Land Acknowledgments
Investigations
What is a Land Acknowledgment?
A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that is intended to recognize Indigenous or Native peoples as the original inhabitants/stewards of the land a school district, staff, and students occupy.
What is a Labor Acknowledgment?
A labor acknowledgment is a formal statement intended to recognize past contributions, primarily in the form of forced or exploited labor and slavery, mainly by people of color, which significantly contributed to the economic development of that region.
What is the problem with a Land Acknowledgment?
While often well intentioned, land acknowledgments act as a form of virtue signaling by institutions and leadership. Furthermore, these statements seed the idea in young students’ heads that they are occupying “stolen land” from Indigenous tribes. It also acts as a subversive action to undermine the idea of private property rights protected under the Fourth Amendment.
Land acknowledgments can also serve as a propaganda tool to advance a specific set of ideas, such as “Palestine” being “stolen land.”
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Alaska
Arizona
- Osborn School District No. 8
- Phoenix Elementary School District
- Phoenix Union High School District
- Scottsdale Unified School District
California
- Contra Costa County Office of Education
- Elk Grove Unified School District
- Folsom Cordova Unified School District
- Fresno Unified School District
- Fullerton School District
- San Leandro Unified School District
- Lagunitas School District
- Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District
- Oak Park Unified School District
- Washington Unified School District
- Whittier Union High School District
Colorado
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
- Columbia Heights Public Schools
- Independent School District 196 – Rosemont-Apple Valley – Eagan
- Northfield School District
- Richfield Public Schools
- Robbinsdale Area Schools
- South Washington County Schools
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
- Akron Central School District
- Coxsackie-Athens Central School District
- Salamanca City Central School District
- West Irondequoit Central School District
North Dakota
Oregon
- Ashland School District
- David Douglas School District
- Lincoln County School District
- North Clackamas Schools
- Springfield Public Schools
- Parkrose School District
- Phoenix-Talent School District
- Portland Public Schools
- West Linn – Wilsonville School District
Washington
- Aberdeen School District 5
- Auburn School District
- Bainbridge Island School District
- Bellevue School District
- Bethel School District
- Bremerton School District
- Burlington-Edison School District
- Camas School District
- Central Kitsap School District
- Chimacum School District
- Cle Elum-Roslyn School District
- Columbia (Walla Walla) School District
- Coupeville School District
- Eastmont School District
- Edmonds School District
- Educational Service District 112
- Enumclaw School District
- Everett School District
- Federal Way Public Schools
- Ferndale School District
- Franklin Pierce School District
- Garfield School District
- Highline School District
- Hockinson School District
- Hood Canal School District
- Kennewick School District
- Kent School District
- Issaquah School District
- Lake Washington School District
- Lakewood School District
- Lopez Island School District
- Manson School District
- Mercer Island School District
- Monroe School District
- Moses Lake School District
- Mount Adams School District
- Mount Baker School District
- Mukilteo School District
- Nespelem School District
- North Beach School District
- Northshore School District
- North Thurston Public Schools
- Olympia School District
- Omak School District
- Orting School District
- Port Townsend School District
- Puget Sound Educational Service District
- Puyallup School District
- Seattle Public Schools
- Shoreline Public Schools
- South Kitsap School District
- South Whidbey School District
- Tukwila School District
- Wapato Public Schools
- Wenatchee School District
- Yakima School District
Wisconsin
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