Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Land Acknowledgement for Cook County

The Cook County Board will hold a public hearing in May on whether to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. They will vote in June.

All of Cook County and Cook County Forest Preserve lands were Native lands before colonizers arrived. The 65,000 Native residents of Cook County today aren’t asking that everyone leave, but they are asking for recognition, and deserve honoring their presence here.

If you are a constituent of one of the 11 districts listed below who have commissioners that are currently “maybe” or “no,” please phone them and log your call here: bit.ly/IPDCallLog.

Most of Des Plaines is in district 17, with some areas in district 9. Find your Cook County district: https://maps.cookcountyil.gov/commissionerdistricts

Cook County Commissioner (Indigenous Peoples Day “maybe” or “no” votes)	District	Phone #
Dennis Deer	2nd	(773) 722-0140
Stanley Moore	4th	(773) 783-2412
Deborah Sims	5th	(708) 371-4251
Donna Miller	6th	(312) 603-4216
Luis Arroyo Jr	8th	(312) 603-8530
Peter Silvestri	9th	(773) 444-0346
Bridget Gainer	10th	(773) 561-1010
John Daley	11th	(312) 603-4400
Larry Suffredin	13th	(847) 864-1209
Frank Aguilar	16th	(312) 603-4735
Sean Morrison	17th	(708) 603-1336

Sample script: “As a constituent in district [#], I strongly support changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day (File #21-0565) and the reading of a Land Acknowledgement at monthly Board meetings. I am counting on my Commissioner’s vote in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day (File #21-0565) and the Land Acknowledgement Resolution (File #21-0597).”

Please log your call here (takes approximately 1 minute): bit.ly/IPDCallLog

For continued updated information, follow Indigenous Peoples’ Day Coalition – Illinois on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IPD4IL