A service in honor of Columbus Day / Indigenous Persons’ Day– When we acknowledge the tribes who stewarded this land before us, what do we really know about them and what can we do with that information? Let’s find out!
A few notes and links from A. Anne Holcomb’s service
1. Write Officials
Write President Trump as well as the mayor of Chicago or the mayor of your community demanding that “Columbus Day” be officially changed to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”.
President Donald Trump (on-line comment form): https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Mayor Brandon Johnson
2. Don’t wear Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Team apparel
Out of respect to Native Americans, don’t wear Blackhawks apparel since the use of Blackhawk’s name and the mascot are insulting to indigenous people. Write to team management to advocate for changing the name and mascot of “Blackhawk” to simply “Hawk”
The Chicago Blackhawks
3 . Educate yourself more on the Native Americans of today who live in the Greater Chicago Area. Visit :
The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
The American Indian Center (Chicago)
4. Donate for reparations:
To support restoring bison herds to tribes, make a donation to “Friends of Nachusa Grasslands”. Nachusa Grasslands is a Nature Conservancy restored and recreated prairie, the first to bring bison back to Illinois and to have the first calf born East of the Mississippi river in over 100 years. The land supports no more than 120 wild bison, so every year they do a round-up and the extra bison are given to the The InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) which assists 80 tribes in 20 states with the gift and management of over 20,000 bison. Bison are distributed to tribes fairly in a manner that promotes cultural enhancement, spiritual revitalization, ecological restoration and economic development.
The NDN Collective’s Land Back Campaign
Support an indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through grant making to Native tribes and through organizing via the #LandBack movement and the climate justice campaign, create sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.
Lakota People’s Law Project (“Lakota Law”)
Support Indigenous communities tackling legal and systemic issues, building effective grassroots movements, protecting traditional family structures, and winning Native and environmental justice.
Make a donation to serve advocates for affordable housing, economic development and services to Native Americans in the Greater Chicago Area through building an affordable apartment building 2907 W Irving Park Road, in Chicago.
Make donations to:
*********************************************
Stolen Land Acknowledgement
adapted from the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative
(this is the longer poetic one that I didn’t read during this service, but have used on other occasions)
Has Chicago has always been Indian Country? From creation, the ancestors say. Over 150 tribes, past or present, have called Chicago home. From creation they say, the over 500 tribes across the nation that speak over 200 languages and who reside in every state, city and town as well as reservations. From Creation, as our ancestors have told us, just like the forest, rocks, lakes, mountains, animals, and plants.
For thousands of years before Europeans touched the shores of Lake Michigan, tribes with rich complex societies lived here. The Chicago Area was a central trade hub. They hunted, fished, prayed, birthed their children and died here. The food was plentiful and transportation was swift by canoe. Located at the intersection of several great waterways, the land naturally became a site of travel and healing for many Tribes. Hardwood forests and prairies stretched throughout the land. They lived in harmony as stewards of this land.
Chicago is the traditional homeland of the Council of the Three Fires: The Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi Nations. Many other Tribes like the Sauk, Fox, Meskwaki, Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten.
also called this area home.
Today, Chicago continues to be a place that calls many people from diverse backgrounds to live and gather here. Chicago is now home to the 6th largest Urban American Indian community that still practices their heritage, traditions and care for the land and waterways. It is easier to deny Indigenous people their rights if we historicize their struggles and simply pretend they don’t exist right here, right now. Colonialism is a current, ongoing process, and we need to be mindful of our present participation.
Despite the many changes the city has experienced, our American Indian community sees the importance of the land and this place that has always been a city home to many diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
The ground we stand on is sacred ground. We stand together to acknowledge this land and to name those who were this land’s original stewards. We offer this Land Acknowledgement as a small act of resistance against this continued erasure of Indigenous people and their rights as well as our continued destruction of the natural world.
Stolen Land Acknowledgement
–adapted from the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative (Link to the 2025 Version: scroll down to near the bottom of the page)