It’s called Point House, a small plot of land in Sheet’ka Kwaan, known today as Sitka. It’s where the Kiks.ádi clan house once stood, facing out towards the water.
Somehow over the years, the Kiks.ádi lost legal rights to their land, which is now finally being returned to the people of the Point House.
Jerrick Hope-Lang has gained title to the land and has become one of its stewards, with hopes of rebuilding Point House. But he says the clan house, whether it’s on the property or not — exists outside of space and time — and will always hold great cultural significance. The property has recently been used as a gathering place for the Herring Protector’s annual Yaaw Koo.eex’, an annual ceremony to honor herring as a sacred fish.
On Tuesday’s Juneau Afternoon, KXLL’s Chandre Szafran talked with Hope-Lang about how this effort to put Indigenous land back into Indigenous hands is part of a larger, national LANDBACK movement.
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