Article: Belt Magazine Interview, 2019
First Nations Garden
Subject: First Nations Garden
Article: Chicago’s First Nations Garden
Publication: Belt Magazine
Author: Pat Nabong
Location: Chicago, IL (Albany Park)
Date: 4/24/2019
ARTICLE
“As urban Natives, you know, a lot of us if we if we don’t live on the reservation, we don’t have the same political power as Natives who do live on reservations, so to have this space, you know, it’s kind of going along those lines [of sovereignty],” said Anthony Tamez, the co-president of Chi-Nations Youth Council, who identifies as Cree, Lakota and Black. “But it’s more just to, you know, have a space where we can come [together] because we’re never alone. … To have this space, an open space to come and be ourselves with each other is something that a lot of Native kids and a lot of Native youth, a lot of Native elders a lot of Native people in general in the city of Chicago is happy about.” – Chicago’s First Nations Garden, Belt Magazine.
INFO
First Nations Garden (Wiinso, Wiikonge Otishinikaaso) was established in the Spring of 2019 due to community organizing led by the Chi-Nations Youth Council with support from Alderman Carlos Rosa of the 35th Ward. Currently, Chi-Nations is working closely with Neighborspace to ensure a more sustainable future for the garden.
First Nations Garden was chosen as the English name of the space. The term First Nations is a collective noun that emphasizes the importance of direct and ancestral relationships to the land, both human and non-human. As First Nations peoples, we’ve chosen names that carry the garden site’s history and ancestral ecological knowledge and assist in helping provide navigational information and teachings to the greater public.
