The Usual Suspects

It’s become a fad among “progressive” circles to “acknowledge”, at the beginning of a meeting or gathering, that the meeting is “occurring on land stolen from…” the various tribes indigenous to Minnesota.

The meeting, run almost invariably run by plush-bottom laptop-class academic/non-profit/government complex yoohoos, then continues with no land, dignity or status returned to the tribes.

I strongly suspect this bit of theatrical institutional rending of theatrical garments is more of the same: the U of M is “acknowledging” its theft from the tribes.

Sort of:

DAN KRAKER: The TRUTH report released today delves into the details of how the university profited off of Native land and people. It concludes that the U’s founding board of regents, quote, “committed genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples for financial gain.”

And it shows how millions of in revenue derived from timber, minerals, and other resources from Native land were invested in municipalities around the state, but not in tribal communities. Shannon Geshick is executive director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. She says it’s the first report in which a major university critically examines its history with Native people.

SHANNON GESHICK: One part of me is really appreciative of the– I guess– courage of the university. But also the other part of me is like, it’s time. It’s important that other voices are heard, not only the dominant voice. The TRUTH project kind of just rips that open and really reveals a narrative I think that a lot of people just don’t know.

And what will this lead to (emphasis added)?

In recent years, the University has committed to acknowledging the past and doing the necessary work to begin rebuilding and strengthening relationships with tribal nations and Native people. Openly receiving this report is another step toward honoring that commitment. While documenting the past, the TRUTH report also provides guidance as to how the University can solidify lasting relationships with tribes and Indigenous peoples built on respect, open communication, and action. As we engage in the important discussions that will now follow, that guidance will be invaluable.”

Translation to English: Expect more lip service – and, of course, more taxpayer money transferred to the academic/non-profit/government complex, “Native Division”.

19 thoughts on “The Usual Suspects

  1. “My father built my house on land he stole from the Indians!”
    “That was harsh, dude, maybe you should pay them?”
    [Furiously] “No! YOU must pay them!”

  2. There is no land, anywhere on the planet, to which anybody has good moral title.

    Good legal title, sure. I bought it from the guy who owned it before me. But how did he acquire it? Killed the prior occupant in a war of conquest? And how did that guy acquire title – killed his prior occupant in an earlier war of conquest? How far back do we need to go to find the “real” owners, the heirs of the people who were dispossessed by war hundreds/thousands of years ago?

    If you deny that title acquired by right of conquest is valid title, and assert that the current occupant owes compensation for the “theft,” then there is no limit to the amount to be paid or the claiments to pay it to. This is even dumber than reparations for slavery.

  3. What these sjws need to remember, is that there are no native Americans/indigenous people/Indians.Those tribes migrated to North America from Asia. Were they here first? Yes, but they didn’t settle every area or can they claim the whole country if they didn’t occupy it. So, those that came after had squatter’s rights.

  4. Go far enough back in anybody’s family tree, you’ll find both oppressor and oppressed. Many of the Indian tribes warred with each other long before white men set foot on North America. And by many measures the Indians were more brutal and more genocidal.

    “‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'”

    Orwell intended for 1984 to be a warning. The modern left act like it’s an instruction booklet.

  5. I wonder exactly how the U thinks it’s going to “right the wrong”. It’s not like they are going to tear down the buildings and give the land back to the aggrieved. “Acknowledging” and $7.99 will buy you a Venti Latte with oat milk, 3 shots of espresso and a spritz of caramel.

    Further soak the taxpayers as part of a money laundering scheme to “academic/non-profit/government complex, “Native Division”.” as Mitch indicated.

    I wonder how long it will be until this state becomes dystopian enough that the metro bluies start turning purple.

  6. You shouldn’t think that this rigamarole is based on a sincerely felt regret, or even wickedness. Setting up this commission & making a public statement is likely a requirement for receiving grants from big NGO’s and foundations. It doesn’t have to make sense (the Indian Nations are clients of the federal, not state, government). The important thing is that the principal of injury and obligation must be established. It gets more difficult if you insist on a person writing a check. That will come later.

