We’ve told you plenty about the diversity, equity, and inclusion seminars that teachers have been made to sit through. As if it weren’t woke enough to be giving a slide presentation on critical race theory or queer theory, a lot of these seminars that we’ve covered begin with a land acknowledgment; that is, the group that is meeting recognizes that its seminar is taking place on stolen land. As we told you last fall, Forest Hills Elementary, part of the Lake Oswego School District in Oregon, kicked off its Back to School Night presentation with a land acknowledgment presentation by members of the student government.
Even the American Medical Association has gotten in on the act, with the AMA’s “Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts” telling the AMA to kick off meetings with a “land and labor acknowledgment,” listing the tribes displaced from where the AMA’s headquarters now stands, and also acknowledges “the extraction of brilliance, energy and life for labor forced upon millions of people of African descent for more than 400 years.”
We’re surprised the White House hasn’t picked up on this yet, but they’re still working on getting everyone to share their pronouns at the beginning of a meeting.
Noah Blum, aka @neontaster, explains why these land acknowledgments are so dumb:
Land acknowledgements are based on the premise that it's ok to do something you consider immoral as long as you lampshade it.
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) September 6, 2022
We’re not returning the land, but we do acknowledge that we’re bad people for being on it.
I’ll be really interested to see the first land acknowledgement war where two different groups claim they should be the one acknowledged.
The groups then compete to show who is aggrieved more with the most politically helpful crowed acknowledged…for now.
— Scott Bridgeman (@Devils73) September 6, 2022
Recommended
"Carbon credits" same thing.
It's religious absolution.
— Benjamin Glaser (@WVPitt) September 6, 2022
I always will see it as a flex
— Based Oracle 🐝 (@BasedTomas) September 6, 2022
Land acknowledgements are becoming a thing in email signatures at universities. Usually from high-salaried admins. They're still cashing the paychecks.
— Stephen (@KenGillingham) September 6, 2022
Land acknowledgments are prayers to appease mysterious foreign ghosts.
— D.J. Butler — Author and Other Stuff (@DavidJohnButler) September 6, 2022
I think they're also of a piece with this idea that everything can be fixed with wording. You don't have to do anything – you definitely don't have to do anything that requires sacrifice. You just have to utter words.
— Ed Fitzcarraldo (@EdFitzcarraldo) September 6, 2022
It cracks me up because unless you intend to hand the land over, it’s literally the same as starting a sporting event by saying “Yknow, apartheid was pretty gnarly.” Like, okay, good to know.
— Paul Mumm (@PaulMumm) September 6, 2022
As long as your descendants apologize for it before every corporate board meeting.
— Jacob Bloom (@JacobBloom31) September 6, 2022
It's the height of irony to acknowledge "land as stolen" when the people the land is supposedly stolen from didn't believe in ownership of land.
— 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗰-𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗣. 𝗚𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲 (@Le_CrocMonsieur) September 6, 2022
I acknowledge that's it's 2022 and it's time to move on from this already.
— Al.Z (@AlZ17044627) September 6, 2022
It's based on the false premise that past conquest isn't the means by which every nation has been formed.
Like there's something deeply unique about European settlers seizing land in North America vs how it happened in every other region on earth.
— Trench Scrote Mafia (@trenchscrote) September 6, 2022
Land acknowledgements are based on the premise that Native Americans never waged wars of conquest against each other
— Take Your Medicine (@TakeYourMedPod) September 6, 2022
I always enjoy thinking about the Pawnee acknowledging the land they stole from the Cheyenne or Arapahoe before a lacrosse game.
— SugarSmackTalk (@SugarSmackTalk) September 6, 2022
I love when they claim someone “stole” land, like they shoplifted it.
No, mother fuqqa, one team won, one team lost. There’s your acknowledgment.
— DriveBy Geek 🍸 (@drivebygeek) September 6, 2022
Harsh, but fair.
Every rock/hip-hop star should begin the show with a crimes acknowledgement.
— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) September 6, 2022
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Related:
Science: AMA’s new ‘Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts’ kicks off with a ‘Land and Labor Acknowledgement’ https://t.co/jn3WHnepm1
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 30, 2021
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