Spiritual Healing for the Cheyenne and Arapaho on Thanksgiving

The history of the initial contact between the natives and white men is grim as we all know. One sad chapter involves the massacre at Sand Creek where 160 Arapaho and Cheyenne were gunned down despite the fact that they were on a reservation and waving American and white flags. These were elders, women and children as well as their husbands and sons. This Thanksgiving there will be a commemorative walk in Boulder, Colorado called "One Action One Boulder" to try to heal the wound that still some people feel. None of these tribal members now live in Colorado as they were all removed from their lands.

Cheyenne and Arapaho runners will complete a 170-mile Spiritual Healing Run/Walk from the Sand Creek Massacre site to Denver in honor of LaForce Lee Lonebear. This is how they describe the Run:
“The Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run/Walk is a prayer. (It) is not a race. (It) is a commemoration for the victims and survivors of the massacre, and for healing ancestral homelands. (It) is led by an Eagle staff representing prayers of the spiritual leaders who had a vision of healing and reconciliation for the descendants of those killed at the Sand Creek Massacre site and for the future generations.”

The Cheyenne and Arapaho have invited local communities to participate in a variety of ways. To see the original article, click here. What do you think about this action? Is it digging up old pain or is it a good way to establish restorative justice? Leave a comment below.

                                              picture by Mike Fisher at the
                                              memorial site of the massacre