This week we celebrated Indigenous People’s Day. Formerly known as Columbus Day.
History, sadly, is far too often told from the view of those who wrote it. Who conquered those before them? Who assimilated cultures into their own. Who relocated social groups to make space, not peace.
When we allow more voices to tell history’s story, history itself is strengthened. It’s expanded. It’s inclusive. And most importantly, it’s informative. Not just for today but for generations to come.
The spirit of this season is to bare witness to those indigenous communities whose heritage walked these lands and bathed in these waters long before Columbus arrived. To take note of rich tradition and deep contribution.
In these waters run our own complicated history.
Long before Utahns and Idahoans, there were homesteaders and Mormon pioneers. Before them? The Shoshone—a diverse nomadic tapestry of tribes who hunted, gathered, and convened along Boa Ogoi, or the Bear River.
The expansion of faith and farming led to one of the largest Native American massacres in the West—over 250 men, women, and children murdered one cold Winter morning.
While we cannot change the past, it is our responsibility to understand it. To learn from it. To act with it in mind. The Shoshone, however, is not defined alone by this tragedy. As we speak, an inspiring Cultural and Interpretive Center is still underway just miles downriver. Visit the link in our profile to learn how you can support that cause.
Today, citizens in Utah have the chance to see a Shoshone tribal leader Darren Parry on the ballot for congressional district one.
This is what marrying our past with our future looks like.