Will a County in Illinois be FORCED to return “Stolen” Land?
There is a chance that a county in the Land of Lincoln will lose over a thousand acres because the land was "stolen" Here are the details you need to know...
According to an article from Northern Public Radio, DeKalb County, Illinois may be forced to return "stolen" land to the Native Americans who once inhabited the area. If this bill passes over 1500 acres of the land would be returned, in the article, they say...
"A bill pending in the General Assembly this year would give back roughly 1,500 acres of park land in DeKalb County to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. That tribe once occupied much of the Great Lakes region but was forcibly removed in the 19th century and is now headquartered in northeast Kansas."
What land would be given back? The article mentions that the land would be returned to the Potawatomi Nation is Shabbona Lake State Park. To read more about this bill that would restore these "stolen" lands, click here!
Where does it stop?
On the surface this may seem like an easy "sure, give them the land, it's a state park" but I ask...is that it? Do we as a state just give up state parks, what about towns built on "stolen lands" do we have to tear down buildings and force people to move? I know that seems extreme, but I just want to know where the line is. Would they build a casino in that state park? Would citizens no longer have access to the natural beauty in that state park? We don't have a lot of "beautiful" scenery in the Land of Lincoln, it is a lot of Chicago, corn, and small towns, these state parks show off the rare natural beauty in the state, and we might be down one more if this bill passes.
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Gallery Credit: Hannah Lang