Coming down off the fun of celebrating Utah’s Pioneer Day #PieAndBeerDay #BiAndQueerDay #CincoDeMomo in a city that sees Mormons as strange and exotic. #SexCultCommunists
I went looking for Salt Lake City’s land acknowledgment. My question was whether it would be just the Shoshone, or whether it would include the Utes, Paiutes, and Goshutes.
Surprise (or not): Salt Lake City doesn’t seem to have a land acknowledgment. In fairness, maybe it takes too much time and energy just putting together the Pioneer Day parades and parties.
But, University of Utah has one: “We acknowledge that this land, which is named for the Ute Tribe, is the traditional and ancestral homeland of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes. . . .” (Office of the President, “Indigenous Land Acknowledgment Statement“, University of Utah, website, retrieved July 26, 2021).
And Salt Lake Community College has one: “Salt Lake Community College is located on the Native American shared territory of the Goshute, Navajo, Paiute, Shoshone, and Ute People. . . .” (Heather Graham, “SLCC unveils land acknowledgement plaques“, The Globe, website, retrieved July 26, 2021).
So: we have a lavish annual celebration of our ancestors’ entrance to the Salt Lake Valley #MormonEntrada but only a meager acknowledgment of context. Ironic that this is the year of Deseret Nationalism #DezNat but not land acknowledgments.
- Mormon Land, “Why we might need to view Pioneer Day differently | Episode 191“, Salt Lake Tribune, podcast, July 22, 2021. “These settlers ended up displacing Native Americans and transporting slavery to region.“)