Land Back
{{Short description|Movement by Indigenous people in North America to reclaim lands}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
File:Free Cap Hill.jpg symbology and an unrelated artist, 2020]]
Land Back, also referred to with hashtag #LandBack or Rematriation, is a decentralised campaign that emerged in the late 2010s among Indigenous Australians, Indigenous peoples in Canada, Native Americans in the United States, other indigenous peoples and allies who seek to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty, with political and economic control of their ancestral lands.{{Cite journal |last=Pieratos |first=Nikki A |last2=Manning |first2=Sarah S |last3=Tilsen |first3=Nick |date=2021 |title=Land Back: A meta narrative to help indigenous people show up as movement leaders |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1742715020976204 |journal=Leadership |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=47–61 |doi=10.1177/1742715020976204 |issn=1742-7150|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite news |first=Harmeet |last=Kaur |title=Indigenous people across the US want their land back -- and the movement is gaining momentum |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/us/indigenous-people-reclaiming-their-lands-trnd/index.html |access-date=2021-02-10 |work=CNN}}{{Cite news |title=Opinion: 'Land Back' is more than a slogan for a resurgent Indigenous movement |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-land-back-is-more-than-a-slogan-for-a-resurgent-indigenous-movement/ |access-date=2021-02-10}} Activists have also used the Land Back framework in Mexico,{{Cite web |last=Barnett |first=Tracy L. |date=2022-05-12 |title=Wixarika Caravan to AMLO: We Want Our #LandBack |url=https://www.esperanzaproject.com/2022/native-american-culture/wixarika/wixarika-caravan-to-amlo-we-want-our-landback/ |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=The Esperanza Project |language=en-US}} and scholars have applied it in New Zealand and Fiji.{{Cite journal |title=Land, land banks and land back: Accounting, social reproduction and Indigenous resurgence |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X211060842 |journal=EPA: Economy and Space |doi=10.1177/0308518X211060842|hdl=10092/103260 |hdl-access=free }} Land Back is part of a broader Indigenous movement for decolonization.{{Cite web |title=The "Landback" Movement Would Return Stolen Land to Indigenous Stewardship |url=https://inthesetimes.com/article/landback-movement-indigenous-land-decolonization-liberation |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=In These Times |language=en}}
Description
File:220.Rally.StopProject2025.WDC.27January2024 (53523127126).jpg, 2024]]
Land Back aims to reestablish Indigenous political authority over territories that Indigenous tribes claim by treaty.{{Cite news |last=Toastie |first=B. |date=2022-08-22 |title=Questions about the LandBack movement, answered |url=https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.9/indigenous-affairs-social-justice-questions-about-the-landback-movement-answered |access-date=2022-08-24 |work=High Country News |language=en-us}} Scholars from the Indigenous-run Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University describe it as a process of reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction. The NDN Collective describes it as synonymous with decolonisation and dismantling white supremacy. Land Back advocates for Indigenous rights, preserves languages and traditions, and works toward food sovereignty, decent housing, and a clean environment.
The Black Hills land claim and protests at Mount Rushmore during Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign were a catalyzing moment for the movement in the United States.{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Kate |date=2024-02-20 |title=The Land Back Movement Isn’t Just Focused on Ancestral Grounds — It’s Fighting to Preserve and Restore Foodways Too |url=https://www.eater.com/2024/2/20/24073976/indigenous-peoples-land-back-movement-native-foodways |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Eater |language=en}}
= Philosophy =
The NDN Collective describes the Land Back campaign as a metanarrative that ties together many different Indigenous organizations similar to the Black Lives Matter campaign. They say that the campaign enables decentralised Indigenous leadership and addresses structural racism faced by Indigenous people that is rooted in theft of their land.
Land Back promotes a return to communal land ownership of traditional and unceded Indigenous lands and rejects colonial concepts of real estate and private land ownership. Return of land is not only economic, but also implies the return of relationships and self-governance.
In some cases Land Back promotes a land tax that seeks to collect revenue on people who are of non-indigenous origins.{{Cite web |last=Giefer |first=Lisa |date=2021-03-09 |title=Voluntary Land Taxes |url=https://nativegov.org/news/voluntary-land-taxes/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=Native Governance Center |language=en-US}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=PjcLUA4p0aRkj3n9&t=445&v=kADwVHIP8zs&feature=youtu.be |title=Whose Land Are You On? What to Know About the Indigenous Land Back Movement {{!}} Lindsey Schneider {{!}}TED |date=2023-01-03 |last=TED |access-date=2024-11-24 |via=YouTube}}
Other forms of Land Back involve indigenous communities managing National Parks or Federal Lands.{{Cite news |last=Treuer |first=David |date=2021-04-12 |title=Return the National Parks to the Tribes |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}
= Methods =
In some cases, land is directly returned to Indigenous people when private landowners, municipalities, or governments give the land back to Indigenous tribes. This may take the form of a simple transaction within the colonial real estate framework.
