Reflecting on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Our Relationship to the Land

Dear Campus Community,

Today, we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and recognize that we are on native land. The University of Puget Sound is situated on the traditional homelands of the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup people have lived on and cared for these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today.

In a HuffPost essay back in 2015, Director of UCLA’s American Indian Studies Center, Dr. Shannon Speed (Chickasaw), wrote, “I teach Native American Studies and virtually none of my university students has had any education whatsoever in the history of this country's treatment of the 10 million or so people who lived here before Europeans arrived.” Roughly 11 ½ years ago, I recall arriving in northern California’s Humboldt County with an insufficient amount of cultural humility and respect for the place I was relocating.

As a descendant of folks who were trafficked to this country from the African continent and enslaved, my relationship to the land is, in a word, complex. I moved to Humboldt for work in 2015 after living in several states prior to that and sadly had paid little attention to the ancestral stewards of the lands where I resided to that point. Thankfully, Humboldt had a longstanding relationship with the Indigenous community of that region. I was grateful for the opportunity to engage and learn from faculty in their Native American Studies program, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. At Humboldt, I also worked directly with staff in the ITEPP Native American Center, which has an even longer history dating back to its establishment in 1969. I came to understand what it meant for me to be living and working on the unceded lands of the Wiyot people and gained a deep appreciation for Indigenous knowledgeways and ecological stewardship.

Prior to my arrival in Tacoma this past summer, I had some existing knowledge of the Coast Salish people from my exposure to the work and teachings of Matika Wilbur. Matika’s work literally seeks to change the way we see Native America and has been featured at nearby Climate Pledge Arena. Her Seattle-based studio, Tidelands, is a gem in the region and is described as “a thriving, Indigenous-owned creative space that redefines the narrative of Native America.” 

Before relocating here, I began to learn about the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and I saw the prominent role occupied by the Puyallup people in the hosting of the World Cup. I have since learned about the Muckleshoot Tribal College and their Doctoral Cohort program with the University of Washington Tacoma. I also learned how the community commemorates Orange Shirt Day and confronts the legacy and trauma of Indian boarding schools. I learned about wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ at the University of Washington and the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute.

In the spirit of honor and dialogue, today also marks the start of the 37th Annual Centennial Accord, where federally recognized Tribes in the state of Washington “meet with the Governor and state agency leaders to discuss issues of mutual concern.” Later this week, thousands of people will gather just down the road in Portland, OR for the annual AISES National Conference. AISES (Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society) is “a national nonprofit organization focused on substantially increasing the representation of Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies and careers.” More than an academic conference, AISES is a powerful and transformative experience that centers Indigenous identity, culture, and brilliance.

In my brief time at the University of Puget Sound, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to be in spaces with Indigenous educators and students, and be exposed to the Puyallup Tribal Lushootseed Land Acknowledgment.

Reflecting on these experiences and regional opportunities for engagement, I am constantly reminded of what Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy teaches us about how important it is to go beyond land acknowledgements. In her informative presentation, Dr. Risling Baldy challenges us to consider what such an acknowledgement compels us to do. On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let us consider our own relationship to the land and what we must do next.

John Johnson, Ph.D. | Interim Vice President Institutional Equity and Diversity