A startling bit of prose was introduced before public events at the University of Illinois after July 26, 2018, when the Chancellor’s office issued an official “Land Acknowledgment Statement.” Timed for the celebration of the campus’s 150th anniversary, it was an appropriate, if belated, admission that the U of I owes its founding and funding to the “land grant” of 1867 by the US government of acreage acquired through treaties, quite a few illegal, and seizure from the Native American Tribes who had stewarded the lands for centuries.
The statement:
As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a responsibility to acknowledge the historical context in which it exists. In order to remind ourselves and our community, we will begin this event with the following statement. We are currently on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. It is necessary for us to acknowledge these Native Nations and for us to work with them as we move forward as an institution. Over the next 150 years, we will be a vibrant community inclusive of all our differences, with Native peoples at the core of our efforts.
Its reading became a challenging bit of performance for campus units formerly oblivious to the existence of these Tribes, but it certainly raised eyebrows and awareness. Over time, it has become too often a rote recitation without conviction. In attempts to make it more specific and impactful, some departments have written their own versions. Some have dropped the acknowledgement entirely.
But it serves an important purpose, and still could inspire U of I attention to reconciliation long due. The community could be enriched through getting to know the culture, teachings, and wisdom of these tribes whose names are so difficult to pronounce. Some of that value is evident in the events offered by Native American House last month.
November is Native American Heritage Month — an opportune moment to look with a critical eye at the implications of this land acknowledgment. Such statements stem from a movement in the 1970s in Australia, out of the custom of Aboriginal peoples to make a formal “Welcome to Country” to visitors on their lands. New versions were officially required at widespread public events, along with further acknowledgment in 1991 with the forming of a governmental Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. New Zealand offered a similar statement, as well as Canada, which established its own Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009. The United States as a whole has yet to acknowledge the truth of its harsh history with Native peoples. There was considerable notice when California Governor Gavin Newsom made an official apology to Native peoples in 2019, accompanied by an executive order that established a Truth and Healing Council. All these councils and commissions have resulted in action plans to right the wrongs of history, and yet little has been accomplished.
At a talk on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 13th, at Spurlock Museum, I was intrigued by Byron Tsetsabaye’s message that it’s past time that we “graduate beyond the Land Acknowledgment.” He, along with many others, says such declarations need to be living things that compel growth in the people who hear them. In his Diné culture, listeners would realize they are visitors to these lands and should get to know their attributes and treat them with conscious respect. At the lecture he told students to study the plants and animals of this place, its soils, and its waterways. The Diné value them as essential partners to human life, to be honored under their belief in the kinship of all beings. The Diné formally acknowledge, and practice, that education is a lifelong responsibility. Tsetsabaye believes it is this community’s responsibility to honor this, starting with the land acknowledgment.
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