NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks debuted a video ahead of their season opener on Friday night that will play before every home game this season. The video is a Land Acknowledgment for the Native tribes of the Illinois and Chicago areas where the Blackhawks operate.
You can watch the full video below:
We recently introduced a formal Land Acknowledgement to open home games and events as part of our commitments to the Native American community.
Join us for this recognition of the relationship that exists between the Native people of this region and their traditional homelands. pic.twitter.com/mKJPw7CcMX
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 23, 2021
From the Blackhawks:
At its core, this video features Native people, uncolonized landscapes, and the ancestral Sauk War Leader Black Hawk to provide a filmic educational and inspirational component in the delivery of this integral message. We consciously chose to use natural uncolonized spaces that are reflective of the lands stewarded and protected by the Miami, Sauk, Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. These land vignettes are accompanied by Chicago-born Potawatomi educator and leader Starla Thompson dancing in Jingle dress on her traditional homelands on the banks of Lake Michigan…
This Land Acknowledgement is only an initial first step toward further engaging Native Nations, elevating Native-led education, cultivating Native American art and supporting Native communities. It is both our duty and our hope that all expanding efforts with our growing group of Native partners will create a new space of learning and growth in not just Chicago but in every space, place, and heart we can reach.
A Land Acknowledgement is a way to formally recognize the continuous relationship between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories. The video will be played before every home game and at other team events and gatherings. To learn more about this and other Blackhawks Native American Initiatives, you can visit their website here.
