Thread by @FrancesMFDanger

Text of the Not a Land Acknowledgment #LandAcknowledgment @AmyEchos and I collaborated to Indigenize The Plaza tonight.

CW: Boarding schools, genocide, colonization

instagram.com/tv/CUgaut7Jcrd…

Hesci Estonko. Hello, how are you? My name is Amy and I am enrolled Mvskoke, Semvnole, and daughter of Kaccvlke.

You are standing on stolen land. All of this is Indian Country. Today, I would like you to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory that you call the Gáuigú (Kiowa), Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Nʉmʉnʉʉ (Comanche), 𐓏𐒰𐓓𐒰𐓓𐒷 𐒼𐓂𐓊𐒻 𐓆𐒻𐒿𐒷 𐓀𐒰^𐓓𐒰^(Osage), and

Kitikiti’sh (Wichita) land on which we are learning, working, and organizing today. These lands extending throughout the state were originally inhabited by many Nations, including those that were forcibly relocated to what once was and now has been

rightfully restored as Indian Territory. We acknowledge that the 39 sovereign tribal nations, each with our own cultures, languages, and governments, inhabiting what is now known as Oklahoma originate from all four corners of Turtle Island and we commit ourselves to honor

the land and the people who have stewarded it since before colonization that continues on through to today. Although we comprise less than 5% of the world population, Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the Earth's biodiversity in the forests, deserts, grasslands, and

marine environments in which we have lived for centuries but from which we are now removed.

Removal was just the beginning. When physical genocide didn’t work, you moved on to cultural genocide with the motto ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man’.

This resulted in residential boarding schools where Native babies were kidnapped from their families. This wasn’t some long-ago history. The last boarding school operated by the federal government was closed in 1996. On May 28th of this year, 215 babies were unearthed in an

unmarked grave at Kamloops residential school in Canada. Those schools were modeled on the US Indian boarding school system. Just four months and 7 boarding school searches later, there have been 6,509 Indigenous children, some as young as three years old, who perished at

the hands of those seeking to steal the lands we are acknowledging today uncovered in both the US and Canada. Yesterday, September 30th, was orange shirt day and Truth and Reconciliation Day. This day is to honor all our relatives,

those that survived and those that have yet to be returned home. And even as we wait for their return, the churches and the government have yet to offer a formal apology for what they’ve done.

There are 78 Residential Schools in Oklahoma alone, 365 schools in 29 states

across the so-called US, and 506 schools in what we know as Turtle Island but what you named North America. You are not only standing on stolen land. You're standing on the bones of the stolen, sacrificed at the altar of Manifest Destiny. Every Indigenous person you meet has been

affected by these atrocities. My grandparents, aunts, and uncle were forced to attend. Some ran away so as not to be taken. This makes me the first generation not to be stripped from my family and culture since the inception of the boarding school era.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Colonialism is not the default. We've all either been conditioned to or subjugated in service to that belief by the ruthless and unchecked ravaging of Peoples and cultures by imperialism.

It's time to say no more.

I'm committed to Indigenizing every space I have access to and those I don't. I don't need you to hold space for me. I will take up whatever space I need. I will speak hard truths. I will make you uncomfortable. My existence is literal resistance.

I was born into rebellion so I'm not only ready I'm just getting started.

I'm done decolonizing. I shouldn't have to decolonize. That work is for those that are descendants of the people who sought to exterminate us, enslaved us, or in any way othered us.

That work is for you and it starts now.

I’m not asking you to feel guilty, I am telling you the time is now for direct action, to take responsibility to unlearn and relearn the history, power structures, and privileges you have been conditioned to uphold, and to commit

yourselves to doing not what you've been comfortable with but to rest in discomfort, the kind of discomfort People Of Color are born into, and take the necessary steps to achieve equity for all.

Be better than your forefathers. Be stewards of the land we inhabit for future generations.

I know it's beautiful when you see our vibrant cultures but there's an undercurrent of loss, erasure, and willful misunderstanding by the majority there that colors them just as much as

our commitment to keeping them alive despite all attempts to drive them to extinction. We hold the sacred close because it was very nearly stolen from us, like the land and so many ancestors. It's past time when you should have recognized our sacred stewardship. It is now time

for the restoration of that stewardship, for the respecting of our inherent Tribal Sovereignty, and for recognition of the past wrongs that still bleed into the present.

There are so many other things I want to talk about. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls,

and Two-Spirit Relatives. The fact is that in some areas of this country, Native women are ten times more likely to be murdered. Tribal sovereignty and the attacks on it by the Oklahoma government. Racist Native mascots and their harmful effects on all children. The outlawing of

Native spiritual practices from 1883-1978, two years after I was born.

The urban relocation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 60’s and 70’s. The forced sterilization of 25% of Native women of childbearing age in 1970. To the Native clinic who requested PPE for covid safety

who received body bags instead. The ongoing appropriation of our culture during Halloween. We are not your costume. We are not your mascots. We are not your festival headdresses.

We are people deserving of respect and equity and more than a simple land acknowledgment. We are still here.

Mvto ALL MY RELATIONS