Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, rescinded an 1864 proclamation on Tuesday that instructed residents of the state to kill “hostile” Native Americans in the area.
Gov. John Evans, Colorado’s second governor, issued the policy, warning that “all hostile Indians would be pursued and destroyed” if they opted not to travel to a number of government-controlled forts. Months later, 675 U.S. cavalry soldiers descended on a group of Cheyenne and Arapaho, killing an estimated 300 to 800 natives in what later became known as the state’s Sand Creek Massacre.
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“So we are gathered here on a very somber but also in some ways celebratory day. We are finally addressing a wrong of the past,” Polis said as he was flanked by Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Ute tribal leaders. Polis explained that the ordinance, despite being “illegal,” was never undone.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Department of Education lauded the Democratic governor’s decision.
“Some Colorado Natives have expressed that this threat of death will be removed and they can feel free from the burden of the Evans Proclamation,” one of the group’s members, identified only as J. Wolf, said in a statement. “This signing may be symbolic; however, this type of law should have been dealt with a long time ago.”
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Similarly, Ute Mountain Treasurer Austin Turtle, who was present at Polis’s address, said, “We can’t change history. We can only make it right.”
