“How do I feel after hearing these so-called Land acknowledgements?” Dirty – I feel filthy dirty. I feel shame – burning shame. Do something?

Okay, let’s take a look at how Americans use all the land we stole. Mapped: The Anatomy of Land Use in America.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/america-land-use/

Today, 82% of the American people live on less than two percent (2%) of that land. That’s right. American cities and suburbs take up less than 2% of the land stolen from Indigenous people.

Do Americans need the other 98% of all that stolen land?

The 50 states are divided into 3,007 counties and 236 other local governments. Just 31 counties alone, contribute 32% of the entire national GDP. At 5.4% of GDP, agriculture takes up 17% of the land but produce enough to feed Americans – and export billions of dollars of food and ag products to the rest of the world.

27% is forestland. 24% is shrubland. 17% or grasslands. 5% is wetlands. 5% is other. 3% is open space (around cities).

We could give 75% of the land back to Native Americans and 95% of Americans would never even notice. Yes, I’m saying give it back in totality, including mineral rights, water rights and governance rights. If oil companies, coal companies, mining and timber companies want to drill and dig, they can rent the land and comply with the owner’s wishes. If we want to travel across these lands by rail or car, we can also rent the land and comply with the owner’s wishes. If we want to hike on these lands, we can pay for a pass and comply with the owner’s wishes. I’d be willing to bet Native Americans would take much better care of the land than we do.

In case anyone is wondering, reservations cover a measly 2.3% of all the land stolen from them.