Illinois Valley Times

Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) talks about how it's time to right a historical wrong with respect to the restoration of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation.

A press conference was held in Springfield by Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation officials along with Illinois state lawmakers in response to the resolution introduced in the Illinois legislature that supports the tribe's claim to reservation land near the village of Shabbona, near Chicago. Demmer had sponsored House Resolution 504.

"Over the last several years I've been working with both tribal representatives and representatives of the local government at the Village of Shabbona, which is in DeKalb County in the southern end of my district, to right this historical wrong," Demmer said. "To try to call attention to a very unusual circumstance one that we're not accustomed to dealing with in the state of Illinois. But, one that involves both state and federal law. Today I am proud to be sponsoring HR 504, which will be heard this afternoon in this house the government Affairs committee, which affirms our support for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in the pursuit of reservation that still legally belongs to them. The resolution urges Congress and specifically the U.S. Senate to take action on this."

HR 504 was introduced last year by Demmer. Both Democrats and Republicans support the effort. "We simply want to reclaim the land that was taken from us and we want to do so in the most community-focused, least disruptive way," Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick said. "We're rooted in the northern Illinois community and after 170 years, we just want this issue resolved."

The resolution supports the efforts of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to regain possession of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation after it was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849. "As U.S. inhabitants, it's important to recognize the Indigenous communities who called this land home before us and continue to call it home," Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago) said. "The land of Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band was illegally sold, and recognition of this act of injustice by the federal government will begin to repair the harm and ensure that the land is recognized as reserved for the Potawatomi people in northern Illinois."

Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Morgan introduced a similar action in November in the U.S. Senate that was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.