Voices of Western Washington University - Ten Minute Plays - Playbill

I want to acknowledge that this production of Voices of Western Washington University: A New Play Reading Series is being produced by this University on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples (Lhaq'temish and Lhéchalosem Nations) past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls me to commit to continuing to learn how to be a better steward of the land I inhabit as well.

I would also like to recognize all the people who have built, created, and died in the process of this society being what it is today. The diasporic actions of the Euro colonizers have created damaging ripples in those communities that still require action to be taken.
Here in Bellingham Washington we recognize the Lummi, Semiahmoo, and Nooksack tribes and their neighboring stewards the Samish, Stilliguamish, Sauk-Suiattle and Swinomish tribes.

A Land Acknowledgement feels hollow. While the idea of recognizing that the land is unseated and actively being occupied by unwelcome settlers, there’s no action being taken to give the land back. And so as an offering of what the Coast Salish people have taught the settlers here, I’d like to take a moment to tell you about this culturally rich and vibrant area of the Coast Salish Sea and the people who are from here. 

Lummi (Lhaq'temish) and Nooksack (Lhéchalosem) people have been here since time immemorial. That means as far as anyone can remember back. As long as the river has flowed, the mountain was formed and humans were here on this land. They have survived the diasporic and murderous actions of colonizers and are still here on the lands they have always been from. The continue to protect 13,000 acres of tidelands and over 80,000 acres of wetlands and foreseted areas; including the river route of Nuxwsá7aq.

They know the stories of this land and the mountain. They have fished the river and sound and hunted peacefully generation after generation. They are artists, politicians, peacekeepers, scientists, and nature conservationists.

Please take a few moments to get to know them better