The Red Road Project

Join & I tomorrow night for the opening reception of at the from 5-8PM. This exhibition is a small sampling of a much larger project that has been a decade in the works (and still continues). The project is all about redirecting the narrative and giving Indian Country a platform to use their own voices to tell their own stories of inspiration, resilience & history. We are always looking to document stories so come out & see how you can be involved. See you there🪶

Join us tomorrow at for a small presentation and preview of the work we’ve been doing during the past few months.

Thanks to the support of Redline, we have been able to continue our work - this time telling the history of the Indian Relocation Act of the 1950-60’s which resulted in thousands of Native Americans relocating to Denver from all corners of the United States. Stories like Patrick’s, Lakota from Standing Rock, who first came to Denver after a tour in Vietnam.

Talk is at 10:15am and opening reception at 6pm. Danielle will also be chairing a panel on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives at 1:40pm.
Let us know if you plan on coming!

•THANKSTAKING DAY•
Since 1975, thousands have gathered on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, from near and far in a day of mourning for Indigenous people, also known as “Unthanksgiving Day.” The tradition started in 1975, six years after Indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz Island to claim the place that was promised in one of several treaties, later broken by the federal government. Most Americans believe that the Thanksgiving holiday pays homage to pilgrims breaking bread with the local Wampanoag tribe as a peaceful welcoming celebration. But the reality of this holiday is rooted from a celebration of colonial soldiers slaughtering several hundred Pequot people. The first image shows a photo from Alcatraz Island at the sunrise ceremony on “Unthanksgiving Day” when we were there a few years ago. The other two images are archival images of when Natives occupied the island.

Lynnette Grey Bull, Lakota and Northern Arapaho, currently resides on the Wind River Indian Reservation. She was the first Native American woman to run for U.S. Congress in Wyoming in 2020 and has been advocating for Indian Country for over a decade. Lynnette is the founder of “Not Our Native Daughters”, an organization that focuses on the work and education of human trafficking and the issues surrounding Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG). NOND aims to bring training resources to tribes, social services and law enforcement and has trained over 7000 participants, over 50 different tribes and has collaborated on data research with ASU Office of S*x Trafficking, and presently plays a key role in legislative work such as Savannas Act and Not Invisible Act. “Because of my own traumas and experiences, I’ve always had a calling and purpose to serve others which has led me to do the work around humans s*x trafficking, specifically within my Native communities.” In the United States, violence against Indigenous women has reached unprecedented levels. More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence, and more than 1 in 2 have experienced s*xual violence. Native American women are murdered more than 10 times the national average. Advocates raising awareness of the epidemic will often wear a red handprint as the symbol of these issues.

Rick Williams, a well-respected Lakota and Cheyenne elder, has a very impressive resume of accomplishments he’s done for the Native American community over the decades. Currently, in his retirement years, the good work hasn’t slowed down. Rick is an Indigenous consultant and has been doing much research, specifically in the state of Colorado. He recently uncovered the original Governor Evans’ 1864 proclamation that called for U.S. citizens to kill Native Americans and take their property, which ultimately led to the Sand Creek Massacre. This order, while introduced in 1864, was still active as of August 2021. Rick couldn’t believe this has been buried all these years and wonders how many other orders like it still exist. He brought this buried law to the attention of the current Colorado governor and questioned it’s existence and eventually persuaded him to rescind the order. “The proclamation rescission was a great victory for us, but our work has just begun”, states Rick. He is forming a Truth & Reconciliation Commission to continue the work and uncover Native American history. “The truth of history must be told, and then only can the healing begin. Once there is truth, and documented wrongdoing, there must be reconciliation.”

Darius, Diné (Navajo) and Black, is the Director of the Anti-Discrimination Office in Denver, Colorado. As a civil rights advocate, his wealth of knowledge and ability to navigate governmental systems has made him an asset to the community, especially Native Americans residing in an urban area. He was born and raised in Denver, and is considered an “urban Indian”, but was able to spend much time on the Navajo reservation with his grandma while growing up, which kept him closely connected to his culture. The number of American Indians living in urban settings accelerated in the 1950s & ‘60s because of the Indian Termination Policies of that era, when the U.S. government encouraged Native people to leave their reservations and assimilate into mainstream culture. Today, over 70% of Native Americans reside in urban settings.