07/04/2023
Ahhhh, my yearly 4th of July rant 🙂 Love you all back home but let’s get the wheels turning toward a different mindset when it comes to this holiday.
Happy 4th of July my fellow Americans…Today, 300 million+ Americans will celebrate our independence from, what was at the time, an oppressive empire. Sweet… good on us 👍
But while America gained independence from Britain, the millions of First Nations inhabitants that harmoniously occupied the USA for thousands of years had it taken away from them in the course of a century. There’s no way to undo what we as a nation did. And reparations aren’t in our future as a country so that’s not what I’m calling for at this time. But we CAN recognise that we should have treated them with far more dignity, that they deserved better then and they deserve better now.
I now live in a country where most Australians I meet openly and wholeheartedly believe that more can be done to help their indigenous communities. At the very least they recognise the importance of shedding light on the past to try to make a better future. The way this country treats and recognises it’s indigenous population is 100 times better than what America has. And they know that there is still work to be done. It’s time to play catch up America!!!
I recognise that what we call salt lake city is built on the land of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes. At the time of the founding of Salt Lake City the valley was within the nomadic territory of the Northwestern Shoshone, who had their seasonal camps along streams within the valley and in adjacent valleys. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water". So really it should be called Pi’a-pa City. I like it!
I recognise the past, present and future elders of these tribes. I recognise that there was no treaty given to the tribes that called Salt Lake City home.
I recognise that salt lake city is built on the land of the the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute and Ute Native American tribes. At the time of the founding of Salt Lake City the valley was within the nomadic territory of the Northwestern Shoshone, who had their seasonal camps along streams within the valley and in adjacent valleys. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the Great Salt Lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water".
I recognise the past, present and future elders of these tribes. I recognise that there was no fair treaty given to the tribes that called Salt Lake City home.
This last paragraph is taken from the land I now call home. It’s written into most Australian event pages, businesses, and anywhere else that it’s possible to help spread awareness. That’s it’s all about, awareness. That’s what it always has and always will be about. Awareness for the self, for others and for the land.
Thanks for reading 😜
If you want an almost perfect example of how a country can truly prop up their indigenous population, look no further than NZ. Those kiwis have heaps of awareness 😆
