City of Tucson Unanimously Begins a Historic Reconciliation with Native Tucsonans

Per a press release today:

Led by Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Ward 1 Council Member, Lane Santa Cruz, the Tucson City Council voted unanimously to begin the process that will return 10.6 acres of ancestral lands back to the Tohono O’odham Nation. This area is currently located in Ward 1.

The base of Sentinel Peak is considered the birthplace of Tucson, and has been continuously inhabited by the ancestors of the Tohono O’odham, the Hohokam people for more than 4500 years. It is also Tucson’s namesake. The Tohono O’odham name for Tucson was S-cuk Son referring to the 17th-century O’odham village at the base of “Black Hill or Mountain.” The Spanish name “Tucson” comes from S-cuk Son.

“This is an historic day. The Hohokam and Tohono O’odham have been here since time immemorial. This is their land,” said Mayor Regina Romero. “It is essential to recognize and correct the historical harm that has been inflicted upon Indigenous peoples, including the Tohono O’odham People. As responsible stewards of this land we are working towards a more equitable future and just society for all.”

Mayor Romero and Council Member Santa Cruz recognize the sovereignty of the Tohono O’odham nation and acknowledge their contributions to our shared region. They have made it a priority to formalize the relationship between the City of Tucson and the Tohono O’odham Nation.

In a joint letter sent in early April, Romero and Santa Cruz communicated their intent to introduce this item before the City Council inviting Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. and the Tribal Council to take part in the discussion.

“There is a reverence owed to this land, a reconciliatory acknowledgment of the desecration, destruction, and erasure perpetrated on our O’odham relatives,” said Council Member Lane Santa Cruz. “This move by Mayor and Council to return land back to the Tohono O’odham Nation honors Tucson’s Indigenous legacy. It is a clear and powerful statement that we are still here. These lands are still sacred.” 

Editor: This is but one among many future steps we must take toward recognizing the irredeemable harms our ancestors have done to the ancestors of our Native brothers and sisters. While we are now all American citizens, we descendants of the occupiers have a historical and ethical debt to Native Nations and peoples all across this continent that can never be fully paid; it can only be acknowledged, repented of, and used to make us a stronger, more unified, and more equal society moving forward. Reparations will simply never be complete and fair, but in ways great and small we can begin the process and reconciliation and truth which should acknowledge the historical injustice done to the ancestors of our Native citizens, recognize the stigmas and harms we still inflict, and seek to bring them further into union with us as equal and distinctive parts of the American family. I applaud this step forward for both the past and future community of Tucson.