2019 Land Acknowledgement

ASHE 2019 Land Acknowledgement

By: Leslie D. Gonzales (Michigan State University), 2019 Program Chair

As we gather for the ASHE 2019 Conference, please consider taking some time to learn, reflect, and acknowledge that the land and resources we are using to sustain ourselves rightfully belong to Indigenous Peoples that continue to live and thrive all around the Portland area.
 
Below, you will find a brief history of the area written by Mr. Robert Kentta, the Cultural Resource Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians. We are so thankful to Mr. Kentta for his generous teachings and encourage you to read this history carefully to frame your thinking about the Portland area.

The middle Chinookans, Kalapuyans and Molalla peoples of the Willamette Valley area ceded the Portland Metro area under the Kalapuya Treaty of January 1855. In November 1855, President Franklin Pierce signed an order establishing the Siletz Reservation for the Oregon Coast, Willamette, and Umpqua Tribes. Three days later, the federal government made the decision to move the Rogue Valley Tribes to the newly formed Siletz Reservation. As removal was being planned, the government bought out the interests of some Donation Land Claimants on the South Fork of the Yamhill River to be used as a staging area for removal of Tribes to the Siletz Reservation. This encampment was called the Grand Ronde Encampment. When plans were sent to Washington D.C. to add those lands to the Siletz Reservation in 1857, President Buchanan signed an order establishing the Grand Ronde Reservation. Most of the Willamette Treaty Tribes remained at that encampment and became members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, but over time, many Siletz Families also have maintained their direct connections to Willamette Treaty Tribes ancestry and the Executive Order—as a founding document—also recognizes the Tribes’ connections to the 1855 Willamette/Kalapuya Treaty. Today, many Native and Indigenous peoples continue to live and thrive in this area.
 
– A short history by Robert Kentta, Cultural Resources Director and Elected Tribal Council Member Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (Shasta & Dakubetede ancestry).

 
Keeping this complex history in mind, we encourage all session chairs to offer a Land Acknowledgement, such as one of the statements, offered below.

  • We take this opportunity to thank the original caretakers of this land.

  • We acknowledge the that the land which we occupy rests on traditional village sites of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde the Community and Confederated Tribes of Siletz.

  • We acknowledge that the land and resources we are using rightfully belong to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde the Community and Confederated Tribes of Siletz. We honor their rightful ownership and acknowledge their presence.

  • We understand that this land belongs to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde the Community and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. We understand that through forcible and violent removal, many other Native communities came to live and thrive in this area.

Below are some additional excellent resources for learning about the Portland, Oregon area.