LET’S TALK ABOUT IT…
Is This Land Your Land?

Impulse control is difficult. It can be hard for adults, but is even trickier for young children. For as long as there have been grocery stores, there have been children unable to resist the allure of the candy display at the check out, slipping the candy bar or lollypop into their little hands and taking it right out the door. Parents distracted with moving their groceries down the conveyor belt and scrambling through wallets may not notice the theft until later, yet when they do, the parent response is consistent. “That is not yours,” and “You will have to give it back.”

We believe there is universal agreement on respecting the property and belongings of others, and this made us wonder about the local practice of land acknowledgements. We wonder if the correct response by organizations performing land acknowledgements should be to, “Give it back.”

What Are Land Acknowledgements?

Since 2020, it has become increasingly common for organizations to recite a land acknowledgement at the beginning of meetings, performances, and sporting events. The formal statements are generally used to state, “Indigenous communities' rights to territories seized by colonial powers,” according to NPR. These declarations are generally founded on the idea that the land in the United States was unfairly wrested from the control of the Native Americans by white colonizers as described in the “Do the Work Course” promoted by Poudre School District Board of Education Director Jessica Zamora. The course described colonization as action in which, “…the damaging and disenfranchising of communities of color continues to benefit a carefree white population and oppress people of color.”

Locally, both Colorado State University and PSD have participated in the practice of offering land acknowledgements.

Colorado State on Stolen Land

CSU’s land acknowledgement begins by encouraging all students, faculty, and visitors to consider their responsibilities to fostering inclusion and includes the statement:

Watch CSU’s land acknowledgement video:

Poudre School District on Colonized Land

The PSD Board of Education passed a resolution in November 2023 in which they recognized the land on which PSD buildings currently sit as being the, “ …traditional and ancestral homelands of the Hinono’ei (Arapaho), Tsitsistas (Cheyenne), and Nuuchiu (Ute) Nations and peoples.”

In their resolution, PSD also stated:

Watch PSD’s land acknowledgement and American Indian resolution here:

We wonder what the purpose of these rituals are. Do leaders of these institutions truly believe their organizations are sitting on land that does not belong to them? Or do these acknowledgements serve a psychological purpose of convincing Americans we are all illegitimate colonizers who therefore are morally-bound to dismantle alleged systems of power? 

If local leaders use these acknowledgements to foster the belief that our institutions are sitting on colonized or stolen land, then, if that is true, much like the parent who facilitates the return of the stolen lollypop, must these leaders then return the land to the alleged original owners from whom the land was unfairly taken?

Will CSU Give Land Back?

CSU President Amy Parsons was actually recently challenged to do just that. During her conversation with W. Kamau Bell at an event addressing questions of democracy (see our post about Bell’s ‘Do the Work’ here), Parson’s asked for Bell’s advice for her and other leaders of higher education institutes. Bell used the opportunity to challenge her to build on CSU’s land acknowledgement and return some of CSU’s land to native people.

What do you think? Should our community perform land acknowledgement rituals and if so, to what purpose? If we acknowledge we are sitting on land that does not belong to us, is it our moral obligation to return it? Should our community encourage CSU and PSD to honor the spirit of their land acknowledgements and return their land to the Indigenous People from whom the leaders say it was stolen? Or are the statements merely performative and, if so, what is the point of reading the acknowledgements?

TRENDING CONVERSATIONS
Where Are the Good Teachers?

What if a central problem in K-12 education is a shortage of teachers with subject-matter content expertise and substantial intellectual curiosity? Should prospective teachers have a firm belief in the value of knowledge and the importance of properly educating the next generation?

Or is this an unfair criticism of the teaching profession?

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
Pretext for Reparations in Colorado?

On June 4th, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law which creates the Black Coloradoan Racial Equity Study Commission. The new commission is tasked with conducting a study to analyze the extent to which Black Coloradoans “…experience racial discrimination directly linked to harmful practices of the state.” The results of the study will be used to create policies to address any disparities found which result from Colorado’s apparent systemic racism trap. Some of the disparities which the study will be analyzing include:

• Access to wealth building

• K-12 education

• Health disparities

• Policing and police brutality

• Incarceration rates

The study will also be used to make updates to the state’s history standards for grades K-12.

Supporters of the bill believe in systemic racism—something they know exists, yet is impossible to quantify. They know that systemic racism pervades Colorado, creating systems of power which is the cause of any and all racial disparities. They also know that they can solve any differences in outcomes between racial groups if they are provided enough legislative power to do so.

The bill was happily sponsored by local Representatives Democrats Andrew Boesenecker and Cathy Kipp.

Read the actual text of the bill HERE.

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
Pretext for Reparations in Colorado?

On June 4th, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law which creates the Black Coloradoan Racial Equity Study Commission. The new commission is tasked with conducting a study to analyze the extent to which Black Coloradoans “…experience racial discrimination directly linked to harmful practices of the state.” The results of the study will be used to create policies to address any disparities found which result from Colorado’s apparent systemic racism trap. Some of the disparities which the study will be analyzing include:

• Access to wealth building

• K-12 education

• Health disparities

• Policing and police brutality

• Incarceration rates

The study will also be used to make updates to the state’s history standards for grades K-12.

Supporters of the bill believe in systemic racism—something they know exists, yet is impossible to quantify. They know that systemic racism pervades Colorado, creating systems of power which is the cause of any and all racial disparities. They also know that they can solve any differences in outcomes between racial groups if they are provided enough legislative power to do so.

The bill was happily sponsored by local Representatives Democrats Andrew Boesenecker and Cathy Kipp.

Read the actual text of the bill HERE.

WHY WAS I NEVER TOLD?
Honoring Thy Enemy

Many Americans know that the Civil War largely came to an end when General Robert E. Lee signed unconditional surrender terms presented to him by Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9^th, 1865. However, few know the beautiful and patriotic moment shared by the men of both armies that day. As the dirty, hungry, disheveled remains of the Confederate Army passed the well-fed mass of Union ranks, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commanding officer of the 20^th Maine and hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, ordered the bugle blown and his men to “present arms” and salute the Confederates as they trudged past. This surprised the Confederate General John Gordon so much that Gordon spurred his horse, which reared, allowing Gordon to touch the tip of his saber to his heel as a salute of his own. He then turned in his saddle and barked an order to his men. As each war-torn Confederate battle flag passed, the soldiers of the battered Army of Northern Virginia dipped the flags in salute. Instead of cheering and celebrating a victory won, the men of the Union Army’s first action was to salute men they had fought for four terrible years. 

DINNER TABLE DISCUSSION
Is Unrestrained Behavior Healthy?

How necessary or valuable is individual self-restraint?  Should people pursue their appetites, passions and desires unrestrained, or are people’s lives better off when they exert self-control?

BEFORE YOU GO:

• Learn about how the once booming Colorado marijuana business is going bust HERE.

• All for nothing? A peer reviewed research article which analyzed effectiveness of governments’ COVID-19 responses from 181 countries revealed no empirical evidence for improving or worsening the COVID-19 outcomes. Read the analysis HERE.

• Should DEI programs and funding be banned throughout the federal government? Some Congressmen think so. Read about the possible legislation HERE.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

☑️ FOLLOW the Colorado Education Association to better understand the leading state teachers’ union priorities HERE.

☑️ LEARN the fascinating and well-researched backstory of American public education in Alex Newman’s Indoctrinating Our Children to Death: Government Schools’ War on Faith, Family, & Freedom—and How to Stop It Find it HERE.

☑️ ATTEND the next Drag Queen Story Time sponsored by the Poudre Libraries TODAY at 4pm at Roland Moore Park. Find details HERE.