I live and work on unceded Native land. The Anishinaabe Council of the Three Fires— the Ojibwe people, the keepers of the faith, the Odawa people, the keepers of the trade, and the Potawatomi people, the keepers of the fire, are among the many Native people who call this land home. Other Indigenous people who have called this land home are the Ho-Chunk, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Menominee, Meskwaki, Myaamia, Peoria, and Sac and Fox peoples. The land we now call Chicago, Illinois has the honor to have one of the largest Indigenous populations in the United States. This population was once significantly larger, before colonization.

Unceded land is land that was never legally given up by the Indigenous people who originally inhabited it. In the case of the land I live on, the original inhabitants of this land were killed or driven out at gunpoint by the United States government through a long process of negotiations and treaties made in bad faith, and with constantly changing terms. These acts of terror have long-lasting and damaging consequences to the culture, spirituality, and way of life of the Native people of this land.

The waters of Lake Michigan sustain all of us who live here on Anishinaabe land. We are fortunate to call this beautiful land our home. I honor the Native people of Turtle Island, past, present and future, whose land I live on. I aim to live in right relationship with all beings I live with on this land, and to make decisions in my life and business that reflect this aim.