A Guide to Reparations & Reparative Action

San Tan Regional Park, AZ | 1883 Executive Action (O’odham) & 1886 Executive Order (Nde)

 

Land history can crack you open. Suddenly, you see connections between people and places and centuries. You are a rock in a river of swirling history. Ground that was solid becomes squishy as you look for the next right step.

There is no one right answer to the questions that are flooding you. But there are a whole lot of people who have already examined their own relationships to stolen land and stolen labor. They have already begun their own reparative paths. Use these examples as a model and inspiration for what comes next.

Whatever path you choose, you’ll be most successful if you find a next step that aligns with your interests and builds on your existing resources and network. Are you an artist? Do you have a land inheritance? Can you influence workplace decisions? Are you an active alumnus of a college or university? Browse through this post or jump straight to the category that speaks to you!

 
Pinterest pin with a photo that looks through weathered tree branches to view a flowing river. Text over the picture reads, "Reparations & Reparative Actions, Read More, intermillconsulting.com"
 
 

Reparations


Land Back

Monetary and Resource Reparations

Honor Taxes

 

Reparatory Actions


Resource return

Remains repatriation

Dakota pipe made of red catlinite stone on a white background. The pipe was allegedly given to a soldier by Mdewakanton Dakota Chief White Dog after the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War.

Returned catlinite pipe linked to U.S. Dakota war

Photo credit: Skinner, Inc.

Artifact repatriation

 

Resource redistribution

Tuition programs

Chair with birch-tree branches for arms and legs and a leather chair back featuring a sewn turtle  design. The chair holds a stack of books including Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman

Birchbark Books | Minneapolis, MN | 1851 Treaty with the Sioux (Dakota)

Photo credit Birchbark Books

Restructuring work

Song royalties

Intentional purchasing

Representation

Land use

Photocopy of legal document. The text reads that "the said land or buildings thereon shall never be rented, leased or sold, transferred or conveyed to, nor shall same be occupied exclusively by person or persons other than of the Caucasian Race."

Sample Hennepin County, MN racial restrictive covenant.

Photo credit: Mapping Prejudice

Ending harmful use

Co-management

Educational programming

Space sharing

Restoration

Protective designation

Repurposing

Truth telling

Education

Renaming

Personal and organizational assessment

Sepia-toned aerial photograph of a small white farmhouse, farm equipment, a tilled field, and dirt road with a dark 1940s car parked in front of the house. A label in the lower left corner says the photo was taken in 1955 by a Belleville photographer

Intermill Family Farm | Jewell Co., KS | 1825 Treaty with the Kansa (Kanza)

Retraction

Apology

Political solidarity

Gathering of white people of faith in support of indigenous efforts to stop the Line 3 oil pipeline and to preempt police violence against indigenous movement builders

Faith leaders at the Minnesota Capitol Building | St. Paul, MN | 1831 Treaty with the Sioux (Dakota)

Photo credit: Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light

Spiritual practices

 
 

What did I miss? Add your projects and what you want to see more of in the comments!

 
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Juneteenth for White Folks

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5 ways for a complete beginner to uncover living history