By Luna Plaza, genCLEO
Land belongs to no one, but it is important to know who occupied it first. Long before European arrival in the 16th century, the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes trace their ancestry to an area in the Everglades considered sacred, known as the Big Cypress National Preserve. In the Miccosukee language, the land is called Kahayatle, referring to the shimmering waters
The Everglades have long been in jeopardy. In fact, Everglades National Park is the only World Heritage Site in North America that is on the World Heritage Danger List. Besides being the home of indigenous tribes, the Everglades are vital to protect for numerous reasons, one of which is that it recharges the Biscayne Aquifer that provides water to millions of people in South Florida.
Here’s what’s happening now: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis seized what they call “an old airstrip” in the Everglades from Miami-Dade County. They have developed it into a detention camp, which they named “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The airstrip is a remnant of a disastrous 1960s scheme to build the world’s largest airport in the heart of the Everglades. When the environmental impact became evident, the project was defeated in 1970 by leaders like Marjory Stoneman Douglas — author of “The Everglades: River of Grass.”
Tribal history
It was in the Everglades that the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes escaped persecution and eradication during the Seminole Wars. They sought refuge and created villages on tree islands. These tribes moved to Florida in the 1700s from Alabama and Georgia. After the Third and final Seminole War in 1858, the United States forcibly removed most Florida Native Americans, sending them to “Indian Territory” west of the Mississippi River.
Despite this, the Miccosukee and Seminoles remained in the Florida Everglades. To this day, the Seminoles of Florida call themselves the “Unconquered People,” descendants of just 300 Indians who eluded capture by the U.S. Army in the 19th century.
Ultimately, in 1957, Seminole Tribe members voted in favor of a Constitution establishing the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida were recognized as a sovereign nation within the United States in 1962.
Tribal leaders take action
As an Indigenous Taino woman, I’m glad to see leaders of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida raise their collective voices against the detention center in the Big Cypress National Preserve.
My own upbringing has taught me to learn from history so we don’t repeat mistakes of the past. It’s within my responsibility and our collective responsibility to uphold the knowledge and history with the original stewards of the land that we live, learn and work on. Our home, the land we reside, is still being destroyed and it’s urgent that it stops.
This monstrosity of an idea is located near tribal villages where members of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribe of Florida live, hunt, fish, gather and pray. Tribal leaders warn that such a plan would impact the environment of their Indigenous homeland.
Lewis J. Johnson, principal chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma said, “These lands are not empty stretches of wilderness, nor are they merely backdrops to policy decisions — they are living, breathing homelands, deeply tied to the cultural, spiritual and historical identity of Miccosukee and Florida Seminole people. Indigenous lands are not vacant – they are vital. Indigenous rights are not negotiable – they are inherent.”
Talbert Cypress, chair of the Miccosukee Tribe, stated in 2024 testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Federal Lands, “We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here. The Big Cypress is part of us and we are a part of it.”
There are 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as several ceremonial grounds, burial grounds and gathering sites within the preserve. It is not just a swamp. The Everglades is sacred land. As Betty Osceola has said, “This is spiritual warfare.”
Mariann Billie, Seminole Tribe of Florida councilwoman of Big Cypress, posted on social media, “The Everglades is a unique ecosystem that is very fragile and is home to many not just alligators and pythons. Our families live in the Everglades, and the Everglades helped us Seminole/Miccosukee survive during the wars.”
William “Popeye” Osceola, secretary of the Miccosukee Tribe, shares my feelings on the need to learn from the past. He said, “They’re trying to contain a group of people, take away their rights, their freedom, their ability to be free, to be sovereign. That’s literally why my people are out here to begin with, we don’t want history to keep repeating itself.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Luna Plaza is the genCLEO lead organizer at the University of Miami. To take action, visit Friends of the Everglades. Banner photo: Big Cypress National Preserve (iStock image).
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