History matters
On February 28, 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that affirmed the Doctrine of Discovery
On February 28, 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that affirmed the Doctrine of Discovery, allowing the federal government to lay claim to land it “discovered.”
As Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah note in their excellent book, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery:
“The groundwork was being laid for Indian removal. The cascading effect of these actions was made possible by the M’Intosh decision, which gave preemptive authority to the European American gaze over actual Native possession of the land. Furthermore, the assumption of Anglo-Saxon superiority in self-governance exacerbated the belief that Natives were inferior, lacking the agency to own their land and the capacity to self-govern. The assumption of superior governing capacities by Anglo-Americans would result in the desire to take over land owned by Natives, bring them under the jurisdiction of a superior form of government run by superior beings, or to remove them from proximity...
In the M’Intosh opinion written in 1823, John Marshall used the term ‘savages’ in reference to the Native tribes of North America and also referenced the process of ‘civilization’ as justification for denying indigenous tribes full rights to their lands. Marshall opines: ‘But the tribes of Indians inhabiting this country were fierce savages whose occupation was war and whose subsistence was drawn chiefly from the forest. To leave them in possession of their country was to leave the country a wilderness.’”
It’s worth noting and confronting that our country’s Declaration of Independence includes, to this day, similar language that no doubt influenced (and continues to influence) the actions of our government: “...the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
History matters.
History shapes us.
History prepares us.
This is why Hope Hell’s Kitchen begins every service with a land acknowledgment, an admittedly small step forward in honoring and respecting the Indigenous communities—specifically the Lenape—who have stewarded the land of New York City for centuries.
Our acknowledgement reads:
We acknowledge that Hell's Kitchen is on the traditional land of the Lenape People. Today, and for as long as Hope Hell's Kitchen exists, we strive to pay respect to the Lenape community and this land, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations.
These words are not meant to relieve us of responsibility, but instead propel us toward seeing this become a living land acknowledgement built upon action.
May we honor this community as we fight against the powers of injustice that have displaced and dispossessed the Lenape People.
When we launched on January 17, 2021, I said, “If we are to move forward as Hope Hell’s Kitchen—a church of the gospel, a church of antiracism, a Spirit-led church of fearlessness, and a church of this neighborhood—we must be a church that is willing to enter into the history that precedes us.”
This acknowledgement doesn’t give us freedom to rest, but instead, I pray it propels us forward toward tangible and real love for our neighbors.