News and Commentary

Land Acknowledgements In California Schools: ‘All Of California Is Indian Land’

Children in public schools are exposed to highly politicized narratives about guilt, victimization, and responsibility.

Walter Myers
Land Acknowledgements In California Schools: ‘All Of California Is Indian Land’
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

In recent years, California’s K-12 schools, colleges, and universities have increasingly begun classroom sessions and meetings with land acknowledgements. 

For those unfamiliar, the California Community Colleges (CCC) website explains that a land acknowledgement is “a formal statement that recognizes and respects the Indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of this land, the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous peoples and their traditional lands.” The CCC further argues that “all of California is Indian land” and that these acknowledgements are a recognition of “the original people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial.”

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