Native American Heritage Month: Indigenous Land Acknowledgements

Infinity Rehab operates in 19 states, all of which are the unceded and traditional territories of Indigenous People.

An Indigenous Land Acknowledgement is a statement that recognizes the people and communities who have been dispossessed from their homelands, upon which a city, town, or building has been built. Publicly acknowledging the original people of the land that we live, work, and play on is a meaningful way to honor indigenous cultures and resist erasure of their histories.

The displacement of Indigenous peoples and the wide-reaching impact of colonialism has often been overlooked or minimized in the telling of national historical narratives. The power of land acknowledgments lies in learning as much as we can about local treaties and practices and about the culture of the Indigenous people.

A couple of tips for learning about and creating land acknowledgments include:

1. Approach with genuine curiosity and respect for the culture
2. Connect with local members of the Indigenous community in your area to ask how they would like to be acknowledged
3. Work for accountability for the US, state, and city governments to honor treaties
4. Collaborate and form ongoing relationships
5. Live with gratitude for the land and honor the past, present, and future heritage, customs, and traditions of the people on whose land we live

Here are a few resources for learning more:

• Indigenous Land and Territorial Acknowledgements for Cultural Institutions (landacknowledgements.org)
• Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land
• #HonorNativeLand — U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (usdac.us)