By BRANT SKOGRAND ’04 MBC
homelands of the Dakota people, ‘Mni Sota Makoce.’” “AS
a Catholic institution dedicated to the pursuit of truth, the University of St. Thomas recognizes that it occupies the ancestral and current
This is a sentence from the university’s land acknowledgment, which includes both a long- form and short-form version. You’ll hear this
The university recognizes that centuries of displacement, dispossession and discrimination against Indigenous people are not wiped away
statement read at meetings and events at St. Thomas, including commencement ceremonies, Board of Trustees meetings and student, faculty and staff orientations.
by a few words spoken at the start of events, but sees the statement implementation as a step toward its strategic commitment to foster belonging and dismantle racism. “[The land acknowledgment] recognizes how the actions of our colonial past have created
While a land acknowledg- ment recognizes and honors Indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of the land, it’s more than that. The St. Thomas
the present we now see, and our responsibility of changing this pattern in our future," said Alex Hernandez-Siegel, director of the Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion Services. “It is recognizing and rectifying the injustice we see systematically in our country.”
land acknowledgment condemns “acts of evil, including genocide and forced assimilation done in the name of white supremacy and the continued oppression of Indigenous peoples on the land that belongs to them.”
4 2
S U M M E R 2 1
Powered by FlippingBook