Land back so people can be spiritually whole. Land back so they can live near their ancestors' resting places. Land back so they can connect with their animal and plant kith. Land back because it is what is due.

The Native nations are  more than just stewards of the land; they are a part of it. They are and were inseparable from Mother Nature, as are we. Many are learning to decolonize the ideas of religion, humanity, and existence. We recognize that we are part of the wild, children of Mother Nature, and that we should be indistinguishable from it. Yet, due to colonialism, anti-Blackness, slavery, genocide, land theft, and the Industrial Revolution, humans have made themselves violently separate—not only from the Earth but also from each other, from animals, and from plants.

This violence began with anti-Indigeneity, with anti-Blackness, with anti-Earth sentiments. To acknowledge the land is to recognize that it is not a colonized space but an oppressed one, oppressed in the same way that Black, Brown, and Native people are oppressed. This soil, this sky, this universe is not inherently anti-Indigenous or anti-Black. It is a space where colonial forces have imposed their interpretations of power, often with fatal and unjust consequences.

We declare that this must stop. We understand what it means to come from a people who, in this moment of history, have experienced chattel enslavement longer on this land than they have experienced this distorted misunderstanding of emancipation. We come from people whose skills, bodies, blood, intellect, culture, music, and dance were involuntarily used to build the strength of a nation that, from its inception, misused its power—stemming from European nations that never recognized this land as already belonging to its people, nor its inhabitants as belonging to their own lands.

We declare that this land has never been a blank slate. We assert the wisdom of Native people must be honored. We  assert that our Black and enslaved ancestors must be honored for more than their labor. We declare that the descendants of those whose bones uphold the ground—whose stories, medicine, meals, music, and dance constitute the best parts of what is called “ American” culture—must always be honored. We acknowledge that this is home, that we are of this place, and we owe it our respect, for our survival was not achieved by human genius alone.

We acknowledge the land and admit that words are insufficient. English often fails to capture the human experience, let alone the Earth's experience, which predates humanity by millions and billions of years.

All Saints' Day is about the relationship between the living and the dead and about this vessel called Earth that contains it/us all. 

We say thank you. We say teach us. We say we love you. We ask that you continue to love us. We acknowledge you. We know you. You are Mother; we are your children. We say thank you.

Written by Hess Love on behalf of CCS Annual All Saints Day Celebration

November 1st 2024