VCU introduces land acknowledgment, honors Indigenous peoples

Harshini Kanala, Contributing Writer

Max Walpole, Contributing Writer

VCU and VCU Health released a land acknowledgment statement on Nov. 1 recognizing the former Native occupants of the land the campus is built on, according to VCU News.

“Virginia Commonwealth University and the VCU Health System acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional lands of the Powhatan Chiefdom and the Monacan Nation, their ancestors, and future generations,” VCU stated on its website alongside the official acknowledgment statement.

The university convened a task force in 2022 to initiate planning for a formal land acknowledgment, according to the VCU Humanities Research Center. The faculty-led group coordinated efforts between local Indigenous communities and VCU faculty, staff and students. The task force met monthly to discuss proposals, meet with Indigenous leaders and draft recommendations for the statement.

The group seeks to “deepen our understanding of settler colonial history through learning about the region’s Indigenous past as well as its ongoing Indigenous presence,” according to the Humanities Research Center website.

Chief Walter David “Red Hawk” Brown III, the current chief of the state-recognized Cheroenhaka Nottoway Indian tribe in Southampton County, said the way the statements are made matters, and VCU did theirs in honor and recognition of Native people.

“They’re incorporating the tribes as to what should be part of their narrative in terms of the land acknowledgment,” Brown said. “They’re not doing this as a solo. Other tribes have provided input. I provided input. My recommendation was to make sure that they included all linguistic groups of Virginia, Algonquian, Iroquoian and Siouan.”

Brad Hatch, a member of the Patawomeck tribal council, traditional knowledge keeper and archaeologist, said land acknowledgments were done traditionally by tribal communities and the practice is very new for non-Native communities.

“I think there is certainly a complex set of meanings that go along with it,” Hatch said. “I think when it started, it was kind of a blanket thing that was kind of a box-checking exercise. Now I feel it is a thoughtful exercise and collaborative effort, as it should be.”

It is important to recognize the value of Indigenous perspectives on the environment and the world, Hatch said.

“In a larger sense, societies are starting to realize that Indigenous ways of interacting with the environment and looking at the world have value and are not just backward ways to looking at things, especially now with all of the environmental issues the world is facing,” Hatch said.

Christina Davis, an academic advisor and instructor at VCU who has Indigenous heritage and served on the land acknowledgment task force, said the initiative was not solely concerned with recognizing the history of the land.

“When we went into further land acknowledgment, we went in on the basis of it not just being words, but us having some type of responsibility in giving back to the Indigenous communities here,” Davis said.

Recommendations offered by the task force included incorporating present-day information about Indigenous people in Virginia into the VCU curriculum and coordinating healthcare resources from VCU Health with local Indigenous communities, according to Davis.

Outside the task force, the VCU Humanities Research Center runs the On Native Ground program, which includes Indigenous speakers, events centered around Indigenous culture and a Native artist-in-residency program.

“So having a Native and tribal and Indigenous cultural achievement ceremony and including the alumni that have graduated from VCU in the past to return to be recognized is our way of offering those tangible opportunities within what we can do,” Davis said.

In order to consult with Native voices for the acknowledgment initiative, Davis said, the task force had to address the skepticism of the tribes they reached out to and prove that they were worthy of trust.

Indigenous communities are careful because universities and the United States have a long history of infiltrating their communities and taking advantage of their land and resources, often under the guise of “we’re here to help,” according to Davis.

Davis said the task force made sure to collaborate with the tribes as equal partners rather than VCU staff issuing orders to them.

“So having that connection, and you have to build the relationship and the rapport in order to get to that point,” Davis said. “That takes going over and beyond to let them know that I’m just not an academic that just wants to come in and say, ‘This is how things are going to be done.’ It’s moreso, ‘How it is that we can work together to do the things you want us to do?’”

Denaya Givens, a third-year interdisciplinary studies student, is a leader of the student interest group United Native Voices, which has yet to be officially registered as a student group. Givens, who is Diné — the Native name of the Navajo nation — works to reach out to culturally orphaned Indigenous students who struggle to connect with their identity.

“I think it’s very important for our younger generation, my peers, to start identifying with their Indigenous heritage and speaking out and learning about who they are,” Givens said.

Givens believes the current method of ethnic categorization alienates many Indigenous students from their cultural identities and is advocating a change in how VCU categorizes ethnicities.

“If a lot of Natives are mixed race and they can identify with another ethnicity, if you mark that ‘other’ ethnicity, they tend to just put you in that box,” Givens said. “So for VCU, if you’re looking at American Indian students, I believe it’s like 0.2%.”

Givens said while she believes the land acknowledgment initiative is a good first step, she was dismayed that it took many decades for VCU to issue a statement because many people view Native Americans in the past tense.

“Most of the representation people see from Natives is football teams, like the Redskins before their names were changed,” Givens said. “They see us in westerns, black and white, living in teepees and they don’t understand that we’re still a community that is still very active.”

She hopes to build a lasting community of Indigenous students and allies that will continue to celebrate and spread awareness of Native culture past and present long after she has graduated, according to Givens.

If people want to learn more about Native American history and culture in the modern day they have to search for it, but the community is there, Givens said.

“If you’re trying to figure out your Indigenous heritage or you’re a Native ally that wants to help our community or help us speak out, don’t just set that thought to the side, be active in it, educate yourself so you can educate others,” Givens said.