Nurturing Our Indigenous Relations: Beyond Land Acknowledgment
November 15, 2022
Last year on Indigenous People’s Day, as I lay on South Florida’s beaches with my family, I asked my mamá what she wanted for IPD. She took a minute to think about the question and excitedly replied, “earrings!” Her answer surprised me, and seeing the look on my face she laughed softly and then said, “and I’d like my land back.” As an Indigenous person from the Peruvian Amazon, I’ve been thinking a lot about reparations and what it means to be an Indigenous person displaced on stolen lands.
During this last IPD, I spent time with chosen family in Lenapehoking Territory (New York City), all of us identifying as Indigenous and queer, trans/two-spirit. I spent much of the day reflecting on my journey reconnecting with my Indigeneity and it felt both surreal and natural to be surrounded by Indigenous people from different tribes and cultures. With my friends, I shared with them my mamá’s response to my question and they all agreed that for Indigenous people, a big part of our journey involves imagining ourselves thriving in the present and future. My mamá was embodying her gentle desires as an Indigenous woman who recognizes the fight for land back and sovereignty, and also sees herself as someone deserving of care, joy, and love in the present.
I often envision my mamá back home in Iquitos, tending to her chickens and plants, knowing that the land is hers as much as it is ours. In Amazonian cosmovision, there is no such thing as ownership for we are all connected in spirit. The relationship between Pachamama (Mother Earth) and ourselves is one that requires as much nurturing as the relationship we have with each other.
As Day of Mourning (Thanksgiving) approaches, I ask that in the midst of eating, gathering, and exchanging gratitudes, there can be time for reflection:
What is your relationship to the land and how are you nurturing this relationship? What ways are you tending to relationships with Indigenous people in your life and in your community? When you envision the future, do you imagine Indigenous people being there?
Indigenous people are everywhere. We have been here for hundreds of years and will continue to be here long after. While I believe that reparations like paying land tax, renaming places with their original Indigenous name, and distributing money to different Indigenous grassroots organizations are all necessary, I am also leaning into giving my Indigenous loved ones their flowers, or in my mamá’s case, her earrings.
María Saldana joined the National Equity Project as an Associate in 2022. She is an Indigenous Charapa Peruana, writer and healer-facilitator, and is a core member of our Center for Equity Leadership facilitation and design team.