  7. The Bolsheviks had a revolution. All the old Russian institutions were torn down to rubble and replaced with monstrosities.
    Fascist takeovers are slower. The old institutions are hollowed out and corrupted. The bank remains, the building is the same, the people who are running it have not changed. But one day you notice that all the tellers and officers are wearing fascist flag pins in their lapels. Then you discover that under the under the new criteria, because you will not wear the pin, you not only cannot get a loan, all your old loans are called in & your account is, regrettably, canceled. You go to your church and find the pastor is now wearing a fascist flag pin and the church walls display political slogans. The pastor’s sermon contains references to current events from the POV of the State. He has to do this, you see, or the church will have its license to hold public meetings challenged. At the public school, the same school you attended as a child, the teachers and administrators now wear the fascist flag pin and have introduced a new curriculum written by the State.
    In my youth I was taught that Hitler was enabled in his tyranny by the bourgeois, who were terrified of Stalin’s communism. This is a half truth. The Nazis understood that the bourgeois (the educated management class) were the hinge of society, Everything turned on them, and they were easy to corrupt. Threaten them physically, or threaten their livelihood or their social status, and they fell in line.
    How many people believe in the Biden admin’s obsession with “equity” over equality? Five percent? Surely not ten percent.

  8. Gosh, with all those gushers of guilt flowing from histories of wanton warfare, slavery, genocide and theft of other people’s sacred land, I am sure as hell am glad that I’m not a Comanche or a Turk.

    Just say’n.

  9. Funny how that genoccide works. The Indian population is 1 percent. Same as it was in 1860.

  10. Technically, we bought the already-claimed land from the French. So the worst you can say is that we bought hot (as in stolen) property.

    Now, seeing as how our current leadership excuses theft as a version of societal reparations, we should be in the clear morally.

    Right?

  11. It is wrong to steal someone’s property then….

    as it is now… So Hennepin County, maybe before you beat your breast about injustice, you might want to look in a mirror…

    Supreme Court justices on Wednesday seemed inclined to side with a 94-year-old woman who said a Minnesota county unfairly pocketed the surplus when it seized and sold her $40,000 condominium after she failed to pay $2,000 in property taxes

  12. MMP, I’ll happily wear the fascist flag pin, as long as I can fly the helicopter. Question is, will my Klan leader let me wear my FFP on my white robe?

    It’s not as easy being a scourge as you might think.

    And speaking of popular scourges, every time POD_666 pops up after a lengthy absence, I envision a puff of sulphury smoke.

  13. Pingback: In The Mailbox: 04.27.23 (Early Morning Edition) : The Other McCain

  14. Just watched the video that POD shared….
    ….
    ….
    ….
    ….
    ….
    Most of y’all are not gonna believe it, but I am actually speechless.

    They want to make a list, of wrong thinkers? Lol…someone needs to tell that 80IQ Gmung wench about federal jurisdictional supremacy.

    The alphabet agencies already have lists, and they’re not gonna let any pissant state human rights agency start their own.

  15. Vlad is right about the video POD posted. Eye opening. Infuriating.

    I had to chuckle at the dodge she employed when asked if the “I love JK Rowling” t-shirt would be considered an example of gender bias such that it would be includable in a Department of Human Rights suspect list.” She said: “I will let the language of the bill speak for itself so I’m not going to answer that specific question.”

    Which is complete bullshit, as the language of the statute is simply the basis for the Administrative Agency to write Agency Rules which interpret the statute, to which the court gives deference because the Administrative Agency is the Expert, allowing the Administrative Agency to construe the statute however it wants. Hell yes, the “I love JK Rowling” t-shirt will be considered hate speech. Hell yes, the Administrative Agency will put that guy on the hate speech list subject to whatever sanctions they dream up.

    Absolutely amazing, the depths to which Liberals have sunk, trying to control the minds of the population. Thank you, POD, for posting it.

  16. If you could choose whether or not to wear the FFP, it wouldn’t be an FFP pin.

  17. John no problem I rarely post links but when I saw it on my YouTube feed and it was about MN legislation and a state rep saying dumb and creepy AF things, I couldn’t think of a better place to post this.

  18. Still waiting for a tribe to sue to repossess their stolen land. That would put a permanent end to this nonsense.

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