We Are Settlers
Montana Writers Week is organized by Marc Rettig—a white man in his 60s. My ancestors came from Europe to the US where they participated in the project of colonization. This includes forcefully removing indigenous people from their land and into assimilation, and enslaving black- and brown-bodied people to labor for Europeans. My ancestors used this land and labor to profit economically.
I too have benefitted from the legacy of colonialism. While I am far from wealthy by US standards, I have a good education, I have a sturdy network of friends and family, and I’m able to meet my needs. My whiteness has protected me from some harm, hardship and trauma.
Writers Week is based in Fort Benton, Montana. Montana is home to many Tribal Nations, including the Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Chippewa Cree, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kootenai, Little Shell Chippewa, Northern Cheyenne, Pend d’Oreille, Salish, and Sioux peoples. They are here, they are still in relationship with the land.
Wanting to be in relationship with the land, and holding awareness of our ancestry asks us to grapple with our inheritance as settlers. How do we participate in a shift toward the thriving of indigenous peoples? For now we do this by financially supporting Indigenous-led initiatives (thinking of it as a type of land tax) around my Pittsburgh home.
While all of this is imperfect, we will keep learning how to show up and share in solidarity.
It’s more than that…
It’s tender, this trend of “land acknowledgements.” Have a look at Reid Walker’s guest essay in the New York Times: “I’m Native American. Land Acknowledgments Are Infuriating.” I won’t try to summarize it for you, but I’ll report two things that have stayed with me from this piece.
The first thing is a potent reminder: it’s not just who owns the land, it’s the whole idea that land can be owned. Land as a separate lifeless “object” that can be treated as property, versus the land as a place of belonging, as part of The Weave Of It All. This idea has changed the way I see the Montana landscape, how it feels to move across it or lie down in the grass. I can no longer experience this place of my birth through a simple lens of “home again.” The violent displacement of native people cost us all, and I’ve inherited that cost, including an impoverished relationship with the earth.
The second thing: having made a land acknowledgment, most folks go back to being comfortable. As my friend Chris Corrigan has said, “The job of the settler is to become unsettled.” Uncomfortable. Then we can begin to be able to be in relationship with all the other unsettled people. We should all be uncomfortable with the way things unfolded, the way things are. Then, Reid Walker asks, having said that, what are you going to DO?
Resources
Here are some resources that were helpful to us.
First Nations recommended reading, compiled by the First Nations Development Institute
Native Land Map — a community-powered resource that helps identify what Native land you are on
Invasion of America interactive map
On the practice of land acknowledgment
Nativegov’s resources — including a “Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgment”
Honor Native Land: A Guide — a step-by-step guide for land acknowledgment
US Department of Arts and Culture: “Honor Native Land”
Voluntary tax, redistribution, etc.
Resource guide for indigenous solidarity funding projects: honor taxes and real rent projects