Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that today we gather on lands that have been stewarded throughout the generations by native peoples. In Milwaukee, we are on the lands of the Potowatomi and Menominee, a territory that was seized by the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. We also join from Mesa, AZ where we acknowledge that the first known settlement in the area was about 2,000 years ago. A Native American civilization now called the Hohokam (meaning those who are gone), built an empire that lasted 1,500 years. The agriculturally-oriented Hohokam engineered hundreds of miles of irrigation canals, cultivating thousands of acres of land. Many of those same canal routes are used today throughout metropolitan Phoenix. Mesa's neighboring Native nations; the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Yavapai Nation, Gila River Indian Community, and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are thriving today. The center of their aboriginal territory is located in what is now called the Phoenix Valley, but their villages and farms previously occupied vast stretches of land along the Gila and Salt Rivers.
We acknowledge that in Milwaukee, we live on the traditional homelands of the Ho-Chunk, Menominee, and Potawatomi peoples. We are located near the southwest shores of the Michigami, the largest system of freshwater lakes in North America, where the three rivers, Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic meet, and where the sovereign Anishinaabe, Oneida, Ho-Chuck, Menominee and Mohican nations remain present in the State of Wisconsin. We give thanks for their presence, and for the presence of Native American students, staff, faculty, and alumnae in the Alverno Community.
We take a moment of silence to honor these lands and peoples and the many in between. We repent of the ways we have erased these stories and cultures. And, we ask for wisdom in fostering greater understanding and celebration of Indigenous communities in Wisconsin and Arizona.
