“Even though some people may be okay with this caricature standing, there are folks out there—Indigenous folks, Indigenous youth—who feel like this image harms them and is hurtful to look at,” expressed Southern Ute tribal member and activist Trennie Burch Collins. “I feel like it’s time. We’re moving in a direction for Indigenous, Native American folks in this country that we are being seen as who we are, which is amazing people who contribute to this nation, who are deeply rooted in their culture and their traditions that should be respected.”

Collins said she has asked the gallery to take the sign multiple times.

“There are not just three or four of us who want [the sign] down,” Collins said, adding that thousands of people have signed a petition advocating for the sign’s removal.

As well as chanting to take the sign down, there were calls of “Land back, Water back,” as Durango sits on the ancestral land of the Ute people who were forcibly removed by the U.S. government in 1881.

[Related: 'Hughes Land Is It': Land Back movement knocks at CSU's door]

The march in Durango also drew attention to the plight of Missing and Murdered Relatives. According to a press release from the Department of the Interior, “Approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) throughout the U.S., and approximately 2,700 cases of murder and nonnegligent homicide offenses have been reported to the Federal Government’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.” 

The lack of attention to this issue was recently in the news after so much coverage was afforded the murder of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, who was white.

[Related: How prejudice affects official search for missing Indigenous women, other women of color]

As far as the “Chief” statue is concerned, there was an announcement made at the march that an anonymous donor has offered to pay to have it taken down and replaced with an Indigenous piece of art.

To date, the gallery has not accepted the donation.

Carol L. Fleisher is a senior producer with Rocky Mountain PBS and a producer-in-residence at Fort Lewis College. You can reach Carol at carolfleisher@rmpbs.org.

Joe Kinneen is a filmmaker and intern with Rocky Mountain PBS.