We also want to share the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation Land Acknowledgement Statement, which reads “The land upon which we gather is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called ‘Lenapehoking.’ The Lenape People lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region: The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation, The Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware, and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware. We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, ‘as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.’”

Land Acknowledge statements require us to acknowledge the discussion around them as Performative Acts. Without engaging in the real, everyday resistance work of fighting to rectify the genocide against indigenous people in this country, such statements may ring hollow. We hope that as a community and organization we think of land acknowledgements as a starting point for deep reflection on what we have systematically done to Indigenous people and also as a point of departure for disrupting oppression.