Land Back facts for kids
Land Back is a big movement that started around 2018. It's also known by the hashtag #LandBack. This movement involves Indigenous Australians, Indigenous peoples in Canada, Native Americans in the United States, and other Indigenous groups and their friends. They want to get back control of their traditional lands. They also want to bring back their own ways of governing and managing their communities.
People involved in Land Back want to make sure Indigenous people have political and economic control over their ancestral territories. This movement is part of a larger effort called decolonisation. Decolonisation means undoing the effects of colonization and giving power back to Indigenous communities.
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What Land Back Means
The Land Back movement aims to give Indigenous people back their political power over lands they claim by old agreements or treaties. Experts from the Yellowhead Institute, which is run by Indigenous people, say it's about Indigenous groups taking back their right to govern themselves. The NDN Collective, another Indigenous organization, says Land Back is about ending colonization and unfair systems.
Land Back supports the rights of Indigenous people. It helps keep their languages and traditions alive. It also works towards having enough healthy food for everyone (called food sovereignty), good homes, and a clean environment.
The idea of Land Back was first shared in 2018 by Arnell Tailfeathers. He is a member of the Blood Tribe. Soon after, it became a popular hashtag, #LandBack. You can now see it in art, on clothes, and in beadwork. These items often help raise money for "water protectors" and "land defenders." These are people who protest against things like oil pipelines in North America.
A big moment for the movement in the United States was the Black Hills land claim. This included protests at Mount Rushmore in 2020. These protests happened when Donald Trump was campaigning for president.
The Ideas Behind Land Back
The NDN Collective describes Land Back as a main idea that connects many different Indigenous groups. It's similar to how the Black Lives Matter campaign brings many groups together. They say this movement helps Indigenous leaders work together in many different places. It also deals with unfair treatment that Indigenous people face. This unfairness comes from their land being taken away.
Land Back wants to bring back the idea of land being owned by the community. This is how many traditional Indigenous lands were managed. It rejects the colonial ideas of private land ownership. Giving land back is not just about money. It also means bringing back old relationships and self-governance.
It's important to know that Land Back does not mean non-Indigenous people have to leave lands that were taken from Indigenous groups.
How Land Is Returned
Sometimes, land is given directly back to Indigenous people. This happens when private owners, cities, or governments return the land to Indigenous tribes. This can be a simple deal within the current system of buying and selling land.
Indigenous-led projects might also use "community land trusts." These are special groups that hold land for their community.
Land Back Actions
In 2020, the music group A Tribe Called Red released a song called "Land Back." This song supported the Wet’suwet’en resistance camp and other Indigenous movements. In July 2020, activists from the NDN Collective protested on a road leading to Mount Rushmore. Donald Trump was going to give a speech there. This place is sacred to the Sioux people and is part of the Black Hills land claim. The protesters wrote the "Land Back Manifesto." It calls for taking back "everything stolen from the original Peoples." Also in 2020, Haudenosaunee people from the Six Nations of the Grand River blocked a housing development. This was on their traditional territory that was never given up.
In 2021, artist Nicholas Galanin created a huge "Indian Land" sign. It looked like the famous Hollywood Sign. This sign was placed at a festival entrance. On July 4, 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota, four people were arrested. They climbed a building and hung an upside-down US flag that said "Land Back."
Land Transfers
The Wiyot people have lived on Duluwat Island in California for thousands of years. In 2004, the city of Eureka gave land back to the Wiyot tribe. This added to land the Wiyot had already bought. The city gave another 60 acres in 2006.
The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived in Massachusetts and Rhode Island for thousands of years. In 2007, about 300 acres of land in Massachusetts became a reservation for the tribe. Since then, there have been legal challenges about the tribe's status and their claim to the land.
In 2016, Dr. Mohan Singh Virick, a Punjabi Sikh doctor, gave 140 hectares of land to the Eskasoni First Nation. He had served Indigenous people in Cape Breton Island for 50 years. He also gave a building in Sydney to help house Eskasoni's growing population.
In October 2018, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, returned an old burial site to the Musqueam people. This site is called the Great Marpole Midden. It holds ancient remains of a Musqueam house.
In 2019, the United Methodist Church gave 3 acres of historic land back to the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma. The US government had promised the tribe 148,000 acres in 1819. But when 664 Wyandotte people arrived, the land had been given to someone else.
In July 2020, a group of Esselen descendants bought a 1,200-acre ranch near Big Sur, California. This was part of a larger deal. This land is in historical Esselen territory. They want to protect old forests, wildlife, and the Little Sur River.
Land on the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia was returned to the Tsartlip First Nation in December 2020.
Management of the 18,800-acre National Bison Range was given back to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2021. It had been managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In August 2022, the Red Cliff Chippewa in northern Wisconsin got 1,500 acres of land back. This land is along the Lake Superior shoreline. It was returned by the Bayfield County government. This happened after the tribe and the county agreed in 2017 to restore the tribe's reservation boundaries.
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