| Land ownership as we understand it to be, includes building homes, rearing children, creating traditions, and leaving plots of soil to beneficiaries via wills or trusts. We may even consider land ownership to be an intentional investment in genealogical preservation and all the ways in which wealth can be defined in this world.
For those of us who have inherited land from our loved ones passed, memories are conjured. Our mind’s eye remembers the house tucked back from the road with the long gravel driveway where Grandma’s pies cooled on a window ledge as we hopscotched and danced with fireflies. The stoop of the brownstone at the end of the block where grape popsicles tasted best reminds us of Pop Pop firing up the barbecue every hot city summer. Memories are all we have of what was. We honor these memories because they are a part of who we are.
There is, however, a consideration to be made. We must embrace the truth that the land we “own” is not ours at all. Whether acquired by will or trust, our homes, our church, and even our memories have been built on sacred Indigenous land stolen by countless iterations of Manifest Destiny. Land on which aksod (grandmothers) and haksod (grandfathers) built communities to kindle memories for Their children’s children long before we landscaped our front yards and cut down sacred trees to install in-ground pools. Because of this truth, must create a tradition of land acknowledgement within our families to respectfully acknowledge Indigenous land.
Today we honor the tribes of the Adena, Hopewell, Wyandot, Miami, Seneca, Erie, Cayuga, and Those whose names have long gone unspoken. Because of You, we are. Thank You.
View Ohlone Land Prayer by Minister High on YouTube |
