In America, no matter where you stand, you stand on Native American land. There's been a long and bloody history between colonists and Native Americans, and Seeding Sovereignty wants to change the course. This Native American run nonprofit posits that acknowledging history is a way to foster equality and fair treatment. The first step? Land acknowledgment. Land acknowledgment is a deliberate recognition of who the original stewards of the land you occupy are. This could be done by an artist before a concert (or on under the tracklist of an album), before a conference, at the dinner table, or in a social media post. In many Native American cultures, honoring guests by recognizing their individual culture is customary--and doing the same could help to bridge the inequity many Native Americans face.
The health, societal, and economic disparities are real. Many are familiar with the fact that the Native American population has a largely negative relationship with alcohol. Due to lesser job opportunities, culture erasure and few to no resources for mental healthcare, Native Americans face extremely high levels of alcoholism in their communities. This breaks down not only the individual, but their family and community, as it contributes to rates of DUIs and violent crime. And this is but one example of the negative effects of persistent discrimination.
Acknowledging the land we stand on is just a start. But, it raises awareness for an oft-neglected cause, and at the very least, extends the olive branch to our Native American brothers and sisters. It is very simple: attached to this article is the tracklist for Fiona Apple's album Fetch the Bolt Cutters. At the bottom, she has listed the lands the album was made on. If we all can do our part to recognize that land has been stolen, we can start working together to fix the mess we've made with Native Americans.
This article was written on Kickapoo, Osage and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land.
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