Land Back facts for kids
Land Back is a campaign that seeks to establish political and economic control to Indigenous people in the United States and Canada over land that had historically belonged to them prior to colonization following the Age of Exploration. The Land Back campaign is supported by members of Indigenous groups in the United States and Canada.
History
Land Back is a movement that aims to re-establish Indigenous political authority over territories Indigenous tribes and activist groups claim as belonging to them. Scholars from the Indigenous-run Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University describe Land Back as a process of "reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction: breathing life into rights and responsibilities."
In addition to the transfer of deeds, Land Back includes respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water.
Contemporary expression
In 2016, artist Jaque Fragua was in the news when he graffitied "This Is Indian Land" on a large construction site wall in Los Angeles. In 2021, Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax) created a gigantic "Indian Land" sign – in letters reminiscent of southern California's Hollywood sign – for entry the Desert X festival.
The Dakota Access Pipeline protests which began in 2016 aimed to protect the water supply of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
Land Back was introduced in 2018 by Arnell Tailfeathers, a member of the Blood Tribe (Blackfoot Confederacy). It then quickly became a hashtag, and now appears in artwork, on clothes and in beadwork. These creations are often used to raise funds to support water protectors and land defenders who protest against oil pipelines in North America.
In 2020, native DJs A Tribe Called Red produced a song "Land Back" on their album The Halluci Nation, to support of the Wet’suwet’en resistance camp and other Indigenous-led movements.
In 2020, in response to protests at Mount Rushmore, the indigenous-led organization NDN Collective drafted the Land Back Manifesto: "the reclamation of everything stolen from the original Peoples" and organized the current Land Back campaign, which was launched on Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2020.
In 2020, Haudenosaunee people from the Six Nations of the Grand River set up a blockade on 1492 Land Back Lane to shut down a housing development on their unceded territory.
The Mount Rushmore protest occurred in July 2020 when activists from NDN Collective assembled on a highway leading to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where then-president Donald J. Trump was to give a campaign speech. Mt Rushmore, known to the Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers," is on sacred, unceded land, long disputed in the Black Hills land claim.
On the Fourth of July 2021 in Rapid City, South Dakota, a city very close to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, four were arrested after climbing a structure downtown and hanging an upside-down American flag with the words "Land Back" across the flag.
Transfer activity
The Wiyot people have lived for thousands of years on Duluwat Island, in Humboldt Bay on California's northern coast. In 2004 the Eureka City Council transferred land back to the Wiyot tribe, to add to land the Wiyot had purchased. The council transferred another 60 acres in 2006.
The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived in Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for thousands of years. In 2007, about 300 acres (120 ha) of Massachusetts land was put into trust as a reservation for the tribe. Since then, a legal battle has left the tribe's status—and claim to the land—in limbo.
In October 2018, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia returned ancient burial site (the Great Marpole Midden) land back to the Musqueam people. The land is home to ancient remains of a Musqueam house site.
In 2019, the United Methodist Church gave historic land back to the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. The US government in 1819 had promised the tribe 148,000 acres (60,000 ha) of land in what is now Kansas City, Kansas. When 664 Wyandotte people arrived, the land had been given to someone else.
In July 2020, the Esselen tribe purchased a 1,200-acre ranch near Big Sur, California, as part of a larger $4.5m deal. This acquisition, in traditional lands, will protect old-growth forest and wildlife, and the Little Sur River.
Land on the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia was returned to the Tsartlip First Nation in December 2020.
Management of the 18,800-acre (7,600 ha) National Bison Range was transferred from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service back to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2021.
