With GP headed off to college in about 18 months, we as a family have been trekking around the US taking “the college visits” for her to discover all the college campuses that we cannot afford but that she would love to attend if we were the Clampetts.
At each campus tour, a student volunteer leads us around campus. The jokes have become predictable:
- “I’m gonna be walking backward so please tell me if I’m about to hit our mascot!”
- “Insert random story about some nutsy monument on campus.”
- “I’ve never personally felt unsafe on campus, but the police are always around just in case”
- “We have essentially a match.com for roommates!”
- See Reddit for more!
Lately, I’ve started noticing a new phrase that I’ve not heard much in our Southern college tours. The phrase goes something like this:
We would like to respectfully acknowledge that the land on which we gather…
This statement is known as “Indigenous Land Acknowledgements.” While I respect the context from which they are derived, the statements felt hollow and empty, but I could not articulate why. That is until I read a column by Graeme Wood in The Atlantic.
Wood is pretty harsh and doesn’t hold many punches. Here are some quotes from the article:
[Land Acknowledgments are] what you give your secretary instead of a raise.
Some people argue that land acknowledgments are “gestures of respect.” […] realizing that respect shown the “easy way” is just as cheap as it sounds.
For me, these statements fall short of their mark, and I agree with Graeme. Additionally, significant debate exists about who were the first Americans.
What say you?