"The dominant narrative of this nation's people has always been inextricably intertwined with the tragic story of this nation's land. As the conventional account goes, despite the landless poverty many colonists brought with them from Europe and the financial instability several of the nation's European founders endured, by the time the United States was officially founded, land ownership was considered a prerequisite for self-government."
"By institutionalizing the nation's history in these terms, we have detached the land from the deeply spiritual and nurturing role it plays in our lived realities. When we limit land to its role as an economic and political commodity, we are left with an amoral capitalistic view of the dispossession of Native American landholdings and uncompensated labor of enslaved African skilled laborers."
"Within the context of restrictive history-telling, those with deeply held beliefs in divinity, ancestral ties, communal relationship, and the sacredness of life and land-including myself-may question any legal or financial compensatory scheme for the original and ongoing harms perpetrated against Black Americans. However, one way to address the compounding harms against Black Americans is to collectively create land sovereignty at the local community level."
The nation's dominant narrative ties the people’s history to land through a colonial frame that elevates land ownership as prerequisite for self-government. Treating land solely as an economic and political commodity erases spiritual, ancestral, and communal relationships and normalizes dispossession of Native land and uncompensated enslaved labor. Deeply held beliefs in divinity, ancestry, communal life, and the sacredness of land complicate legal or financial compensation for historic harms against Black Americans. A practical path toward remedy emphasizes creating local land sovereignty through tax-free land access, cooperative stewardship, and restored ancestral relationships to the natural environment. Black and Indigenous solidarity, conflict, and mutual sovereignty require rethinking origin narratives and shared reclamation.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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