Re: Land Acknowledgement at the Oscars

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

The Oscars last night took time out to have Julianne Hough, a white lady in a
$50,000 ball gown, give one of those insipid "land acknowledgements" to
assuage their white guilt over having built a civilization on what used to be
tribal territory.

She paid respects to the Tongva tribe, which inhabited the area that is now
Hollywood and lost its land when white people moved in.

Except the Tongva weren't here first. A previous loose association of natives
called the Hokan lived on this land for thousands of years before the Tongva.
The Tongva conquered them, drove them off, and took this land from them. Just
as hundreds of years later, the European settlers conquered the Tongva, drove
them off, and took this land from them.

To sum up:

The Tongva had been here for a long time, but they weren't the first, and they
conquered the land and killed or displaced the Hokan, who were here before
them.

White people have been here for a long time, but they weren't the first, and
they conquered the land and killed or displaced the Tongva, who were here
before them.

So by all relevant standards, if the Tongva are indigenous to Southern
California, then so are white people.

What the Tongva did was acceptible as at their self celebratory
ceremonies, they too gave a land acknowledgement.