The Mukilteo City Council voted to stop reading the city’s land acknowledgement before every council meeting, instead limiting the statement to the first meeting of each month after a divided debate over its purpose and meaning.
The council approved the change in a 4-3 vote during its May 4 meeting as part of broader revisions to council rules and procedures.
The vote followed discussion over whether the acknowledgement should remain part of the city’s regular meeting agenda at all. Some council members supported eliminating the practice except for an annual proclamation, while others argued the statement serves as an important recognition of local tribal history and sovereignty.
The deadlocked council initially split 3-3 due to a vacant seat left by Councilmember Mike Dixon’s resignation in April. Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine cast the deciding vote in favor of reading the acknowledgement once per month.
Marine said he personally believed the statement should only be read once per year but supported the compromise to allow time for possible revisions to the language.
Land acknowledgements are formal statements recognizing Indigenous communities as the original stewards of the land. In recent years, they have become increasingly common at public meetings, schools, and civic events across Washington and the country.
The issue drew passionate testimony from community members on both sides Monday night.
“Repetition leads to remembrance,” Penelope Ross, a member of the Yakama Nation and a student at Kamiak High School, told the council. “The land acknowledgement works the same way. It is a consistent reminder of history.”
Ross argued reducing the number of readings would also reduce how often people are encouraged to reflect on that history.
Others said the practice had become political and divisive.
“Land statements are part of a broad movement to undermine America, and more broadly, the west,” Mukilteo resident Sharon Damoff told the council. “Please stop reading this divisive statement and instead read a proclamation once a year honoring the tribes.”
The debate carries particular significance in Mukilteo because the city was the site of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, where several tribes ceded millions of acres of land while retaining rights tied to self-governance, fishing, and hunting.
The city’s acknowledgement specifically references the Snohomish people and the Tulalip Tribes, as well as Mukilteo’s connection to the treaty.
Mukilteo’s current land acknowledgement recognizes the Snohomish people as the original inhabitants of the area and commits the city to acknowledging “the legacy of colonization” while including Indigenous “people, stories and voices to form a just and fair society.”
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