This coming Sunday is the first week of advent. This advent we will be focusing on the story of the liberating Christ. That story begins with the land, because how a people view the land tells us a lot about their relationship with one another. Empire sees land as something to be controlled, owned, valuable for its market price and what resources can be extracted. Indigenous wisdom, however, sees the land as sacred and needing to be protected and cherished.
My Grandparents on both sides were farmers and worked the land. On both sides, they started as sharecroppers and eventually came to own the land they worked. This is a complicated history, as First Nations Peoples lived on this land some time before my relatives lived on it, and this theft eventually came to benefit my family. Even though my relatives were not part of the theft directly, they profited from it in the end.
What is owed to the Native people that have survived the genocide that was committed all across the country? What would be suitable reparations? How can we, who still live on this land, give back fairly?
What is your relationship with the land? I’d love an email from you on this or any topic. Please feel to reach out, and to discuss this or anything or to invite me out for breakfast, lunch, dinner or coffee. I’d love to get to know you better, and to learn what you think about the politics or sacredness of the land we live on!
