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Acknowledging Indigenous Land

10/12/2020

2 Comments

 
​Where do you live?
Picture
Have you never known what native peoples first walked the land where you walk, sleep, and eat? 
This is a quick little letter of love to acknowledge those indigenous people who lived and loved on this soil long before settlers sailed across the ocean to be here.

My current home city of Columbus, Ohio, named for the conquistador who initiated a five centuries-long colonial oppression and genocide of the native people, is on Myaamia and Hopewell land. I grew up in Osage and Shawnee land, on a street named for a Mingo chief (a village leader, not a war chief). I grew up finding arrowheads in the field lining the road and knowing where names came from.

The city of Columbus decided to stop observing Columbus Day as a holiday in 2018, and after weeks of protesting downtown this summer (My kids and I went to celebrations of peaceful protest there, on this very day, for years before 2018), the statue of Columbus at City Hall was removed. Small things that do not make much reparation, but perhaps less painful to now not have to hear the name of that man celebrated.


Where do you live?
Find your location here

By acknowledging the land on which we live, we:
  • Normalize the existence of native people
Instead of:
  • Passively normalizing the exclusion (erasure) of native people

Today, in honor of the Myaamia and Hopewell people, I have included this acknowledgement on my website address footer and I strive to do more as I move forward in business and in life. Today I ask you to teach those around you about this and that includes the children! When I was teaching we had this as a topic of discussion along with our science, art, math and cultural language learning. Please share this site so that we may all learn and respect our neighbors, the original inhabitants of this land.


Cheers and wild herbs,
Sarah
2 Comments
Tisa
10/12/2020 05:10:05 pm

A lovely reminder of what we all can do to make this world a better place for EVERYONE.

Reply
David
10/14/2020 03:57:14 pm

Thanks for posting this on Indigenous Peoples Day.

Here in Minnesota, I work on land that is sacred to the Dakota and Ojibwe. It had been Dakota land for centuries before European settlers pushed the Ojibwe south and west from where they had been, north and east of Lake Superior into what’s now Wisconsin and Minnesota. The nations fought each other for a while, with the Ojibwe settling a little further north and the Dakota remaining here and further south & west. US troops built Fort Snelling just above where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers come together, securing the region through deceptive treaties and genocide. The location of the fort was significant.

The Dakota call the confluence of the rivers Bdote (buh-do’-tay). It means, as I understand it, “where two waters come together.” The island where the rivers intersect is where some Dakota traditions say the world began, and it remains the center of the world. The stories tell how the Star Nation traveled down the Milky Way and were shaped by the Creator in the mud and clay of the island to become the first humans.

It’s good to see a renewed awareness rising among non-native people. We won’t ever be able to make things entirely right, and there’s no reparation that can fully restore what has been taken. But there’s power in acknowledging it.

Minnesota recently renamed Lake Calhoun, which is walking distance from work for me, by restoring its original Dakota name, Bde Mka Ska (buh-day’-muh-kah’-ska). Many of the churches in the area have also committed to acknowledging the land every time worship begins. We do this periodically at the chapel in the health center where I work. Again, these are little things, but words and names matter, and they shape how we learn to act toward each other for generations to come.

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    Sarah is a community herbalist, raising children, teaching children and adults the ways of herbalism and nature, and handcrafting herbal products for the community.

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Jeanne Wildherb Botanicals is located in Columbus, Ohio, the traditional territory of Myaamia and Hopewell people
  • Home
  • Herbalism
    • Learn >
      • Workshops, Weed Walks, & Events
      • Student Resources
    • One-on-One
    • Resources & Books for Beginners
    • Restorative Justice
    • Recipes
  • About Me
    • Contact
  • Musings & Methods
  • Shop
    • Potions Kits
    • Herb of the Month
    • Herbal Teas
    • Bath & Body Care
    • Cocktail Bitters Kits