Native American groups have joined the reparations gold rush, demanding compensation from colleges and universities that were built upon lands taken from various Indian tribes, an ironic development considering the role of left-wing educational institutions in fomenting the “woke” cultural revolution that has swept America.
The Morrill Act, which was signed into law by the “Great Emancipator,” President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 allowed for the taking of an estimated 10.7 million acres of land from Native American tribes, allowing it to be used for the creation of land-grant institutions of higher learning in numerous states.
The can of worms opened by black reparations movements in several states, most notably in California has inspired Native American activists who believe that they are also entitled to payment, in their case, land that they say was stolen away from their tribes.
“You have these schools that have tens of millions of dollars at their disposal, but they are not looking at any ways they can improve living situations for Indigenous peoples today,” An Garagiola, who’s a descendant of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa told The Washington Post. “Yet their existence as institutions, as schools of learning, are only there today because of everything that was taken.”
Faced with growing calls for reparations to Native Americans, some schools have already reacted with measures that are more a gesture than the actual financial compensation being demanded.
Cornell University has created a project to research how to account for land acquired from Native Americans, the University of Wisconsin has displayed a Ho-Chunk Nation flag on campus as an acknowledgment of land taken from the tribe, and the University of California has offered free tuition to some Native American students.
At the University of Minnesota, a total of 11 tribes including the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Red Lake Nation have called for reparations but have not come up with an exact amount, “partly because of the difficulty of quantifying all the harm done. But the university has a duty to address this history, they said,” according to the Washington Post.
“We welcome the opportunity to examine the university’s history. It is important that we work in collaboration with the tribal nations to chart our course from here,” said University of Minnesota Board of Regents chair Janie Mayeron at a May meeting.
“Cornell acknowledges our central place in this history. The college is working to build and maintain relationships with North American Indigenous Nations and communities including establishing educational programs and ‘partnerships specifically geared to meeting the needs of Indigenous students,” said Cornell University Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina in a statement,
In another delicious serving of schadenfreude visited upon those who unleashed the reparations monster only to see it turn on them, a Vermont tribal chief responded to left-wing ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s Fourth of July tweet claiming that America “exists on stolen indigenous land” and should “commit to returning it,” by informing the company that it should practice what it preaches since its own HQ rests on Native American land.
Ben & Jerry’s gets taste of own ‘woke’ medicine when Vermont chief says company HQ on ‘stolen’ land https://t.co/PnRCoph3qp via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) July 9, 2023
“We are always interested in reclaiming the stewardship of our lands throughout our traditional territories and providing opportunities to uplift our communities,” Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of The Coosuk Abenaki Nation told Newsweek.
Some might be inclined to suggest that there is at least some justification for the idea of reparations for Native Americans whose grievances have a basis in reality versus blacks who have been whipped up into a frenzy over promises of free money by opportunistic charlatans and racial arsonists in the media.
Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.