Ignorance of history disrespects humanity. It dismisses all but the here and now.
That’s why Coloradans should be saddened to learn of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science closing its North American Indian Cultures exhibit hall in Denver. This management decision moves us toward erasure of history for the sake of counterfeit virtue.
Consider the Holocaust, a chapter so painful and horrific some Americans prefer to forget and deny it. If we capitulate to deniers, under any moralistic rationale, we disrespect Jews and rich traditions that barely survived the 20th century. We appease the idiotic. If we forget, we dishonor survivors, the deceased and the descendants of each.
The same goes for slavery, a despicable crime too many Americans would rather forget. If we indulge this emotion, in the name of any seemingly righteous cause, we disrespect the rich traditions of Black Americans and the enormous contributions they made and make to American society. We proceed as if Black Americans, long tortured by Whites, had no major role in forging our country.
Likewise, we cannot forget and erase from memory the Native Americans who controlled this land before 15th-century explorers led the way for European conquests that commandeered it.
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It was a war. It was and remains the way things work, like it or not. Today’s developed nations reside on land people fought and died for.
Before Europeans took much of North America by force, Native American tribes fought each other to take the same land, wildlife and other resources. Natives were not pacifists unwilling to fight and die for a cause, despite baseless, politicized and disrespectful folklore that says otherwise.
Contemporary Americans, who had nothing to do with conquests of the past, should have no guilt. Yet, for the sake of decency we owe tremendous respect to those who were slaughtered for this land — people with survivors and successors subjected to the Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre and other atrocious indignities.
The least we can do is maintain and upgrade museum displays that showcase American Indian artifacts, attire, customs, traditions and the landscapes upon which they hunted, farmed and lived.
We should not forget Indigenous history to appease a confused phase of modern hypersensitivity.
Yet, that’s exactly what the Nature & Science directors have chosen to do in closing the Native American exhibit hall for the foreseeable future. Of course, they have characterized this as the right thing to do by Natives.
“Despite collaboration with Indigenous representatives during its creation and ongoing efforts by curators, conservators, and others to update and improve various parts of the hall, we acknowledge that it remains problematic,” wrote Liz Davis, the museum’s vice president of exhibitions.
We can’t think of any worthwhile endeavors that aren’t also problematic. Emergency rooms save lives and have deadly wait times. We don’t close them to solve what’s problematic. Never let the perfect destroy the good.
“We understand that the hall reinforces harmful stereotypes and white, dominant culture,” the statement says.
Indeed, stereotypes are harmful. They also are inevitable when acknowledging the past. Scenes of American Indians hunting buffalo might promote a stereotype. They also preserve historical truths. Native Americans wore headdresses and leather. We cannot deny this history to counter misappropriation by obnoxious football fans with rubber tomahawks.
“To acknowledge the harm we have caused, we have developed and agreed upon a healing statement …” Davis wrote.
The statement does a poor job explaining how the museum caused harm and perpetuated “racist stereotypes.” It did so, claims the statement, by “portraying Indigenous people in dioramas as if they exist only in the past.”
By that logic, including Pikes Peak in a historical diorama could mislead the public to think it is gone.
And, no, the exhibit hall was not “racist.” Ask UCLA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion office whether Native Americans comprise a race or a culture, with the latter properly acknowledged in the name “Indian Cultures” exhibit hall.
“A DNA test cannot tell you that you are Native American because that status is defined by belonging to a tribal nation or community. ‘Native American’ or ‘American Indian’ thus differs from racial minority groups because it entails membership and that membership connotes a distinct historical and political relationship with the federal government,” says the UCLA Office of EDI website.
Another closure excuse in the healing statement concedes the museum displayed Native American belongings “without ongoing consent or respectful attribution.” That’s a matter of unprofessional curation. Fix it by obtaining permission and applying respectful attribution.
The indefinite closure of this exhibit hall perpetuates the worst of cancel culture. It smacks of virtue signaling to profess excessive sensibility, regardless of the harm it might cause. For any reason, this closure helps us forget the people who cared for, loved and died for the land we call home.
Denver Gazette Editorial Board