DNC Criticized for Starting Meeting With Indigenous Land Acknowledgment: ‘Out of Touch With American Voters’
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) received criticism and ridicule on Monday after it began a meeting with an indigenous land acknowledgement.
DNC chairman Ken Martin began the meeting by inviting Lindy Sowmick, a self-described “Indigenous queer woman,” to acknowledge that the land had been taken from the Dakota people.
“Good morning, DNC members, friends, and relatives. Let’s talk about the land for a second,” said Sowmick. “The DNC acknowledges and honors the Dakota Oyate, the Dakota people, who are the original stewards of the lands and waters of Minneapolis. The Dakota cared for the lands, lakes, and the Wakpa Tanka, the Great River, the Mississippi River for thousands of years before colonization.”
She concluded, “This land was not claimed or traded, it’s a part of a history of broken treaties and promises, and in many ways we still live in a system built to suppress indigenous people’s cultural and spiritual history.”
Republicans criticized the acknowledgement on social media, branding it performative and out of touch.
“The GOP should run this unedited as a campaign commercial,” reacted former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Jeremy Carl. “Out of touch with reality. Out of touch with American voters.”
“Cool then why don’t they give it back?” commented Outkick host Riley Gaines, while Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips wrote, “I’d like to see Somali politicians in Minneapolis acknowledge they’re on land stolen from Americans.”
The land acknowledgement was also criticized by some liberals and social media users on the political left, including journalist Zaid Jilani, who responded, “The funniest thing is Ken Martin is lobbying against a nonbinding resolution that to recognize a Palestinian state and he opens his meeting with a damn land acknowledgment.”
Sowmick shot back at the critics in a social media post of her own, writing, “Lots of snowflakes triggered by a brief moment to honor Native folks, seems like a weird thing to mad about while billionaires hoard wealth & destroy our economy.”
During the same meeting, Martin urged fellow Democrats to “grow a damn spine” in their fight against President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
“Now look, folks, I’m sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight,” he protested. “We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore.”
Watch above via C-SPAN2.
