The purpose of the People of Sacred Land is to support American Indian people who are citizens of the State of Colorado to preserve their culture, language, and ways of life that were intimately tied to the land.
Create a Truth, Restoration & Education Commission to provide the truth of what happened to the Indigenous people of Colorado. Once the truth is known, a reconciliation and healing process can begin.
Richard B. Williams, Board president
Land acquisition for the purposes of preserving sacred sites, practicing cultural ways, and perpetuation of the sacred traditions of American Indian people who occupied the land within the boundaries of the State of Colorado for over 11,000 years.
Education: Advocate for relationships with all higher education institutions that will enhance educational opportunities for all Indians. Support all the American Indian students in the K-12 educational systems. Provide unique cultural experiences for American Indian students that will allow them to experience and learn about the cultural ways of their people. Provide all students of the State of Colorado with the opportunity to learn the history of Colorado from an American Indian perspective by creating curriculum material that honors the truth. Pursue a relationship with Colorado State University to create greater opportunities considering its status as a land grant institution.
Create a land base for the return of the Buffalo to their sacred grazing lands while supporting the preservation of grasslands, reintroducing food, and medicinal plants with a focus on sustainability.
Provide resources to pay for fees for American Indians to hunt and fish within the boundaries of the State of Colorado. Create an education experience that will help our children learn to hunt and fish in a safe and culturally appropriate manner. We will research the issue of hunting and fishing rights to determine if these rights were legally extinguished by treaty language.
Our most precious people in our society are our Elders and we must find ways to support them. We will continue to honor them every year by hosting the annual American Indian Elders Christmas Dinner.
This will include, when possible, the following: housing, food banks, shelters for the domestically abused and support for our homeless members.
We serve as a research entity to study the history of “Indians” who occupied the State of Colorado with a focus on producing documentaries, accurate historical representations of why Indians were displaced from all regions of the State of Colorado, and an in-depth analysis of economic losses associated with the removal of Indians from the state.
Richard B. Williams (Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne) holds the distinction of being the first American Indian student to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska. He earned a master’s in education administration from UW. In May 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. From 1997-2012, he served as president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund. This national nonprofit organization raises private support for all 32 tribal colleges and universities in the United States. Throughout his career, he has lectured and presented for various organizations, including the Central Intelligence Agency, National Indian Education Association, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations. In 1993 and 1994, he served as a consulting editor for the Discovery Channel series How the West Was Lost. From 1993 to 1997, Williams served as an instructor for the Indian Studies graduate program at the University of Denver.
People of the Sacred Land is a Colorado-based nonprofit working to uncover the truth about American Indian history in the state. The purpose of the People of Sacred Land is to support American Indian people who are citizens of the State of Colorado to preserve their culture, language, and ways of life that were intimately tied to the land.
© 2024 People of the Sacred Land