Indigenous-led projects may also use community land trusts to reserve lands for their group.{{Cite journal |last=Yesno |first=Riley |date=2022 |title=Land Back |url=https://newint.org/features/2022/10/24/land-back-decolonize-how |journal=New Internationalist |issue=540 |pages=26–29}}
Actions
In 2020, electronic music group A Tribe Called Red produced a song "Land Back" on their album The Halluci Nation, to support the Wetʼsuwetʼen resistance camp and other Indigenous-led movements.{{cite web |last=Moscufo |first=Michela |title=For These Indigenous Artists ‘Land Back’ Is Both A Political Message And A Fundraising Opportunity |url=https://forbes.com/sites/michelamoscufo/2020/09/29/for-these-indigenous-artists-land-back-is-both-a-political-message-and-a-fundraising-opportunity |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=Forbes |language=en}} In July 2020, activists from NDN Collective held a protest on a highway leading to Mount Rushmore, where Donald Trump was to give a campaign speech. The site, known to the Sioux in English as "The Six Grandfathers,"{{cite web |title=Native History: Construction of Mount Rushmore Begins |url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/native-history-construction-of-mount-rushmore-begins-nNaLMzte1kKPJmtJoLoFZA |access-date=2021-02-10 |website=IndianCountryToday.com |language=en}} is on sacred, unceded land, subject to the Black Hills land claim. These protestors drafted the "Land Back Manifesto", which seeks "the reclamation of everything stolen from the original Peoples".{{cite web |title=Landback Manifesto |url=https://landback.org/manifesto/ |access-date=2021-02-10 |website=Landback |publisher=NDN Collective |language=en-US}} Also in 2020, Haudenosaunee people from the Six Nations of the Grand River blockaded 1492 Land Back Lane to shut down a housing development on their unceded territory.{{Cite news |last=Barrera |first=Jorge |date=2020-11-25 |title=Beyond the barricades |url=https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/1492-land-back-lane-caledonia-six-nations-protest/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801194314/https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/1492-land-back-lane-caledonia-six-nations-protest/ |archive-date=2024-08-01 |access-date=2024-08-01 |work=CBC News}}
In 2021, Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax) created a gigantic "Indian Land" sign – in letters reminiscent of southern California's Hollywood sign – at the entry for the Desert X festival.{{cite news |date=2021-03-12 |title=Vast 'Indian Land' sign draws visitors to Desert X art festival |url=https://france24.com/en/live-news/20210312-vast-indian-land-sign-draws-visitors-to-desert-x-art-festival |access-date=2021-03-25 |work=France 24 |language=en}} On July 4, 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota, a city very close to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, four people were arrested after climbing a structure downtown and hanging an upside-down US flag emblazoned with the words "Land Back".{{cite web |url=https://kotatv.com/2021/07/05/4-arrested-after-hanging-landback-flag-omaha-street-grain-elevator |title=4 arrested after hanging "LANDBACK" flag from Omaha Street grain elevator|date=2021|website=Kota TV}}
Transfers
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.{{cite web |access-date=2021-02-10 |title=North Coast Journal - July 1, 2004: COVER STORY - The Return of Indian Island - Restoring the center of the Wiyot world |url=https://www.northcoastjournal.com/070104/cover0701.html |website=www.northcoastjournal.com}} The council transferred another {{convert|60| acres}} in 2006.{{Cite news |last=McHugh |first=Paul |date=2005-09-20 |title=THE NORTH COAST: A Kayak Adventure / GOING HOME AGAIN / On a sacred island in Humboldt Bay, descendants of the Wiyots -- an Indian tribe nearly wiped out by massacres in the 1800s -- forge a future from the remnants of that tragic past |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/THE-NORTH-COAST-A-Kayak-Adventure-GOING-HOME-2607689.php |access-date=2021-02-10 |work=SFGATE |language=en-US}}
The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived in Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for thousands of years. In 2007, about {{convert|300 |acres|km2}} 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 2016, Dr. Mohan Singh Virick, a Punjabi Sikh doctor who served Indigenous people in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada for 50 years, donated {{convert|140|ha||order=flip}} of land to Eskasoni First Nation.{{cite web |last1= |first1= |date=October 2, 2017 |title=Cape Breton doctor to be honoured |url=https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/cape-breton-doctor-to-be-honoured-11923/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204010544/https://www.saltwire.com/cape-breton/news/local/cape-breton-doctor-to-be-honoured-11923/ |archive-date=December 4, 2023 |publisher=Cape Breton Post |language=en |agency=SaltWire Network}} He also donated a building in Sydney to help house Eskasoni's growing population.{{cite web |last=Ayers |first=Tom |date=May 2014 |title=Respected physician says First Nation needs the land ‘more than I do’ |url=https://www.mmnn.ca/2014/05/respected-physician-says-first-nation-needs-the-land-more-than-i-do/ |access-date=March 17, 2021 |publisher=Mi’kmaq-Maliseet Nations News}}
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.{{Cite news |title=Vancouver returns city-owned land to Musqueam |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/musqueam-marpole-midden-1.4865990 |access-date=2022-04-01 |work=CBC |language=en}}{{Cite news |title=Portion of c̓əsnaʔəm village and burial site returned to Musqueam |url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/portion-of-c%CC%93%C9%99sna%CA%94%C9%99m-village-and-burial-site-returned-to-musqueam-indian-band/ |access-date=2022-04-01 |work=Musqueam Official Website |language=en}}
