‘Indigenous Land Acknowledgments’ Could Have Unintended Effects

Commentary There is a strange sort of ritual that has arisen and become popular over the past few years in some parts of the United States and Canada. If you attend a city council meeting, board of supervisor’s meeting, or even some school board meetings today in California (and probably in some other states), you may hear at the beginning a recitation of a “land acknowledgment” by one or all of the board members. Before they give the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag, the board members stand and invite the audience to also stand, while one of them recites something similar to the following, which was recorded from a meeting of the city council of Rohnert Park, California, on May 14: “The City of Rohnert Park acknowledges that the Indigenous people are the original stewards of the land. Let it be acknowledged that this city of Rohnert Park is located upon the traditional homelands of the Federation of the Graton Rancheria, consisting of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people.”...