Chattanooga Organized For Action
The mission of Chattanooga Organized for Action is to assist individuals and organizations in becoming the essential agents of real systemic change to achieve social, economic and environmental justice.
Citico Rising: Lincoln Park & The Struggle for Sacred Spaces
Chattanooga Organized for Action is asking all Chattanoogans, who are able, to show out and support the Chattanooga InterTribal Association at 8 AM on June 19th in a ceremony for the preservation of Native American sacred sites. The saga of Lincoln Park's struggle against gentrification continues. Undaunted and unbroken by years of protest against a major road extension which could destroy the African-American landmark for which their community is named, the community suffered another blow with the approval of a major high-end condo development on their outskirts of their neighborhood. This development was seen, by community members, as another step in the "aggressive gentrification" in the area. Lincoln Park is a holdout community in one of the most aggressively gentrified zip codes in the entire United States. It is mostly African-American, mostly elderly, and mostly poor. And they are fighting for their homes. At Risk: African-American and Native-American Historical Sites The Lincoln Park community is not alone and the history of the Lincoln Park area is long. The erasure of communities of color is an old trick of the developers who come to Chattanooga. Until 1915, the Citico Mound, a burial site and sacred cultural center of the Muskagee people who once called Chattanooga home, was located between Lincoln Park and the Tennessee River. Citico Mound was the center of city built far before whites settled in the Chattanooga area... until Indian Removal and, later, the original construction of Riverside Drive wiped it from the map. Over the course of development in the last century, hundreds of Native American burials have been accidentally uncovered by bulldozers in the area. As recently as 2001, there have been major discoveries of Native American remains in the Riverside Drive area. The extending road between Third Street and Riverside Drive puts this site at further risk. Chattanooga's Native American community wants the sacred sites that once dotted our landscape to be persevered. There should be an end to the continual destruction of the Citico area. In the image to the right, the Citico Mound area is highlighted in orange. Citico Rising On June 19th, representatives of the Chattanooga InterTribal Association will be participating in the nationwide Day of Prayer for the Protection of Sacred Sites. This sunrise event will be at 8 AM at 1428 Riverside Drive. Click HERE for more information and to RSVP for the Facebook Event. COA is in solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Chattanooga whose legacy, community, and culture have been marginalized by colonialism in the past and in the present. We need the people of Chattanooga to attend and show their support for those marginalized in our city's past and present. Share This
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