Legislation
The City of Chicago City Council passed the Land Acknowledgment resolution on November 14, 2018.
Meeting Date: 11/14/2018
Sponsor(s): Ramirez-Rosa (35)
Type: Resolution
Title: Recognition extended to Indigenous peoples of Chicago and American Indian community who continue to practice tribal and inter-tribal traditions
Committee(s) Assignment:
RESOLUTION
RECOGNIZING ‘ZHIGAAGONG,’ KNOWN TODAY AS ‘CHICAGO’, AS ALWAYS
BEING AN INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPE
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges that Chicago formerly known as Zhigaagong (pronounced ‘Zhi-Gaa-Goo’) to the native people, sits on the edge of multiple ecosystems, including Swamp, Oak Savanna and Prairie with waterways connecting the Mississippi River and Great Lakes;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges il sits upon ancestral homeland to the Anishinaabek; Niswi-mishkodewin (Council of the Three Fires): Ojibwe, Odawa, and the Potawatomi along with dozens of tribes who cultivated and molded the land to sustainably suit their needs since time immemorial;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges that an acknowledgment of the land is an Indigenous protocol performed on Indigenous lands across the globe;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges Anishinaabemowin for providing the names of Chicago and Lake Michigan along with multiple territories, waterways, roads, and parks in and around Chicago;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges it was and is a site of trade, travel, and healing for Indigenous peoples since time immemorial;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges Indigenous Knowledge Systems and infrastructure continue to be appropriated as the blueprints of Chicago;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges that the treaties made with the People of the Three Fires have not been honored, and the destruction and dispossession of land and life of Indigenous peoples continues until this day;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges that colonialism is an ongoing structure, we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation, to deconstruct the romanticisms of forced removal and prevent further genocide of remaining Indigenous peoples;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges it is currently home to over 75,000 American Indians known as “Urban Indians”, who keep their tribal kinship and cultures spanning from over 150 tribal nations;
WHEREAS The City of Chicago acknowledges and supports the modern Indigenous people of Chicago along with those who view Chicago as their ancestral territory and continue to practice their kinship, culture, harvest their medicines and foods that continue to grow in Chicago; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED, The City of Chicago acknowledges the land we occupy as Indigenous homelands and have great appreciation and gratitude to those whose territory we occupy; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, The City of Chicago acknowledges the remarkable resilience of the Indigenous peoples and American Indian community that continues to practice their tribal and inter-tribal cultures while flourishing in modern-day Chicago and continue to enhance our great city’s beauty.
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa
Alderman, 35th Ward
