Land acknowledgements must lead to real investment

Acknowledgment without accountability loses meaning. What matters is the work that follows the words

By J.A. Aleman

Since I’ve been at UWT, at the start of each quarter and even at the start of certain events there has been a brief slide and video presentation on land acknowledgements about the indigenous people.  

Still, after attending classes and events on campus for about two years, I started to ignore the presentation because they sound exactly the same every time. This makes it seem as if this is only presented as a performative statement rather than something that is truly important.  

At first, I appreciated the representation and was even honored to hear people proudly speaking their language that you don’t hear very often. Coming from a Latino background, I understand what it means to be able to retain or to have the ability to speak your cultures language.  

I really don’t know what I would do if I saw the Spanish language disappear. Whenever I see a fellow Latino, I immediately start speaking Spanish. It’s a natural thing. As it should be for all languages and dialects that have a rich history in America.  

“We recognize that all of us at UW Tacoma learn, live, and work on or near the ancestral homeland of the Coast Salish people,” says the Office of Equity and Inclusion website. “In particular, our campus is situated on the current and traditional land of the Puyallup people.”  

You’ll hear the statement above in land acknowledgements along with something about having meaningful partnerships with local tribes and their members.  

This is great, but slowly over time I’ve found myself asking, what am I supposed to do with this information? And with no real answer, I started not to care about the presentation.  

I struggled with various feelings of guilt, sadness, anger and frustration at different times because it was always the same words, in the same tone and nothing ever seemed to change or be added to the presentation.  

“What we can be doing as a whole is working towards the goal of increasing native student enrollment and increasing in native faculty,” said Dr. Danica Miller, Associate Professor at UWT from the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.  

Dr Miller added, “we are a people, speaking broadly, who very much value education and value knowledge. We don’t see ourselves in higher education, we aren’t reflected there.”  

But should seeing someone like yourself matter when it comes to achieving your own dreams in America?  

That short answer is yes. Because in the long run, when a student runs into a professor that looks like them and is not just teaching cultural appreciation, we can begin to see true representation in various fields of discipline.  

According to a 2023 study by the American Institutes for Research, nearly 70% of American Indian and Alaska Native students in the U.S. went undercounted in public schools for four years in a row. In Washington, that undercount represents roughly 36,000 students — that’s about $12 million in missing school district funding each year.  

This means that because public school funding is often based on enrollment numbers and student demographics, if thousands of Native students aren’t being counted correctly, the schools that serve them don’t receive the full funding they should.  

According to a study by Postsecondary National Policy Institute, the U.S. population who identified as Native or Alaskan Native, was one percent in 2023. Those aged 25 or older, 16.8% earned a bachelor’s degree or higher and in 2013, the rate was at 13.9% and in 2023 it was 36.2%.  

Dr. Michelle Montgomery, professor of Ethics, Gender and Labor Studies, and Dr. Miller were hired on the tenured professors’ track in 2014. Since then, there were two more professors hired of Native American decent and they are, Dr. Sara Eccleston, Assistant Professor in Psychology, from Puyallup Tribe of Indians and Dr. Dawn Hardison-Stevens, Assistant Professor, in School of Education. 

Institutes such as Chief Leschi Schools are a prime example of a place which started to address the high dropout rate of the Puyallup Tribe’s youth. The school is the largest of seven tribal schools in Washington State and one of 200 tribal schools in the United States.  

“We know the number one way that native students stay and go to higher education institutions is when there’s native faculty there,” said Dr. Miller.  

If an organization or institution is going to do any type of land acknowledgement, then respecting what that means, that there is a people, a land and a culture you look to for advice or of how you want to use the land, then do that, rather than present this to students at the start of each quarter. Otherwise, what is the point?  

UWT’s Master Plan, highlights what the campus could be in 25 years but again, since acknowledging is important, then it must be more than words.  

UWT’s Master Plan states, “by actively remembering both the painful history of colonization and the rich cultural traditions, UW Tacoma strives to foster a more inclusive, respectful, and engaged campus community, ensuring that indigenous perspectives remain central to its mission.”  

The plan goes on to inform how much Tacoma has changed over the years since the 1700s when Indigenous people stewarded the land until becoming urban in the 1800.  

“A checkbox that’s about occupation of the land or ownership of the land is not what we have ever been up to as Native people. It’s been in relationship with the land,” said Anthony B. Craig, Ed.D. Professor of Practice & Director, Leadership for Learning Program from Yakama Nation, when a panelist for the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity.  

Craig added that many people want to check the box of reading a statement, but that’s not the critique regarding land acknowledgements at all. There must be an acknowledgement of the land, people, the future of the people and the permanence of the people’s relationship to the land.  

Many would hear this and think it’s too much to ask. But I say that not only understanding the past but wanting to make a different future is what the goal should be.  

“It is a lifelong commitment, so your future generations don’t do the same thing to us and to the land that all the generations in this settler reality have done to get us here,” said Craig.  

This is by far one of the most important points touched in my research because what we want as Americans is equality for all in every respect, and ignoring what has happened will not change where we are or the effects lingering or even looming over people because of colonization.  

“Land acknowledgements often don’t acknowledge this history of trauma,” said Dr. Miller. “And in fact, I think the first time I heard that land acknowledgment from a settler, it brought me right back to those moments of fear, of what it meant when people heard that this was Puyallup land.”  

When asked about what hope there was in furthering the conversation of land acknowledgements, Dr Miller said, “for me, it’s resource allocation at the institutional level.”  

This would mean, not only more representation of Native people in universities and city officials, but also students K-12 receiving an accurate account of American history rather than waiting until higher-ed to learn anything about indigenous people, and local tribes.  

Actions are important, and land acknowledgements are a step in the right direction. I don’t write this to deter professors from reminding students of history in America, but they should also make it something personal to give a fresh perspective on what’s going on and how the local tribes are involved with the institution.