Native American Nonprofit: Colorado Was Built on $1.7 Trillion of Stolen Land

A report by a Native American-led nonprofit group claims indigenous homelands were taken by Colorado, and the state reaped mountains of money through that action.

The report shares about the apparent “dispossession” of $1.7 trillion worth of the indigenous homelands by the state and the United States, according to an Associated Press (AP) article published Friday. The outlet noted the report was compiled by the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC).

In addition, the report claims that Colorado gained nearly $550 million in mineral extraction from those homelands. The AP article continued:

The report, shared first with The Associated Press, identifies 10 tribal nations that have “aboriginal title, congressional title, and treaty title to lands within Colorado” and details the ways the land was legally and illegally taken. It determined that many of the transactions were in direct violation of treaty rights or in some cases lacked title for a legal transfer.

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The commission was convened by People of the Sacred Land, a Colorado-based nonprofit that works to document the history of Indigenous displacement in the state. The commission and its report are modeled after similar truth and reconciliation commissions that sought to comprehensively account for genocide and the people still affected by those acts and governmental policies.

TREC said it is examining the state’s “true history” and what situations led to the genocide of Indigenous Peoples living there.

According to the AP article, the report also recommends state and federal officials can honor treaty rights by “resolving illegal land transfers; compensating the tribal nations affected; restoring hunting and fishing rights; and levying a 0.1% fee on real estate deals in Colorado to mitigate the lasting effects of forced displacement, genocide, and other historical injustices.'”