Indigenous Peoples’ Day-the Second Monday in October
Monday, October 11, 2021, marks the first year of Oregon joining other states in official statewide recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, acknowledging that Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of the Americas is historically inaccurate and unworthy of celebration due to his voyage opening the door to “heinous crimes against humanity.”
On this occasion, View the Future would like to share a Land Acknowledgment statement that we are adopting for the Yachats area. “Land acknowledgement is a traditional custom dating back centuries for many Native communities and nations. For non-Indigenous communities, land acknowledgement is a powerful way of showing respect and honoring the Indigenous Peoples of the land on which we work and live. Acknowledgement is a simple way of resisting the erasure of Indigenous histories and working towards honoring and inviting the truth.” (https://www.duwamishtribe.org/land-acknowledgement ).
YACHATS AREA LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This area now called Yachats is the homeland of the Ya’Xaik villages (pronounced yäh’ khīk, raspy h) of the Alsean speaking people who lived sustainably for well over 8000 years, or from time immemorial. The Alsea creation story tells us that “The Yaquina, Alsea, Ya’Xaik, Siuslaw, and Lower Umpqua people were all one people and [spoke] the same language.” In the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, diseases introduced by Euro-Americans killed many of the coastal Tribal people including the Alsea people. Violence, battles, and massacres also became the common experience. Survivors were pressured to sign treaties (from 1851-55) and live on a shared reservation with many other Tribes. The 1.1-Million-acre Siletz Reservation became that shared permanent homeland. However, Tribal Peoples throughout western Oregon were forcibly rounded up and shipped, and marched to this new reservation, and it was run like a prison camp. Many died on these “trails of tears.” In 1860, the Coos and Lower Umpqua people were forcibly marched barefoot from their homelands to the Alsea Sub-agency which was under the auspices of the Siletz Reservation. In 1865 and 1875, the reservation was robbed of about 900,000 acres of its treaty guaranteed territory. The lands and resources were stolen, and treaties were violated by the U.S. government with no compensation. U.S. genocidal policies allowed the imposition of horrific treatment at all of the reservation prison camps, resulting in many people dying of starvation, exposure, disease, beatings, and depression of spirit. These truths include the documentation of a blind Coos woman, Amanda, forcibly taken from her daughter and marched with other captives 80 miles north to the prison camp in Ya’Xaik. Amanda fell numerous times climbing over the basalt at the base of Cape Perpetua leaving a significant trail of blood.
Despite generations of oppressive policies and cultural genocide, through nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon, their descendants through perseverance are successfully restoring their communities, rebuilding their traditions, and continuing to fight for recognition and protection of their rights. The Amanda and Ya’Xaik Trails are solemn and spiritual trails that are reminders in perpetuity.
Supervision for this land acknowledgment is generously provided by The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and follow-up consultation has been generously provided by the confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.
If you wish to support and promote the practice, conservation, and restoration of their Siletz Tribal languages and cultures, look up the Siletz Tribal Cultural Programs at: www.ctsi.nsn.us .
If you wish to support and promote the practice, conservation, and restoration of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians’ Tribal cultural programs look up their Cultural and Natural Resources Program at www.ctclusi.org
More reading:
Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Why it’s replacing Columbus Day in many places https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-day-why-its-replacing-columbus-day-in-many-places-167849
