Page 14 - Mar Apr 2021-REV

LAND BACK, conclusion

the 18th and 19th century. Landowners, who exercise self-sovereignty, and to heal the of this ongoing effort. You can donate funds
care to address the humanitarian atrocities land. Even breaking off an acreage from a to Indigenous peoples or Nations seeking to
of the not-so-distant past, have slowly begun larger landholding to give to a Native family purchase land. You can deed your land to an
deeding their land to the Native Nations who would have the power to change the lives of Indigenous person or Nation, to use immedi-
preceded them in that region. generations. ately or after your death. If you are a lawyer,
Nebraska has seen a few examples of Other examples of LAND BACK have you could help with the legal components of
this kind of solidarity with Indigenous peoples. been seen on city and state levels. In 2019, deeding land to Native peoples or Nations. If
In 2007, Roger and Linda Welsch deeded 60 the city of Eureka, California formally signed you are in business, you could educate your
acres of farmland in central Nebraska to the the transfer of lands on Duluwat Island back fellow community members about LAND
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma (The Pawnee to the Wiyot Tribe. The island is sacred to the BACK and the importance of Indigenous land
Nation’s homelands are in central Nebraska; Wiyot people, and it had been stolen from the stewardship. If you live in a city or town, you
they were forcibly removed to Oklahoma in tribe 160 years ago after the people living on could advocate to your city leaders to deed
the 19th century). The Welschs will live out the island were massacred so the land could back city lands to Native Nations or peoples.
It can become a practice that you
include in your weekly routine, or
in your daily life.
A good place to begin is
by understanding on whose
homelands you currently reside.
A website called Whose.land is a
great resource. There is also an
app called Native Land you can
download to your smartphone.
Once you understand whose
land you are on, begin to find a
way to be in right relation with
that Nation and its people. It
is your responsibility to learn
the stories of removal, so you
can understand the depth of
historical trauma that lives on in
Indigenous peoples and begin
to make it right. LAND BACK
is a movement, a spirit, and a
practice that each of us can live
their lives on their land, and when they die, be used for a dairy farm. After decades of ad- daily. And if we live that, we can achieve the
the Pawnee Nation will be the legal owners vocacy, the Wiyot people were successful in rematriation of land, the return to Indigenous
of the land. More recently, in 2018, Nebraska convincing the city to give them the land back. land stewardship, and a healthier Earth for
landowners Helen and Art Tanderup deeded Nonprofits and conservation organiza- our future generations.
1.6 acres of their land near Neligh, Nebraska tions have also played a role in the LAND This article was informed by several Indig-
to the Ponca Tribe. The Ponca Tribe has BACK movement. Within the last two years, enous people fighting for their land and who
been able to cultivate their sacred corn on the Nature Conservatory in Nebraska has embody the spirit of LAND BACK, including
that land after it had been absent for more given 284 acres of land to the Iowa Tribe of Felecia Welke, Corinne Rice Grey Cloud,
than 130 years. Kansas and Nebraska. The Iowa Tribe will Kanahus Manuel, Gord Hill, Enāēmaehkiw
Landowners can also choose to give establish a Tribal National Park, only the
land back to individual Indigenous people second of such parks to exist. Kesqnaeh, and , NDN Collective. Wado.
and families. To be Indigenous is to be of LAND BACK is not only the work of In- Erin Poor, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation,
the land. Indigenous peoples need access digenous activists, it is a movement that every is an independent art historian, curator, orga-
to land for ceremony, to resurrect ancestral single person can and should be a part of. By nizer, grant writer, and public educator based
foodways, to rebuild kinship networks, to giving what you have, you can help be a part in Lincoln, NE. Erin is a clinical mental health
counselor in training, hoping to be of service
MARCH/APRIL 2021 NE REPORT, P. 14 to her communities.