More than 150 years after dozens of people were slaughtered in the Sand Creek Massacre, a memorial at the Colorado State Capitol to remember the victims is closer to reality.
The man charged with creating the memorial is Harvey Pratt, a police forensic artist from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Both of his great-grandparents are descen dants of the Sand Creek Massacre, making him a logical choice to design the project.
“I’ve been involved and heard about Sand Creek my entire life,” Pratt said. “Other tribal members around me talk about that. I’m on the Cheyenne-Arapaho rolls.”
While not a done deal, momentum is building for a permanent memorial on the grounds of the state Capitol. The memorial would depict a woman unable to run from soldiers during the massacre with an empty cradleboard on the ground.
On Nov. 29, 1864, the Colorado Territorial militia invaded a Cheyenne and Arapaho village on the Eastern Plains, killing more than 160 people — most of them women and children.
Last year, Gov. John Hickenlooper became the first Colorado governor to apologize for the massacre, and he supports a memorial.
The memorial effort, organized by One Earth Future, is holding a fundraiser on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion.
“There needs to be a permanent memorial to the victims of the Sand Creek Massacre at the Colorado State Capitol, not only to tell the story to the public, but also to remind future generations of Colorado lawmakers of the pain caused by the broken promises and racially motivated violence that still affect the Cheyenne and Arapaho people to this day,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said to One Earth Future in a news release.
The governor is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Run and Remembrance at the state Capitol on Sunday at 11 a.m.
About $190,000 is needed for the memorial, said Dina Klimkina of One Earth Future. Since fundraising began about two months ago, the group has commitments for about $115,000, Klimkina said. One Earth Future founder Marcel Arsenault has pledged $97,000.
Arsenault and his wife, Cynda Collins-Arsenault, were moved by a story that happened at Sand Creek, where a lieutenant refused to participate in the massacre. The lieutenant was later shot and killed on the eve of his testimony at a congressional hearing regarding the massacre.
They were also inspired by Southern Arapaho Chief Niwot, who was not at Sand Creek but was known as a peacemaker, Arsenault said.
“This will memorialize the injustice and remind us we are capable of this and our better nature can prevent it,” he said.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at remembersandcreek.org/product/corporate-sponsorship/
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or @cillescasdp