(May 27, 2012 response to “Boulder Daily Camera” article):

During the past several years while reading about the Sand Creek Massacre as written by various writers, journalists, etc., one thing in common continues to surface. No one interviews the Cheyenne people before they write what they write. That is not ojbective journalism. You all need to do that if you want to write the complete truth about this horrific and tragic event in American history.

The research I did while making my award-winning documentary film about the Sand Creek Massacre, which was recently put in the Smithsonian Institute Libraries, I learned from Southern Cheyenne Chief Laird (Whistling Eagle) Cometsevah that there were over 400 Cheyenne children, women, elders and physically- and mentally-challenged people murdered, raped, mutilated and burned during and after that massacre.

Also, Chief Cometsevah told me that the Arapaho were not at Sand Creek. The Arapaho always followed the Cheyenne wherever they went. The Arapaho always camped about eight miles away from the Cheyenne, it was an unwritten law between the tribes. The early morning of the Sand Creek Massacre, the Arapaho were camped by Sand Creek eight miles to the south of Dawson Bend, where, as Chief Cometsevah told me, the massacre took place.

Chief Cometsevah, as well as several other Cheyenne and Arapaho people told me, the only thing they want now is respect. Check it out. Over 147 years have passed since the Sand Creek Massacre, and that respect is still as fleeting as a peregrine falcon racing away through the sky. Respect begins with the self. Respect can be demonstrated by including the Cheyenne people in all media reporting, and it should begin now!

So, you all should think about these pieces of research the next you write about the Sand Creek Massacre.

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