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