Chief Niwot’s observation

Chief Niwot is often attributed for placing a “curse” on the Boulder valley. This is a long-standing misinterpretation of his words, which coupled with some exotic sense of “Indian magic” has become something that white people have often attributed to their return to or inability to leave this area. I heard it often as I grew up in Boulder.

This is the quotation: “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”

Reportedly, Chief Niwot was saying this to the first prospectors he encountered. The native population had not destroyed the beauty by staying, so why would Chief Niwot say this to the white folks seeking gold there? Was he jealous? Trying to scare them off? It seems to me that it would make more sense that he had observed a contradiction in the things that the colonizers desired and the way of life they led. I would like to suggest that, rather than relating a curse, Chief Niwot was giving meaningful ethical guidance.

Colonizers loved the beauty of this land, it stands out as special and particular, even among the gorgeous surroundings. However, the way of life that the colonizers bring is destructive. It does not respect the intrinsic value of the beings whose interdependence weaves the beauty that attracts the colonizers. The animals, plants, people, and the land itself exist together. By devaluing any part of the intricate web of relationships, treating it as a mere resource to be plundered, something to possess rather than a being in its own right, the colonizer works to destroy the beauty that they claim to love.

Chief Niwot did not curse this land. There is no curse of the Boulder Valley. There is only the inconsistency of our desires, the curse we put into all of our actions when we act for short-term gain without attenuating ourselves to the relationships that we exist inside and as a part of. You are not separate from anything else, you are intersected in millions of ways by your relationships to the world. To neglect these relationships is a disrespect that has real and dire consequences.

Hopefully, we can come to see the guidance that Chief Niwot’s words held for us and turn from our short-sighted plundering to instead take actions that will be beneficial to those living seven generations from now.