[Singing in Lenape] This day, this event, this moment is one that gives me a great sense of strength and commitment to move forward with the agreements that were made several years ago with Iliff School of Theology.

[Singing in Lenape] We publicly affirm our commitment to the Lenape peoples The intertwined histories of Eurochristian conquest were exemplified by welcoming the gift of an 18th century book of Christian history, bound in the flayed and tanned skin of a murdered Lenape man, and publicly displayed at Iliff as a treasured artifact From 1893 until 1974.

We seek to address this horrific legacy And Ive been here 41 years Now retired, emeritus professor from Iliff This is a day I... Ive lived with this man... Every day that I taught at Iliff So this man, here to this day He was attached to that book by that cover, his skin I think we're both committed to righting the wrongs, acknowledging them and then providing education and a sense of spiritual direction so that these things don't happen again.

We gather today as relatives to invite spiritual blessing, to give our asé to this site upon which the memorial will be located.

Finding the right person to manifest our vision of a memorial to the murdered Lenape elder.

so that has been, very rewarding My name is Bently Spang, and I'm an enrolled member of the Tsitsistas and Suhtai Nation also known as the Northern Cheyenne And I'm a visual artist, writer, curator, educator.

Im honored to be invited to create this piece.

What the Lenape a gentleman experienced are things that my people experienced, you know.

So, there's a common thread there, definitely.

And we're all native.

We're indigenous to this continent.

The opportunity to create something that would facilitate that healing was really part of what attracted me to it.

Now we can sort of begin this project and we can really move forward with it, so we prepared the space correctly.

We want this message to carry on for generations to come.

And when people walk by this memorial and they learn about it that will be here long after Im gone That's what I'd like to see happen.

Wanìshi Thank you everyone.

Thank you very much.