One morning, Eric and I woke in the desert from uneasy politics and found we had turned into a large “Welcome to Bears Ears” sign.

For two days, some people treated us like monstrous vermin. Well, nine people did. Nine whites treated us unkindly (spoiler).

Turning into ‘Welcome to Bears Ears’

Memorial Day weekend, 2017: we found ourselves in Bears Ears National Monument.

Yet, no sign welcomed us. Nearly half a year since President Obama listened to the Inter-Tribal Coalition and designated Bears Ears as a National Monument, yet no evidence of such a monument existed: no signs, no maps, no brochures, no sticker- and magnet- and sweatshirt- and mug-filled gift shop kiosks.

Only more than 100,000 sacred sites scattered across nearly two million acres and a gas station attendant in Hanksville dodging the question with her own: “but where exactly is it you want to go?”

A young ranger at Natural Bridges National Monument scanned her surroundings with darting glances: “We actually can’t tell you anything about that. Since we are our own Monument.” Her voice shrunk to a hush: “But know Bears Ears surrounds us in every direction.”

Eric and I felt a responsibility to Bears Ears taking root. A pressure entangled us, winding to the surface, changing us. What better way could we spend Memorial day than by remembering this land’s First Peoples?

‘Welcome to Bears Ears National Monument’

How People Reacted

As “Welcome to Bears Ears National Monument,” we recorded every single reaction. The following analysis only included those vehicles that in fact reacted in some way to our becoming a sign.

Other reactions not included in the above column charts:

• A solely friendly facial reaction, Total: 12
  • Just a smile (coupled with no other friendly datum): 9
  • A simple, approving nod (coupled with no other friendly datum): 3
• A friendly exclamation (coupled with no other friendly datum), Total: 2
  • A seemingly friendly mouthed phrase behind an ultimately opaque window: 1
  • “Hang Loose!”: 1
• A vehicular non-honk reaction, Total: 11
  • A significant slow-down (coupled with another friendly datum): 10
  • A friendly Headlight Wink: 1
  • A significant slow-down of a big diesel truck with a white woman of recent Manifest Destiny descent screaming from shotgun: “NO WE DON’T!”: 1
• A Going-Out-of-Their-Way Friendly Gesture (And irrefutable evidence that the states of Washington and New Mexico have people who are amazing), Total: 5
  • A stop to chat (mainly to ask National Monument Qs, since we became the singular Bears Ears information for a 1,351,849 acre area), Total: 3
    • A stop to chat & take photos: 2
    • A u-turn to chat & offer business cards: 1
  • A stop by a Washington couple to give us cold beers: 1
  • A family from New Mexico who went to Blanding and back just to buy us Peace Tea: 1

Bears Ears Changed Us For Good

Before becoming a welcome sign, Eric and I had never actively protested. We’d long orbited the hairball, as pleased as punch as two individual satellites could be. Or so we thought. We were two middle-class, white, heterosexual, right-handed boys born and raised in a power structure of wealthy, white, hetero-normative, right-handed men. What on Earth did we have to protest?

Then, as we stood, a large sign welcoming cars and trucks and RVs to Bears Ears, a van carrying First Peoples drove by. They sang out with joy.

Beyond any argument about economy or resources or recreation, at the heart of Bears Ears National Monument lives a place sacred to the First Peoples who created the Inter-Tribal Coalition to protect their home. Considering the irrevocable atrocities we have carried out against them and their home, theirs is a song we should honor above all else.