Colorado Rep. Larry Don Suckla (R-Cortez), our newest House District 58 representative to the Colorado General Assembly, has gotten off to an impactful start.
He recently cosponsored House Joint Resolution 25-1019 “Honoring and recognizing the military service and contributions of Native American veterans and communities.” (Journal, Feb. 14).
Suckla’s sprawling district includes Delta, Dolores, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel and parts of Montezuma County, home to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Both Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart and Southern Ute Indian Tribe Chairman Melvin Baker visited the Capitol for the vote on the resolution. Suckla was asked to walk them down the center aisle.
A prime sponsor of the resolution, Suckla joined with House Majority Leader Monica Duran (D-Wheat Ridge) and Sens. Cleave Simpson (R-Alamosa) and Matt Ball (D-Denver) in the Senate. Of 100 legislators in the Assembly, 94 supported the resolution, including House District 59 Rep. Katie Stewart (D-Durango).
In his comments, Suckla did something not many Republicans (at least in Congress) are doing – recognizing and acknowledging Native Americans as the first peoples, the people who inhabited land before the Europeans arrived, and their important contributions to our country.
“It’s a humbling experience to honor people who were here first,” he said. “I grew up with the Ute tribe. I went to school with them, and since I was born, we’ve been lifelong friends.”
The resolution (read it at https://bit.ly/3QyhS4M) eloquently chronicles the “contributions, sacrifices, and disproportionate service of Native American veterans” as integral to the historical success of the U.S. military.
Those contributions include having served with distinction for over 200 years in every major conflict dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Over 12,000 Native Americans – men and women – served in World Wars and many did so voluntarily. As did some yet without U.S. citizenship.
Over 42,000 Native Americans served in Vietnam, and 10,000 in the Korean War, with hundreds of lives lost in each conflict and many injured. Today, 31,000 Native Americans and Alaska Natives are on active duty serving around the world.
Approximately 60 Southern Ute veterans served in the U.S. military, including the Baker and Box families, who sacrificed their lives in service to our country. The resolution recognizes both the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribe as serving important leadership roles in the United Veterans Coalition of Colorado.
Readers will recall that over 400 Native Americans served as Code Talkers in World War II, and used their knowledge of Navajo and other Native American languages to transmit messages. These Native languages are the same the U.S. government had worked to suppress and eradicate since the late 1800s.
In a grim repeat of history, the current administration is at it again with its aggressive immigration agenda, in the mix of targeting undocumented immigrants, is looking at tribal members as noncitizens (Herald, Feb. 3).
Chairman Heart, in a special announcement on Jan. 27 (Herald, Jan. 28), encouraging tribal members to know their rights including to carry two forms of identification, said, “We as the Ute people have been here thousands of years. We are currently the oldest living resident in the state of Colorado, we have predated any government that has come to this country ... (Yet, Trump’s executive orders) are now questioning our citizenship as Native Americans in the United States.”
The Herald’s editorial board would like to thank Rep. Suckla, Rep. Duran, Sens. Simpson and Ball, and all supporting members of the Colorado General Assembly, for this important resolution acknowledging the first peoples of our nation and recognizing their contributions to our military.
Colorado’s tribal heritage is critically important to our country’s history, and to its future.
