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Writer's pictureProfessor Floros
Oct 8, 2022

2022.23: 'We Are Still Here' - Indigenous People in America


Assistant Vice Chancellor of Diversity Initiatives
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Illinois at Chicago
Citizen, Cherokee Nation

Dr. Walden's Land Acknowledgement Statement

  • In the spirit of healing, I acknowledge and honor the original peoples of the Chicagoland area – the Three Fires Confederacy, Potawatomi, Odawa and Ojibwe Nations, as well as other Tribal Nations that know this area as their ancestral homeland, including the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Miami, Peoria, and Sac and Fox. This land is the current home to one of the largest urban Native American communities in the United States, and the city was a primary relocation site during the mid-20th century as a result of federal policies aimed to terminate Tribal communities and sovereignty. We are still here. Native people are part of Chicago’s past, present, and future. As part of a land grant university system that occupies and benefits from the theft of Indigenous lands, we have a responsibility to Native American community members at UIC, in Chicago, within the United States, and around the world. Acknowledgement requires action; please consider the multitude of ways to translate knowledge and thoughts into active support for Indigenous peoples and communities locally, nationally, and around the world. I commit to continue my work to build an inclusive and welcoming climate for Native and Indigenous peoples at UIC and building reciprocal relationships with Tribal communities.

  • Other names of Indigenous Tribes

    • Ojibwe = Chippewa

    • Ho-Chunk = Winnebago

    • Odawa = Ottawa

    • Sac and Fox = Sauk and Meskwaki


Acquired from the website of the Skokie (IL) Public Library

Indigenous Resources at UIC/in Chicago

Indigenous People & Creative Works

Other Works Mentioned in the Episode

Supreme Court Cases Mentioned

  • Haaland v. Brackeen: To be argued in the 2022-2023 session of the US Supreme Court

    • Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (1978)

      • Passed by Congress to set "minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children from their families and the placement of these children in foster or adoptive homes, and confirms Tribal jurisdiction over child-custody proceedings involving Indian children." This was necessary because state and private non-Tribal agencies were removing children from their homes and placing them in non-Tribal foster and adoptive homes.

      • More than what the fate of many Native children becomes, if ICWA is found to be unconstitutional based on a Federal burden on states prohibited by the 10th amendment, the very foundation of Tribal sovereignty and all Federal law related to recognized Tribes could be weakened.

  • McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020): In which a man, who is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, was convicted in Oklahoma state court of sex crimes against a child. He argued that the state of Oklahoma did not have jurisdiction because under the Indian Major Crimes Act, the federal government has jurisdiction over crimes committed within a recognized reservation. In a 5-4 decision, the Court found that most of eastern Oklahoma remains "Indian Country" based on treaties from the 1830s, which only Congress can repeal.



Trail(s) of Tears - Removal of Southeastern Tribes to Oklahoma in the 1830s


Laws/Treaties/Policies from the Episode


Yellow area is land set aside for white settlers.
N. Rogers Avenue marks the northern boundary of the Indian Boundary Line
Boundary lands included a large portion of what is today western Illinois

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