(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A northern Illinois Native American group wants its land back.
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, chaired by Joseph Rupnick, says the federal government seized its land near DeKalb, in violation of treaties agreed to about 200 years ago with Rupnick’s ancestor, Chief Shabbona.
“We have entered into 44 treaties,” Rupnick said at a news conference in Springfield, “and every one of them has been broken in one form or fashion or another.”
Part of the land they say is theirs is within Shabbona State Park. State Rep. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, said the easiest thing to do would be to return the property.
Also this week, a Northwestern University professor of learning sciences, Megan Bang, endorsed a bill requiring Illinois K-12 schools to do away with Native American imagery in mascots and team names.
“There has been a mountain of impeccable social science research, more than twenty years in the making, from the best social scientists in the world, demonstrating the presence of native mascots, logos and names harm native children,” she said.
Bang was asked about the University of Illinois, which abolished “Chief Illiniwek” years ago. She said the university should remove “Fighting Illini” as the name of the university’s teams.
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram