More than 100 school districts across the country have “land acknowledgement statements,” many of which say the United States was built on “stolen land” and committed genocide.
Districts in at least 17 different states have land acknowledgment statements, a Parents Defending Education analysis exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire shows. A land acknowledgement — which PDE defines as “a formal statement that is intended to recognize Indigenous or Native peoples as the original inhabitants/stewards of the land a school district, staff, and students occupy” — are often read at the beginning of meetings or other public gatherings.
New Hampshire’s Frances C. Richmond Middle School, for example, claims that the United States was built on “stolen land” in its land acknowledgement statement.
“We, the RMS community, would like to acknowledge that our school is built upon the unceded land of the Abenaki and Pennacook peoples,” the statement reads before going on to say “the land was stolen.”
Minnesota’s Robbinsdale Area Schools say that the district is “located on the homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe people” before adding that “we recognize the painful history of genocide and forced assimilation of the Indigenous inhabitants of this land.”
“These so-called land acknowledgments are ridiculous virtue signaling designed to teach kids to hate America,” Michele Exner, Senior Advisor for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire. “It’s even more insane when you consider that many of these schools are failing to teach basic academic fundamentals, but find the time to push this useless nonsense.”
The Minnesota school district is far from the only one that argues that the United States was built on genocide. Oregon’s North Clackamas School District blames the United States for “colonization” and “genocide.”
“We recognize the historic policies of colonization, genocide, relocation, and assimilation that affected Indigenous and Native families both past and present and that will affect those in the future, and honor the resilience and revitalization of our Indigenous and Native communities,” the district’s statement reads.
Colorado’s Boulder Valley School District used similar language, again accusing the United States of genocide.
“We acknowledge the atrocities committed here, including the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to alienate the Indigenous inhabitants from their homeland, supported by the policies of the United States government,” it reads.
California’s Contra Costa Office of Education has multiple versions of its land acknowledgement, with one that reads “we recognize them, the legacy of violence, settlement, and displacement of these people who suffered and survived, and we recognize the importance of reverting this common history, of which we are all a part, by engaging in meaningful indigenous justice work today.”
Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, meanwhile, created a land acknowledgment while replacing Columbus Day with “Indigenous People’s Day.”
“While often well intentioned, land acknowledgments act as a form of virtue signaling by institutions and leadership,” PDE explains, calling them subversive given that they tell students that “they are occupying ‘stolen land’ from Indigenous tribes.”
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