Evanston Now
506-word statement decries "cultural genocide" against Indigenous peoples and "settler colonialism" toward Blacks.
Some school board members displayed "Native Land" graphics on their Zoom screens during Monday's board meeting.
Meetings of governmental bodies in Evanston typically do not open with a prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance.
But soon, every board and committee meeting in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 may open with a 506-word recitation of the wrongs inflicted upon Native Americans and enslaved people in the United States.
Termed a “Land Acknowledgement,” the statement, according to its authors at the district, serves to “recognize the enduring relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the land stolen from them.”