NEDERLAND — On Thursday, September 24, the film “People of the Sacred Land” will be shown at the Nederland Community Library. 

The evening will feature the screening and then small group guided explorations after the film. The event is sponsored by Our Sacred Earth.  

“People of the Sacred Land” has been screened in Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Paonia, and now it is coming to Nederland. 

The film follows Richard Williams (Ogalala Lakota, Northern Cheyenne) as he speaks about the findings of the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) of Colorado’s TREC Reports. 

Forty-eight federally recognized tribes once lived in what is today Colorado. Why is there so little evidence of Indigenous life around us today if tribes lived here for thousands of years prior to Europeans coming to this land? Why does Colorado only have two reservations, for two tribes (Ute Mountain Utes and Southern Utes) within its borders? 

In an interview with Paolo Zialcita on the Colorado In Depth podcast from Colorado Public Radio, Williams said there is a “clear absence, a void of accurate information about the tribes, the Indian Nations, and their presence in Colorado from about 1864 to 1964. Virtually nothing is written. If it was, it wasn't written from any concept of what Indian people thought would be happening. I wanted to know the truth.”

Williams has done extensive research on this absence and why. This film, Williams’ work, and the TREC starts to fill in some of the gaps, and the truths of the tribes of Turtle Island that are missing from the colonial narrative.

This film is free and open to the public for adults and children 8 years and older. The Nederland Community Library is located at 200 Highway 72 North, Nederland.