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Local efforts to honor Indigenous histories Honoring Ho-Chunk Nation: Planned new developments at Madison casino recognize state’s indigenous history
‘Our Shared Future’ plaque celebrates significance of Indigenous communities
By Zachary Ausavich
By Gina Musso
STAFF WRITER
The Ho-Chunk people have a long history in Wisconsin — one strongly associated with dispossession, destruction and lack of recognition. In response, recent efforts have been made throughout the state to acknowledge the Ho-Chunk Nation, a people who have always been and are still very much present in the region. While many sacred features of the land were lost in the process of previous urbanization, new developments — like the planned expansion at Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison — aim to honor, versus destroy, the Ho-Chunk Nation. However, while the plans were announced a year ago, ground has yet to be broken and the expansion continues to hit stalls in receiving government approval. Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison’s expansion seeks to provide the space for Ho-Chunk people to tell their own story with their own voice in order to create a better understanding of their people among those who attend the facility, explained the executive manager and Ho-Chunk Nation member, Dan Brown. Ho-Chunk Nation’s long — often erased — history in W.I. Ho-Chunk people have resided in the Dejope area — which is comprised of the four lakes surrounding Madison — for over 15,000 years. This region features the single most effigy burial mounds in the country — monuments constructed in burial ceremonies or to honor a specific clan’s representative animal — according to Brown. But since the colonization of the Dejope area, many of these burials have been destroyed due to agricultural and urban development. Along with the destruction of physical sites, European settlers tried to remove Ho-Chunk culture by persecuting them for speaking their language or practicing their religion. Th r o u gh nu m e r o u s removal acts, the Ho-Chunk people were scattered across
Wisconsin and remain so today. The Ho-Chunk Nation resides across several portions of land held under reservation status, not a single Wisconsin reser vation, according to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Despite these challenges, the Ho-Chunk people are still here. “We have suffered forced removals and even with those we continued to return to this land,” Brown said
in the year since announcing their plans, they’ve been approved by the city common council but have reached a sticking point with Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation regarding access to the land.
STAFF WRITER
The “Our Shared Future” heritage marker represents the significance of the Ho-Chunk land and the government’s past efforts to remove Wisconsin’s indigenous population. Yet, various Native American student groups on campus feel this is only a first step to a much larger issue. UW-Madison implemented the “Our Shared Future” historical
TAYLOR WOLFRAM/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Wunk Sheek acknowledged the plaque as a first step in acknoweldging Ho-Chunk land on campus. Holdups in honoring Ho-Chunk Nation The Ho-Chunk Nation continues to contribute to the state economy through both tourism and gaming at six enterprises throughout Wisconsin. In February 2019, the Madison location announced a major expansion, emphasizing they would use this opportunity to turn greater focus toward Ho-Chunk people. The 40-acre expansion will include a conference and entertainment center, a hotel, as well as a 30,000 square foot museum and cultural center, which will be an evolving window into the history and culture of Ho-Chunk people. “It’s not a sad story — it is reality,” Brown said. “It’s also a triumphant story as we are still here.” Yet, Brown explained that
WisDOT claims the high volume of traffic the expansion would draw would create an issue at the highway exit nearest to the casino. Brown and other members of Ho-Chunk Gaming have been working closely with WisDOT and believe they have found a solution. “Wisconsin Department of Transportation is looking at a potential groundbreaking in 2022, and the funding for this project is becoming more of a reality,” Brown said. Despite holdups, Missy Tracy, head of municipal relations at Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison, said progress has been made toward the project. “We are seeing a lot of advancement as we progress toward prepping this site for
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marker in fall 2019 to give recognition to the Ho-Chunk land the campus was built on. The plaque moves to various locations on campus, seven departments and colleges plan to host the marker this spring. The heritage marker will be integrated into messages from visiting speakers, organized events and campus tours. Student Native American organizations on campus, like Wunk Sheek, work to connect students of indigenous identity through cultural education and experiences. Michael Williams, an officer for Wunk Sheek, spoke on the initiative to honor Native American culture through the “Our Shared Future” marker. “It’s a good recognition of what’s happening, but it is a very minimal first step,” Williams said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but we shouldn’t stop because we
have this plaque, we should still keep pushing to do more.” The plaque notes how the “history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation,” and inspired the university and indigenous peoples’ community moving forward. Along with the “Our Shared Future” plaque, the university implemented the presentation of land acknowledgements before major gatherings, such as the Chancellor’s Convocation. “Different university groups have done [well with] land acknowledgments at events, but in terms of the university as a whole, there is no formal land acknowledgment,” Williams said. “That’s another basic first step of building relationships with native students and people on campus.” While Williams noted how the land acknowledgements are a step towards honoring the Ho-Chunk land, there is still more to be done in terms of acknowledging the indigenous people and their history in Wisconsin. “No plaque or monument can ever adequately convey a difficult and complicated history,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. “But it can start a conversation that moves us from ignorance to awareness. So today is the beginning of an intentional effort to teach our shared history.” According to Williams, one area for potential improvement is Wunk Sheek’s annual ‘On Wisconsin Powwow’ on the UW-Madison campus to make the event, which educates and celebrates indigenous culture, more accessible to students. The event is annually held at the Alliant Energy Center due to a lack of accommodation by on-campus facilities. “The whole point of the ‘On Wisconsin Powwow’ is to share native culture and give UW students an opportunity to engage with that — but we do not have the ability to host it on campus,” Williams said. Williams is hopeful more students and faculty will contribute to making campus more inclusive towards all groups. “There’s always room for more to be done where there are people who are willing and want to do this work,” Williams said. “There are always ways to make the campus more inclusive and to share more about the native community with the general campus population.”
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”