We had another successful celebration this year thanks to our speakers, performers, dignitaries, volunteers, sponsors, donors, allies, and everyone who showed up to celebrate with us!
If you couldn’t make it in person, you can watch the event on our YouTube channel and #IPDphilly2022 webpage!
EVENT OVERVIEW
Through a celebration of art and culture, Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Philadelphia provides space for different Indigenous communities in the city to shed light on the history and strength of our people from 530 years of resistance.
2022 marks the second year since Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney declared Indigenous Peoples’ Day an official holiday in the city. This decision was a part of Philadelphia’s Pathways to Reform, Transformation, and Reconciliation initiative to build a more equitable community in the City of Brotherly Love.
The event location, Shackamaxon, also known as Penn Treaty Park, is within the ancestral territory of the Lenni-Lenape peoples. They are the original inhabitants of Delaware, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania. Shackamaxon, derived from “sakimauchheen ing,” means “place to make a chief,” and is where the community would formally recognize both family (“sakima“) and clan (“kitakima“) chiefs.
The Great Elm Tree that once stood in Shackamaxon had a significant history as a place of important gatherings. It is where many sachems of the Lenni-Lenape and other tribes from Lenapehoking would meet for council. A third-generation descendant of that tree is growing in Shackamaxon today.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
We’re fortunate to have had many excellent speakers, artists, musicians, and storytellers across Turtle Island. Some came all the way from Canada and Oklahoma to be with us on this historic day!
IPD Philly would like to give a special shout-out to Jack Johnson (Delaware Nation of Anadarko, Oklahoma) and Theresa Johnson (Delaware Nation of Moraviantown, Ontario, Canada). They and other indigenous community leaders had some powerful words to share with the press before the event.
“Chief Tammanend signed a treaty here with William Penn called the Treaty of Shackamaxon,” said Jack Johnson, “It’s stated that Penn and Chief Tammanend agreed their people would live in a state of perpetual peace. Today is a day of reckoning. Today is a day of remembrance.”
—>Watch Jack Johnson on our Livestream here.
Theresa Johnson opened her speech with a Lenape prayer, then spoke about what is owed to the Lenape peoples who were forcibly removed from their ancestral land. “I’d like to see land back for our people,” she said, “We [went through] a lot from European contact and lost a lot of our people, a couple million people just through disease alone. And then we had to go through massacres. Now today, we have missing and murdered women.”
—> Watch Theresa Johnson on our Livestream here.
You can also learn more about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people in our Fall Newsletter.
Peter Brooks (Piscataway Chiefdom, Choptico Band descent) who was representing the Native American House Alliance (NAHA), shared their mission to “foster and preserve Native American culture as well as promote an accurate understanding of the Native American experience, history, and culture.”
—> Watch Peter Brooks on our Livestream here.
Pauline Songbird Hilton (Seminole Creek descent), a long-time figure in Indigenous activism in Philadelphia, also had some fantastic words and reminders for our supporters and allies. “I want to thank the Creator first of all for allowing us to celebrate this day with you in recognition of all our culture, traditions, and our contributions to this society,” she said. “We’re members of every faction of life. We’re doctors, we’re lawyers, we’re teachers, we’re nurses. We are in every facet of life.“
—> Watch Pauline Songbird Hilton on our Livestream here.
Miguel Sague (Taino of Cuba) provided further context and a more accurate telling of what happened the fateful year Columbus found himself lost in the Caribbean. “In 1492, strange people arrived on the shores of where I was born. Strange people that my ancestors treated with respect, kindness, and generosity,” he said. “That respect, kindness, and generosity was responded with criminality, violence, slavery, and disease. They brought us death from across the ocean. My people, the Taino people, were the very first to taste the horror of colonozation in 1492. And I’m here to represent that history.”
—> Watch Miguel Sague on our Livestream here.
Eugene Black Crow (Oglala Lakota) reflected on Shackamaxon and the statue of Chief Tamanend in Philadelphia. “When I first came here, I looked for a Lenape chief in this park and I didn’t see one. But I saw Benjamin Franklin standing over there. I was asking around for Chief Tamanend, and they showed me where he was. He was at a busy place, on Market Street and Front Street. [That] place where he’s at is real crowded, you can’t even stand there. One of these days, I’d like to see him brought here [to Shackamaxon]. ‘Cause this is his land. One of these day’s I’d like to see this place called ‘Lenape Treaty Park’ instead of Penn Treaty Park.”
—> Watch Eugene Black Crow on our Livestream here.
Later in the program, Donna Fann-Boyle (Choctaw, Cherokee descent) used the stage to give information about Leonard Peltier, who has been imprisoned for 45 years as of 2022. “One of AIMs founding members, Leonard Peltier, is being held as a political prisoner since 1977 by the US Government to send a message to all Native people that they can and will do whatever they want to silence us and keep us down,” she said.
—> Watch Donna Fann-Boyle on our Livestream here.
THANK YOU
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity for Indigenous people to not only celebrate and share our cultures but to also bring attention to the needs of our communities. We thank these community members for speaking on critical issues that impact the Lenape and many other Nations across Turtle Island and Abya Yala. Their powerful words and feelings set the tone for another incredible Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Shackamaxon.
IPD Philly would like to recognize and thank all the amazing people and organizations who helped make Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Philly, 2022 possible.
We truly appreciate everyone who attended, volunteered, performed, worked, spread the word, and donated to this year’s event. We are deeply honored that you took the time to stand in solidarity with us to help celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Philadelphia.
We are so excited to continue increasing awareness of the Lenape/Delaware peoples and our diverse histories and cultures in the city.
To continue supporting IPD Philly and all of our ongoing educational projects in addition to the annual event, you can donate here!
LEARN MORE ABOUT #IPDphilly2022
