Give It Back

Inspiration for my poem:

Recently, I had a chance to sit down with a man who expressed some controversial and bigoted views on the subject of Native American land rights. The conversation quickly became heated as he dismissed the idea of returning land to Indigenous peoples.

We were discussing different things and at some point, he asked me what one of my goals would be in life, and if I were to get rich, what would I do with the money. I said I’d buy a few large portions of land and return it to the Native Americans.

'Why would you want to help Native Americans get their land back?' he asked. 'Their governments are corrupt.'

Shocked and disappointed by his statement, I countered that I had personally met with tribal leaders, I used to volunteer at a Native American center, and had seen firsthand how they ran their reservations.

'I can personally assure you, they are some of the most kind and honorable people I know. And they are certainly not corrupt,' I told him.

Unconvinced, he replied, 'They only showed you what they wanted you to see.'

I refuted his claim, explaining that even if there were issues with tribal governments and they managed to somehow magically hide the non existent corruption, that would not justify continuing to occupy Native American stolen land.

'That's like stealing from a supermarket chain, like Albertsons, Ralph’s or Costco, and when security stopped you, you started justifying the theft by saying “Their board of directors is corrupt, and they’re holding back wages from workers and stealing from their pensions, so I’m entitled to steal their chocolate bars and sodas. I don’t have to give my stolen items back to the store because the store is corrupt,’ I said.

'It's simply not how life works,’ I tried to explain.

He went on from there justifying his position, but I was so aggravated by his ignorance and complete stupidity, I tuned him out.

At the end of the day, I decided he wasn’t worth my time.

And that’s my story. Thank you so much for listening.

^^^

***

Here’s a poem:

Thanks for listening.

Life is glistening.

Return stolen land.

There’s no excuse to keep their sand.

Return it now.

But you’re ignorant, oh wow.

If you think they’re corrupt, return the land anyway.

Let them do what they want on their land, and play.

If you’ve got half a brain, you’ll return their land.

It’s because you have nothing to gain, you thief who steals sand.