Boulder honors Indigenous Peoples Day with celebration and reconciliation [Video]

BOULDER, Colo. — Mario Jose Olvera wants other Indigenous people in Colorado to have full opportunities to reconnect with their heritage.

Olvera lives in Longmont, which was formerly home to the Clovis, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples. Both of his parents are Indigenous, though he felt disconnected from his Apache and Aztec heritage until he turned 23, the age discovered traditions from both sides of the family lineage.

“This has been a generational discovery,” Olvera said. “My mother and my father weren’t into this way of life, and it took me turning 23 years old and discovering it in a sweat lodge and then reclaiming it for myself and taking it back to them.”

Olvera and two friends — Julio Amilea and Change Hernandez — run Mi Chantli, a Chicano-owned art studio and community center in Boulder. The studio hosts poetry readings, dance classes, paint nights and community gatherings for Northern …