Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] We attribute this excitement, mankind, for joining us. You got walls and a roof.
[00:00:15] Look at the way the mountains hold the sky and the sun kisses the face of the earth. And think about what is buried in a land acknowledgement.
[00:00:25] When I read you a land acknowledgement, what I'm saying is, first, let's imagine we are sitting on a porch and we are on the side of town where the clouds gather.
[00:00:36] We are listening to what thunder is saying, and we are learning how to draw a heart around the southwest while the earth's impossible beauty is holding our sadness. And we are asking each other, do you know the story of this place? We are asking out loud, does this country, this city, know the story of itself?
[00:00:57] Somewhere along the way, land was stolen, children were stolen, and those crimes were called progress.
[00:01:05] When I read you a land acknowledgement, I'm looking east, where everything begins. Ha ha ha. And I'm saying to you, think about what is buried in a land acknowledgement. I mean, this land around us of so called Durango, of so called Colorado, it still belongs to the Ute people. Look at the way the mountains hold the this land around us. Kinhlane is still tethered to the Hikaria Apache, the Hopi, the Pueblos, and the Dene, my own people today, the land is still stolen, women and children are still missing, and those crimes are called the status quo. When I read you a land acknowledgement, I'm saying these borders are chalk outlines. Think about the 1890 census, which recorded 237,196 native people a night, 95% reduction from a population in 1491 that some historians estimate was over 100 million.
[00:02:09] Think about the futures we lose from genocide. Think about the death toll behind a land acknowledgement. The death toll is not frozen in time. The death toll rises into the present.
[00:02:22] So when you hear a land acknowledgment, it is a reminder that the earth's impossible beauty is holding our sadness. And. And our silence means we are writing history books with blood on our hands. And I know the times I have been silent. I feel the blood on my hands, and I'm sorry.
[00:02:41] When I read you a land acknowledgement, I am saying, america, end the occupation. No one is illegal. Bring home our missing relatives. Bring home our detained neighbors. Bring home our kidnapped children. Withdraw the armies of despair. Liberate imagination and imagine liberation. Imagine free Palestine. Imagine North America without the United States.
[00:03:07] When I read you a land acknowledgement, what I'm really saying is I believe in an indigenous future. And I swear I'm trying to invent hope out of every letter I know. Shaping sentences as long as sun sets because look, the clouds are breaking, birds are singing. Everything is happening. We are talking and dreaming While something is waiting in the northern direction. Siha Sin and I know you believe in beautiful things because you are here today. I know your heart must feel as heavy as mine. I am reaching out with two open hands and I am asking will you walk with me on this journey?
[00:03:48] Because we will need each other tomorrow.
