Central Kitsap School board plans to start tribal land acknowledgments
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BREMERTON, Wash. - Central Kitsap School Board President Bruce Richards typically opens meetings in the same manner: following a call to order, he explains the rules for public comment before reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
In the future, Richards could be lending his voice for another type of pledge, one designed as a gesture of gratitude and respect for the indigenous people who first called Kitsap County home.
Last week, Richards and other members expressed the desire to include land acknowledgments that honor Kitsap’s two federally recognized tribes: the Suquamish and Port Gamble S’Klallam, the Kitsap Sun reported.
Rev. Erin Grayson and Dick Goff
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The Interfaith Council of Bainbridge Island North Kitsap (BINK IFC) an association of 21 diverse local faith groups along with other allied nonprofit organizations, founded in 1997. Our members are neighbors of the Suquamish Tribe, whose people were the original inhabitants of the land where we now live and our worship and other group activities are centered.
We write because we have learned from the Tribe that in recent years, according to public records, King County has repeatedly released into Puget Sound very large quantities of untreated or improperly treated sewage, causing harm and hazards to marine water quality and aquatic species and to the safe harvesting and human consumption of shellfish and fish; also causing posting of health advisories and closures of beaches and disturbing important tribal cultural activities. We have learned that in July 2020 the Tribe sent to King County a notice of intent to sue the Co
Poulsbo project should honor history Bainbridge Island-North Kitsap Interfaith Council, Kitsap Sun
We thank those at the city of Poulsbo for your leadership through these challenging times. We offer this letter with gratitude for your service and encouragement for more inclusive governmental processes. The following statement is read at the beginning of some civic and religious gatherings in Kitsap County. It was adopted by the Suquamish Tribe and shared with the public so that we can honor the first people who live and have lived for thousands of year in this beautiful area:
“‘Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Chief Seattle, 1854