We live and study on stolen land.
The university is a foreign institution built here without permission. The land where the University of Idaho and Washington State University are located today was seized without payment by an executive order from the U.S. president in 1873 — more than half a century before the Snyder Act granted full U.S. citizenship to Native Americans. The UI campus is built on the homeland of a tribal nation, the Nez Perce or Nimiipu tribe.
Every Argonaut newspaper ever printed has been distributed on Nimiipu land. Every homecoming, every Palousafest, every Vandals’ home game and graduation ceremony has taken place on Nimiipu land. A modern reckoning with our country’s racist and discriminatory history dictates we acknowledge this land as the homeland of a tribal nation.
Our land acknowledgements are not enough. Simply recognizing the first people to call this place home have been robbed, abused and ignored for much of modern history is not enough. So, what now?
November is Native American Heritage Month, but we should do more than remember this history. Idaho has never elected a Native American governor or been represented by a Native American in the U.S. Congress. Until 2019, one of Boise’s largest high schools used the racist nickname “Braves” to represent their school, and a replacement for Pocatello High School’s similarly inappropriate mascot the “Indians” will be determined at a district meeting later this week.
We must work to dismantle these institutions that discriminate against and tokenize Native American culture, from replacing high school mascots to making reparations for the land our academic ancestors stole. As a public university community on Indigenous land, in a state with several reservations and tribal entities, we have a responsibility to pursue this work.
The UI’s Office of Tribal Relations has published a short land acknowledgement statement on their website, which recognizes we have an “academic responsibility to build relationships with the Indigenous people to ensure integrity of tribal voices,” and the UI President’s Office and the Native American Student Center have already made great strides toward this goal.
These policies help, but they do not guarantee an inclusive and respectful campus community. We, as students, need to put in our own work, educating ourselves about our history, policies and practices which led to the seizure and appropriation of millions of acres of land across the state.
We can also celebrate how lucky we are to live in a culturally diverse state like Idaho and take advantage of the learning opportunities that presents us with. Log in for the Native American Heritage Month Speaker Series the Native American Student Center is hosting this month. Go to the Tutxinmepu Powwow (when it’s able to reconvene safely), and take American Indian Studies courses even if you’re not planning on minoring.
The educational resources are available. It’s time we learned our history and set a more inclusive, equitable path for our future.
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected].