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Caption: Text stating 'This Land' is written in bold red next to a photo of Rebecca Nagle

Written by Kharis Murphy, Communications Fellow

As a fighter for peace and justice, and particularly as a white ally living on stolen and colonized land, I believe one of the most important things I can do is listen to those who are more marginalized than I am, learn our collective history and absorb their stories. That’s why my recommendation this month is the podcast “This Land,” by Rebecca Nagle and Crooked Media.

Season 1 focused on the Supreme Court case Carpenter vs. Murphy. While it started as a case seeking to avoid the death penalty, this case explored questions about tribal land rights, sovereignty, and the US government’s commitment to honoring the treaties it set forth years ago. In “This Land,” Nagle goes far beyond the story of this particular case to paint a broader picture of the way Indigenous people and tribes have been treated by this country since its beginning. It shows clearly how a long, bloody history of individual and legal decisions have led to the structural marginalization and oppression of Native people and tribes which is now so deeply entrenched it is hard to know where to start in order to restore justice. 

As a white person in America, it is all too easy for me to ignore these issues- to pretend that my existence here is only the result of my ancestor’s choice to immigrate from Ireland, rather than also the result of the violent erasure and oppression of the People who were here long before we were. Perhaps your experience is similar. Listening to the stories and history in “This Land” is a small act but it is one that, through educating ourselves about our shared history, equips us to stand with Indigenous people and work towards reconciliation, justice, and peace.