It feels like an inside joke every time.

That moment you pull up to a car with the Colorado native bumper sticker and the driver turns out to be white. Its a split second of funny visual dissonance and lets be real, a Broncos sticker is more telling of old-school Denver pride.

But after the short-lived chuckle, comes the painful reality; the history of Native Americans in our state is no laughing matter.

In August 1864, territory Gov. John Evans authorized Colorado citizens to kill and destroy hostile Indians. Three months later, more than 100 innocent Cheyenne women, children and men were slaughtered and mutilated during the Sand Creek Massacre led by Colonel John Chivington.

This treatment is not unique to our state. Massacres like Wounded Knee in South Dakota or the Bear Creek Massacre in Idaho claimed the lives of indigenous families and communities. History has been brutal to native peoples across the country in the name of civilization.

And still, our everyday lexicon is laced with clichs and misnomers that minimize the experience of indigenous people.

Language is a powerful tool as the practice of self-awareness and expression. It helps us archive events and share stories. We learn lessons and grow from the past. At its best, it helps people connect, belong and arrive at mutual understandings.

Mishandled it can create exclusion, division or erasure.

And while these clichs or idioms can be labeled benign, these words can depict gory pasts. Some of these fictional exchanges below are laughable but most are cringeworthy.

When its time to get multiple departments together, sound the alarm and circle the wagons. No thank you Mark, its not that serious, and we arent under attack.

Its 4:55 p.m. on a Friday at your office when your coworker comes up and gleefully announces, were the last of the Mohicans. Sandra, just no, and go home already.

As you pass your supervisor he says, lets pow wow in the kitchen in five. Bill, pow wows are actual cultural events that are fun and that dont happen at work. The term means medicine men in a language spoken by the Algonquian peoples in Massachusetts.

Bill then tasks you with defending the fort next week after four of your five colleagues are out sick, on business trips or working from home. Again, Bill no one is under attack.

In all seriousness, even while awareness continues to grow the pervasiveness of incongruent language continues. Its like your nose which is always there out of sight until you mention it.

But then again, the use of incongruence here not matching meaning to intention assumes we care. Most of us actually care. We care a lot about belonging, being heard and understood.

Thats why the problem with finding your tribe is that it feels so inconsistent. Everyone deserves to search for their social groups, their tight-knit community and kindred. Just dont name it at the expense of others who physically fought hard to keep their tribal affiliations alive and together.

Wait didnt we start with a simple sticker.

Call it what you wish. Iconic. Infamous. Enraging. The green sticker with white snow caps with the word native has long been a contentious topic. And still, over 30 years later the sticker remains plastered on the bumpers of cars, SUVs and pickup trucks.

Many share a great sense of pride in being from Colorado. Or growing up here even before memories could form. Maybe youre Colorado-born or raised, but native as an identifier feels incorrect. Unless you are Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Sioux or Ute.

Now you might sigh, call this a tirade and dismiss these as mere words theres no malintent. Or maybe you think this is encouraging a culture of victimhood. Native people are not victims, they are survivors of a mass genocidal attempt.

No, this isnt a call to police each other or to default mindlessly to political correctness. This is an invitation to practice self-awareness. This is a cosmic pizza order for someone to make a sticker that replaces native with born or raised.

That horrid day in November, 170 miles southeast of Denver, two Army officers of the 700 soldiers led by Chivington refused to open fire.

In a similar way, we can decide what barrels out of our mouths and unto our bumpers.

Mimi Madrid is a Denver-raised writer who works as a communications content writer at Nurse-Family Partnership and has worked in non-profits serving youth, LGBTQ survivors of violence and Latinx communities.

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Excerpt from:

Madrid: Heres why you should peel that native bumper sticker off your truck - The Denver Post