Clark’s Native American Culture Club sponsored the showing of “One November Morning” on Friday, a documentary created by artists aiming to bring awareness to the Sand Creek Massacre of Nov. 29, 1864.
Two of the artists, Brent Learned and George Curtis Levi, presented the documentary and the artwork featured in the film. The art featured in the film is currently being shown at the Clark County Historical Museum, in an exhibit also called “One November Morning.”
The Sand Creek Massacre was the genocide of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Native Americans in Colorado by the Colorado Territory Militia. Most of the 200 people killed were women, children and the elderly, with even more being injured. Militiamen mutilated the bodies and even kept body parts as souvenirs.
Both Learned and Levi lost family to the massacre and their art tells their ancestors’ story.
“One thing that we as people need to learn is to learn from the past, because if you don’t remember the past you’re doomed to repeat it,” Learned said.
The documentary left the audience in a somber silence, and expressions of disbelief and horror filled the room.
Every November, the descendents of the Sand Creek victims run the road in Colorado where their ancestors traveled and were massacred in honor and remembrance, according to Levi and Learned.
