Rio de Bienvenida / River of Welcome

Educational Partners: Citlalli Trujillo & Dr. Rachel Havrelock, UIC Freshwater Lab
freshwaterlab.org
The South Branch of the Chicago River and the Sanitary and Ship Canal offer few places to access the river. It takes an adventurous spirit to move through industrial hubs, dodge semi trucks and navigate broken glass to reach the water. The Canalport Riverwalk, a five-acre park that straddles the South Branch and the canal, is one of the few access points on Chicago’s West Side. Its existence is barely known even to longtime residents.The courageous spirits who visit contend with smells of exhaust and grinding noise from metal being shredded across the water.

In contrast, a just transition approach forefronts community-based economic initiatives. A Just Transition framework places people first to avoid perpetuating environmental and labor injustices. This means active engagement in shifts around production and industry from all impacted groups including employers, workers, elected officials and neighbors to ensure the creation of well-paying green jobs with health benefits that reflect the vision and skills of the community.

The Freshwater Lab strives to contribute to a just transition by reimagining a green space in the Pilsen industrial corridor. The Backward River digital storytelling project dives into the past, present and possible futures for the river and the Backward River festival brought people together at the junction of the South Branch, Bubbly Creek and the canal. The Freshwater Lab is thrilled to collaborate on the Rio de Bienvenida/River of Welcome Project funded by the E(art)H Chicago initiative. Through a series of art workshops, community members engaged in conversations and design discussions around how to make the park more welcoming and accessible. The resulting artwork symbolizes these visions for cleaner air and water.

Water Acknowledgement
The Chicago River flows through the traditional homelands of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi Nations. The Fox, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Miami and Sac tribes also call this region home. These communities have been targets of erasure by settler colonialism. The UIC Freshwater Lab aims to highlight the histories, cultures and practices of Indigenous peoples who have a right to this land. Today, Chicago’s American Indian presence constitutes one of the country’s largest urban Indigenous communities.

The UIC Freshwater Lab aims to address the disproportionate impacts of environmental degradation that burden Indigenous communities. The current uses of our local waters are borne of the violent logic of settler colonialism. We collaborate with Indigenous perspectives, which treat water as a vital artery in connecting trade, travel and family.

By making a water acknowledgement, we take a moment to thank the water for sustaining life and maintaining balance on Earth. We are grateful to the water for moistening the fields where our plants grow, for quenching our thirst, purifying our bodies and allowing us to travel by boat. In the form of springs, rivers, lakes and seas, the water is a mirror that reflects how we treat our environment. In the streams we hear the ancient song that preserves the memory of the beginning of life and our cosmic identity. Water also teaches us adaptability and fluidity, reminding us to mold to the circumstances and remain transparent, calm yet strong at the same time.

Indigenous communities have historically viewed the relationship between water and humans as one of kinship; today, members of this community continue to protect water as a source of healing and to highlight the symbolic power of water that teaches us how to understand history and ourselves.