I read with interest Megan Gray’s Oct. 12 article, “City voters to consider Native land acknowledgment.” This question on Portland’s ballot will allow the charter to acknowledge that the city sits on Wabanaki land.
Shortly after his arrival at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in Portland, where I am a member, Pastor Christopher Gilbert began to start Sunday services with the following prayer:
“Holy one, We remember: The land under us is the unceded land of the Aucocisco and the Abenaki. This is land that was taken, not given … we lament the ways in which this identity was stolen from these tribes, one aspect of the erasure of Indigenous culture in North America. We acknowledge and repent of the sins of colonialism and racism …”
I have hope that Portland voters will vote to amend the charter, and that other organizations and municipalities in Maine will follow suit.
Judie Alessi O’Malley
Gorham
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