Preston Jackson speaks at the unveiling of his new statue at Upper Bradley Park.
BILL KNIGHT

At the moment when Winter became Spring (at 9:46 a.m. March 30) Peoria Park District officials and other notables, including artist Preston  Jackson, unveiled his permanent sculpture in Upper Laura Bradley Park: The bronze “Never Extinct: A Pictorial History of Indigenous People.”

Greeting the gathering of almost 100 people, Jackson reminded them that almost all Americans are descendants of immigrants.

“We came here just like everyone else did,” he said. “The main thing is that there were already people here.”

One descendant of those First People — Logan Pappenfort, a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma who’s Director of Tribal Relations at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield — said he was moved when he first saw the work.

Before, “there was nothing that reflected my people,” he said. “I look at this today [and] it does tell a story, the story of my people. To see artwork and the journey reflected, I did get a little emotional. We are not extinct. We are still here.”