In 2019, the United Methodist Church gave {{convert|3| acres}} of historic land back to the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. The US government in 1819 had promised the tribe {{convert|148,000 |acres|km2}} of land in what is now Kansas City, Kansas. When 664 Wyandotte people arrived, the land had been given to someone else.{{Cite news |title=United Methodist Church gives historic mission site and land back to Wyandotte Nation |url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/united-methodist-church-gives-historic-mission-site-and-land-back-to-wyandotte-nation-Hfo6x3-aG0y-LXNhKZXjPg |access-date=2021-02-10 |work=IndianCountry Today |language=en}}
In July 2020, an organization of self-identified Esselen descendants purchased a {{convert|1,200|acre|km2|adj=mid| ranch}} near Big Sur, California, as part of a larger $4.5m deal. This acquisition, in historical Esselen lands, aims to protect old-growth forest and wildlife, and the Little Sur River.{{Cite news |date=2020-07-28 |title=Northern California Esselen tribe regains ancestral land after 250 years |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/28/northern-california-esselen-tribe-regains-land-250-years |access-date=2021-02-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en}}
Land on the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia was returned to the Tsartlip First Nation in December 2020.{{Cite news |date=2020-07-28 |title=sartlip First Nation territory doubles in size after traditional land returned by B.C. government |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tsartlip-territory-return-1.5850368 |access-date=2022-04-01 |work=CBC |language=en}}
Management of the {{convert|18800|acre|km2|adj=mid}} National Bison Range was transferred from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service back to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2021.{{Cite news |date=2021-01-17 |title=Montana's National Bison Range transferred to tribes |url=https://apnews.com/article/mountains-wildlife-david-bernhardt-missoula-environment-9b033948e6acc5f166ca070487af19f5 |access-date=2021-05-04 |work=AP News}}
In August 2022, the Red Cliff Chippewa in northern Wisconsin had {{convert|1,500 |acres|km2}} of land along the Lake Superior shoreline returned to them from the Bayfield County government. This came after the tribe signed a 2017 memorandum of understanding with the county, acknowledging the Red Cliff Chippewa's desire to see their reservation boundaries restored in full.{{cite news |last1=Kunze |first1=Jenna |title=Chippewa Tribe Gets 1,500 Acres of Lake Superior Land Back in NW Wisconsin |url=https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/chippewa-tribe-gets-1-500-acres-of-lake-superior-land-back-in-nw-wisconsin |work=Native News Online |access-date=September 10, 2022}}
In October 2022, a 1-acre site was returned to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy by a private resident in Altadena, which marked the first time the Tongva had land in Los Angeles County in 200 years.{{Cite web |last=X |date=2022-10-10 |title=After nearly 200 years, the Tongva community has land in Los Angeles County |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-10/after-nearly-200-years-the-tongva-community-has-land-in-los-angeles-county |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
In 2024, the Government of British Columbia transferred the title of more than 200 islands off Canada's west coast to the Haida people, recognizing the nation's aboriginal land title throughout Haida Gwaii.{{Cite news |last=Cecco |first=Leyland |date=2024-04-15 |title=Canada hands ‘long-overdue’ title over more than 200 islands to Haida Nation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/15/haida-first-nation-land-canada |access-date=2024-07-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Onishi |first=Norimitsu |last2=Bracken |first2=Amber |date=2024-07-04 |title=On Small Islands Off Canada’s Coast, a Big Shift in Power |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/world/canada/canada-indigenous-rights-haida.html |access-date=2024-07-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
In 2025, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians purchased more than 2,000 acres of land near the Table Rocks preserve north of Medford, Oregon.{{Cite web |title=Siletz tribe purchases part of ancestral homeland in Southern Oregon |url=https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/20/think-out-loud-siltez-tribe-oregon-confederated-table-rock-land-medford-ancestral-reservation/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=opb |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Siletz celebrate historic purchase of land near Table Rocks |url=https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/23/siletz-table-rock-land-back/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=opb |language=en}}
On March 21, 2025, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation authorizing the transfer of ownership of Shabbona Lake State Park to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.{{Cite news |last=Hancock |first=Peter |date=March 24, 2025 |title=Potawatomi to reclaim tribal land in DeKalb County |url=https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/potawatomi-to-reclaim-tribal-land-in-dekalb-county/ |work=Capitol News Illinois}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://landback.org The Land Back Campaign], NDN Collective
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67F7WbcTQKA The Halluci Nation - Land Back Ft. Boogey The Beat & Northern Voice (Official Audio)] by A Tribe Called Red
- [https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/100-years-of-land-struggle 100 years of land struggle] (Canada)
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Category:Indigenous rights organizations in North America
Category:Aboriginal title in the United States
Category:Aboriginal title in Canada