Aerial photo of a small village in central wisconsin by bobby bailey, resident of nelsonville
Native Land Acknowledgments:
Tomorrow (Waupaca) River Homestead acknowledges the ancestral and traditional territories of the Anishinabewaki - ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Menominee, and Očeti Šakówiŋ nations. These and the surrounding nations of the Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, Potawatomie, Dakota, Sauk & Meskwaki remain the original, current, and future protectors of the land on which we stand today.
We honor the histories of this land before colonization. When first colonial/immigrant settlers built homesteads on this land in the 1850’s, indigenous people were still being forced from and through Wisconsin and suffering the loss of nearly half their people. While colonizers built new homes and lives west of the Mississippi River, native nations were still being forced into “trail of tear” removal across the lands.
As we create in this space we hope to honor the skills and knowledges exchanged for thousands of years before colonial arrival. While we bring awareness of the original caretakers and travelers of these lands forward, people must continue the work beyond acknowledgement to end the erasure of indigenous identity and presence. We must hold responsible the respect of ancestral names, languages, and laws, direct support of indigenous workers, and further decolonial disruptive action.
Zay and Rue moved “back to the land” to reconnect and bring to life their own indigenous ancestral heritage that has played a large part in their family culture despite genocide, blood quantum and forced assimilation. Zay is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a tribe forcibly removed from their Southeastern ancestral homes to Oklmulgee, Oklahoma Indian Territory. Rue is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a tribe also forcibly removed from their Southeastern ancestral homes to Tahlequah, Oklahoma Indian Territory. Rue is also proud of her Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and Omaha Tribe of Nebraska lineage.
Rue and Zay believe all lands are interconnected and that ownership is a perpetuation of colonizer oppression. Land is a gift. We offer refuge and opportunities to all BIPOC communities to reconnect with the earth and the skies on land.
Thank you Inbal Newman for collaborating with Rubina Martini on this writing.
http://www.pchswi.org/archives/townships/origins.html
https://www.record-courier.com/article/20130929/OPINION/309299564