Published: Aug. 20, 2019
Fort Collins Friends Meeting will post the following statement in their Meeting House and on their website to recognize the indigenous peoples who had a community on this land until being forced to leave:
“Fort Collins Friends Meeting acknowledges, with respect, that the land we are on today is the traditional ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations and peoples. This was also a site of trade, gathering, and healing for numerous other Native tribes. We recognize the Indigenous peoples as original stewards of this land and all the relatives within it. As these words of acknowledgment are heard, the ties Nations have to
their traditional homelands are renewed and reaffirmed.
“We recognize that the founding of the Fort Collins community, including the land our Meeting House is built upon, came at a dire cost to Native Nations and peoples including the cost of many lives, loss of ancestral homes, and separation from traditional sources of spiritual and physical nourishment and strength.”
from Paula Palmer, Boulder Friends Meeting (8/6/2019)