If you're even vaguely progressive and active online, you've probably heard of the Land Back movement by the indigenous people of Turtle Island (and, presumably, other indigenous cultures worldwide). You might be confused about what it is and what its goals are.
I first heard of Land Back from a Discord thread on colonialist attitudes in the cottagecore community, and no one there really explained what it was, so I had a very wrong and racist impression of the movement. I literally thought that it meant sending all white people back to our ancestral countries, and while I understood where this desire would be coming from for indigenous people, I didn't agree. After all, how would that work when a lot of white Americans and Canadians are a mix of many different ethnicities, don't speak our ancestors' languages, and aren't even necessarily sure where they come from? What about non-indigenous people of color? What about mixed-race Indigenous people? What about white Jewish people and others whose families came as refugees? Would MENA/SWANA people, who often don't identify as white but are legally classified as such, be grouped with white people under this system? Would this also be applied to white people with indigenous heritage, such as many in Latin America? For the purposes of Land Back, would Samoan, Chamorro, and Puerto Rican people be considered indigenous because their native lands had been colonized by the U.S. similarly to how Turtle Island Indigenous people's have? What about Hawaiians, since many indigenous Hawaiians don't identify with mainland Native people? What about victims of the Sixties Scoop and other Natives who were forcibly taken from their families, who might not be sure what tribe they're from or have proper documentation of their indigenous heritage?
I think a lot of other white progressives have similar questions. While I don't think they consciously come from a bad place and that we should be able to learn, grow, and ask questions in order to become better allies, I also don't think it's fair to expect indigenous people and other people of color to educate us when we could be doing it ourselves very easily.
So! A summary of what I have learned about Land Back since that thread, and why I'm in favor of it now:
1. It does not aim to create an indigenous ethnostate.
2. It does not aim to send all white people or anyone else back to our ancestors' native countries. We will still be living on Turtle Island and will not be oppressed under Native control of the land.
3. It does aim to return control of the land - including guardianship of the environment - to Native people.
4. It does aim for indigenous sovereignty from colonial governments.
5. It does aim to revive indigenous languages and religions for those whose traditions had been forcibly taken away through means such as residential boarding schools, and to abolish the expectation that everyone speak English.
6. It does aspire for a return to traditional indigenous hunting rights and cultural values.
7. It does involve reparations, which I assume means an increase in community resources such as better public schools and mental health care and isn't super different from the taxes we pay now, except that these won't go to racist death squads. This is something else that a lot of white people ask about and that I feel is worthy of mention here.
8. It does involve accurately teaching about the history of white supremacy in America and Canada.
9. It does necessitate the death of capitalism.
I would make this post more detailed but I have homework due tonight and I'm also planning on working out and making another post. Anyway, I hope this answered some questions, but please listen to actual indigenous people rather than making ignorant assumptions as I did.
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