoke at a lecturn to an audience of about 150 people. Their speeches touched on the grim history of the walk, which attempts to follow the exact route soldiers took after they massacred the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment. The soldiers carried pieces of the mutilated bodies while they marched.
“All tribes are connected to water, land, plants and animals. It’s who we are,” said Otto Braided Hair, an organizer of the event.
He also mentioned the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which is locked in a battle with the local sheriff’s department and Energy Transfer Partners, a natural gas company that’s attempting to build an oil pipeline near the tribe’s reservation in North Dakota.
“All our relatives’ ways of life are being threatened,” Braided Hair said. “We need to support them, and we need to support each other.”
