If you live in the United States and aren’t an Indigenous person living on the land of your ancestors, then you’re living on stolen land. Since its inception, the U.S. has forcefully occupied hundreds of sovereign nations, and most of us live on land that was never officially ceded by Indigenous people when European colonizers arrived.
Understanding whose land you live on is vital for understanding the Land Back movement and how you can be an ally.
“Land Back is about reclaiming Indigenous lands and getting land back into Indigenous hands. And to reclaim everything stolen from us when we were forcibly removed,” Krystal Two Bulls, director of the Indigenous-led organization NDN Collective, told CNN.
RELATED STORY: Mary Peltola makes history! First Dem congresswoman in 50 years. First Alaska Native ever
Nick Tilsen, who is Oglala Lakota and president and CEO of NDN Collective, tells Teen Vogue that the term “Land Back” emerged about a decade ago after several Indigenous artists began using it and caught fire on social media.
The goals of the NDN Land Back Collective are not only for public lands to be returned to Native peoples but for a reclamation of Native food, education, housing, health care, medicine, and kinship. “This work has been happening for generations and generations, and it's something that's simply being handed down to us,” Two Bulls says.
YouTube Video
It’s vital for Americans to know what land they’re standing on. This interactive map shows Indigenous lands around the globe. By finding your spot, you can learn which Indigenous people once inhabited your region.
According to Native Land Digital, a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization with a majority-Indigenous board of directors, says that the relevance of the land isn’t just about informing people whose land they’re living on; it’s also about mapping the sacred land itself.
“In reality, we know that the land is not something to be exploited and ‘owned,’ but something to be honored and treasured. However, because of the complexities of history, the kind of mapping we undertake is an important exercise, insofar as it brings an awareness of the real lived history of Indigenous peoples and nations in a long era of colonialism,” reads Native Land Digital’s website.
Recently, the hard work of reclaiming Native land has begun to come to fruition. In December 2020, the Chippewa National Forest returned 11,760 acres of forest land to be held in trust by the Department of Interior for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.
Leech Lake tribal representative Leroy Staples Fairbanks III tells Indian Country Today, “We've also purchased close to 3,000 acres of land in our strategy of land reacquisition planning. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is to people who've seen the limited amount of land opportunities for tribal members, for housing, for business, for economic, for agriculture, for whatever use they are.”
Also, in 2020, the Esselen Tribe, one of the five tribes of central California, were able to buy nearly two square miles of their land back for just under $4.5 million with the help of Western Rivers Conservancy.
Tom Little Bear Nason, tribal chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, tells The Californian, “It’s like getting the Sistine Chapel back… We’re getting back our church, we’re getting back our own land.”
In March, thanks to a grant from conservation charities, the Passamaquoddy, a small tribe of 3,700 who’ve lived on Pine Island, Maine—a land they call Kuwesuwi Monihq—for nearly 10,000 years, were able to raise $355,000 to buy their island.
Chief William Nicholas, 51, leader of the tribe’s Indian township reservation for the last 11 years, told The Guardian, “The land was stolen from us and it’s been every chief’s goal ever since to return it.”
Dr. Mishuana Goeman, a professor in American Indian Studies at the University of California Los Angeles and member of New York’s Tonawanda Band of Seneca Nation, tells The Guardian the recent reclamations are a “good start,” but he believes it was the COVID-19 pandemic and the assassination of George Floyd that pushed the needle.
“It’s like people suddenly woke up to centuries of atrocities against Indigenous and Black communities and are more open to dialogue,” she said.
Understanding whose land you live on is vital for understanding the Land Back movement and how you can be an ally.
“Land Back is about reclaiming Indigenous lands and getting land back into Indigenous hands. And to reclaim everything stolen from us when we were forcibly removed,” Krystal Two Bulls, director of the Indigenous-led organization NDN Collective, told CNN.
RELATED STORY: Mary Peltola makes history! First Dem congresswoman in 50 years. First Alaska Native ever
Nick Tilsen, who is Oglala Lakota and president and CEO of NDN Collective, tells Teen Vogue that the term “Land Back” emerged about a decade ago after several Indigenous artists began using it and caught fire on social media.
The goals of the NDN Land Back Collective are not only for public lands to be returned to Native peoples but for a reclamation of Native food, education, housing, health care, medicine, and kinship. “This work has been happening for generations and generations, and it's something that's simply being handed down to us,” Two Bulls says.
YouTube Video
It’s vital for Americans to know what land they’re standing on. This interactive map shows Indigenous lands around the globe. By finding your spot, you can learn which Indigenous people once inhabited your region.
According to Native Land Digital, a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization with a majority-Indigenous board of directors, says that the relevance of the land isn’t just about informing people whose land they’re living on; it’s also about mapping the sacred land itself.
“In reality, we know that the land is not something to be exploited and ‘owned,’ but something to be honored and treasured. However, because of the complexities of history, the kind of mapping we undertake is an important exercise, insofar as it brings an awareness of the real lived history of Indigenous peoples and nations in a long era of colonialism,” reads Native Land Digital’s website.
Recently, the hard work of reclaiming Native land has begun to come to fruition. In December 2020, the Chippewa National Forest returned 11,760 acres of forest land to be held in trust by the Department of Interior for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.
Leech Lake tribal representative Leroy Staples Fairbanks III tells Indian Country Today, “We've also purchased close to 3,000 acres of land in our strategy of land reacquisition planning. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is to people who've seen the limited amount of land opportunities for tribal members, for housing, for business, for economic, for agriculture, for whatever use they are.”
Also, in 2020, the Esselen Tribe, one of the five tribes of central California, were able to buy nearly two square miles of their land back for just under $4.5 million with the help of Western Rivers Conservancy.
Tom Little Bear Nason, tribal chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, tells The Californian, “It’s like getting the Sistine Chapel back… We’re getting back our church, we’re getting back our own land.”
In March, thanks to a grant from conservation charities, the Passamaquoddy, a small tribe of 3,700 who’ve lived on Pine Island, Maine—a land they call Kuwesuwi Monihq—for nearly 10,000 years, were able to raise $355,000 to buy their island.
Chief William Nicholas, 51, leader of the tribe’s Indian township reservation for the last 11 years, told The Guardian, “The land was stolen from us and it’s been every chief’s goal ever since to return it.”
Dr. Mishuana Goeman, a professor in American Indian Studies at the University of California Los Angeles and member of New York’s Tonawanda Band of Seneca Nation, tells The Guardian the recent reclamations are a “good start,” but he believes it was the COVID-19 pandemic and the assassination of George Floyd that pushed the needle.
“It’s like people suddenly woke up to centuries of atrocities against Indigenous and Black communities and are more open to dialogue,” she said.