Hello, reader. How are you doing? I like land acknowledgement. Do you like it?
I’m writing to you from a library in Astoria, Oregon. The people here are Clatsop. This is my second visit to Astoria, and I’m thrilled to be here with Ming. We came so I could worship the Columbia River.
I like land acknowledgement because it reminds me of where I am. Anything connecting us to the land is my joy. Drawing our awareness to that truth is my joy.
I feel safer when I have a sense of the history where I am. Even if it’s scary because violence happened, I feel safer being real about it. Truth is important. I like the history of the people and also geology, climate, plants, animals. Where the water was before, and where the water is now.
Context helps me. I want the macro and the micro. I’m an anxious person, but I can partly relax when I know where I am.
prayer
Some people are critical about land acknowledgement because they say it does nothing. They say it’s pointless because the people being mentioned don’t actually benefit. Or it’s virtue signaling without any actual work or change.
Yeah, people can criticize just about anything. At the very least, a land acknowledgement is like a prayer. Prayer changes me, and I need that. Prayer is nurturing change. Yes, please– I would suck on that nipple all day long. Yummy yummy.
Also I like a moment of silence during an event, to honor a memory. Anything that feels like prayer bringing us together in our hearts. That whole aspect of life has been banned from the public sphere, right? Shared spirituality is lost here, or driven underground into patriotism, sports, and the religion of buying things.
Makes me think of the Church of Stop Shopping. I love religious performance art and the power of confusion. I love reclaiming song toward transformation.
home
Now it’s early morning, still dark, and Ming and I are home in Eugene, Oregon again. It’s Kalapuya land, and I’m grateful to be here.
- How do you notice spirituality in the public sphere?
- What land are you on today?
- What nurtures you?
- Does information help you relax?
- How much of who you are, is due to where you come from?
- What river do you worship?
2 replies on “land acknowledgement”
I am a white person who grew up on Coast Salish land, Lummi (Xwlemi, Lhaq’temish “People of the Sea”), I’m a descendant of the settler colonists. My ancestors first log cabin is part of the Pioneers Park in Ferndale, Washington (Coast Salish, Lummi/Nooksack/Sammish land). Where I grew up is a big part of who I am but I have been removed from my homelands for so long I feel like I hardly belong there anymore. I’m always home sick and it doesn’t go away. When I go home I Revel in Moss and fern and Cedar and salmon and crab and tides. The sound of a seagull and the sight of an orca is known to make me cry. When I go “home” to visit, I always come home with a bunch of sticks from the river. Unique sticks that we don’t have here in the desert.
For the last 20 plus years I reside on Northern Paiute/Warm Springs land. I think land acknowledgement is a catalyst for respect, and respect is a fundamental catalyst for empathy. Which is a catalyst for love. I wish we had land acknowledgement when I was growing up. I wish we always had it.
In Central Oregon there is a lava cave called Malhuer cave. The Paiute origin story comes from this cave. Is is currently “owned” by the Freemasons and the entrance is gated. I think this should be illegal. A most obvious example of LANDBACK
Having information definitely helps me relax. I want all the details so I can make informed decisions and actions. But I am also very curious and inquisitive and I want to know things. Information isn’t power for me, information is joy. I want to be awake, I want my eyes wide open and I want my mind wide open and I want my heart wide open all the time.
wow this is beautiful. thank you for telling us. i love you.