The Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys are Ute Indian ancestral lands.
The Aspen Historical Society, along with one man, is working to educate residents from Aspen to Parachute about the culture and history of the Ute people.
Skyler Lomahaftewa is a Northern Ute Tribal member and an Aspen Historical Society educator. He is Uncompahgre Ute on his mother's side and Hopi and Choctaw on his father's side.
He spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Regan Mertz about the work he has done with the Aspen Historical Society for over a decade and the progress that still needs to be made.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Regan Mertz: Can you tell me about that journey? What did that look like coming to the Aspen Historical Society? How did that partnership start?
Skyler Lomahaftewa: [In] 2012, I think, or 2013, one of those years, there was a gathering in Carbondale. It was called The 13 Grandmothers. The 13 Grandmothers is this thing of 13 ladies — grandmothers — from around the world, from Indigenous cultures. They gathered in Carbondale for this event. It was a few days, and they had performances — native cultural performances and things.
So, I attended the event, and then part of the people that were there was the Aspen Historical Society. We talked, and they asked me if I would be interested in helping them with some programs on Ute history, Ute culture, and stuff like that.
But that really sparked my interest in educating non-natives on our history and culture because I found out there was a lot of ignorance and a lot of miseducation.
Mertz: Where do you see that level of education now in the valley? Do you think that there is still as much ignorance, or [are] there more education opportunities now?
Lomahaftewa: It's definitely been a positive experience doing these programs. But when I'm going to the schools now, instead of them thinking that all Indians are dead, they actually have good questions about native people today and making that connection of native people in history and how we are still native people today, instead of a lost, dead culture that they're studying in school.
Mertz: You mentioned that you educate on the Ute language a lot, but you also were hosting weekly talks in tandem with two exhibits that were open. So, could you talk to me about your role with that?
Lomahaftewa: The Ute exhibit — they had the Four Seasons of the Nuche, and then the other exhibit was the History Colorado STEM exhibit.
What I did was enhance that exhibit by showing up on certain days and having a casual conversation with people that wanted to have a little more on what they were looking at in the exhibit. I thought it was really awesome, because we sparked up a lot of really awesome conversations there.
Mertz: Could you talk to me about the most memorable moment you had from the summer when doing that?
Lomahaftewa: Like I said, I do a lot of comparisons with European culture and society, and I actually met those people. I always describe Ute people historically as being similar to Scottish people. In Scotland, you have the clans, because we Utes are the same. We were all Ute people, but we were divided into bands instead of the word clan.
That's the way I always describe it in my educational talks. Then when I was doing the exhibit talk — casual conversations — some actual Scottish people showed up, and I had an awesome conversation with them.
I told them what I say and how I explain things, and nothing but nods, nothing but affirmation that what I was saying was completely accurate. And I'm like, ‘Yes, okay.’ I got validity from these Scottish people on what I say. So, yeah, I doubled down on that.
Mertz: You're like, ‘I know what I'm talking about.’ Are there many Ute organisations in the valley, other than what you're doing with the Aspen Historical Society?
Lomahaftewa: There is no native-owned or native-run organisations here in the valley that I know of. There are non native groups who take it upon themselves to be like the native experts or whatever in the valley. But I have been working with the Aspen Historical Society, which I find a lot more meaningful and more legit to me.
Mertz: What progress is there still to be made?
Lomahaftewa: I think there's no simple answer to that at all. There definitely is progress, but it's not just with one specific culture, like the Ute culture. It's with all cultures, and that's why I always talk about culture in the schools now, when I'm talking about our history, because that part of our culture is our connection to our ancestors and history, and things like that.
So when people tell us things like, “Get over it” and “You need to move on,” that's really harsh. I misinterpret, probably, but my interpretation when I hear that is “Be more white. Be more white. You need to get over your Indianness. You need to get over your Indian identity.”
And it's like, “What? But that's my culture. That's who we are. So, you're telling us to not be who we are by doing what makes you more comfortable, you know, to get over it and not talk about it.” All I'm doing is talking about my history and culture, and that's what I'm trying to explain in some of the talks.
Mertz: Well, thank you so much for talking with me, Skyler.
Lomahaftewa: Right on.
Support for this Nonprofit Spotlight series comes from the Aspen Community Foundation.
