Indigenous Land Rights and the Land Back Movement

Indigenous tribes were forcibly removed from ancestral homelands to accommodate settlers and the creation of national parks.
The U.S. National Park system encompasses over $84,000,000\,\text{acres}$ across $423\,\text{sites}$ , much of which was originally Indigenous land.
Yellowstone was established in $1872$ as a public "pleasuring ground," excluding the Indigenous peoples forced off the territory.
Historical removal tactics included starving tribes by destroying food sources, coerced treaties, and legal murder. Between the $1600s$ and $1900s$ , the government paid bounties for human scalps, equivalent to approximately $\$12,000$ today for an Indigenous man.

Colonizer/Settler Perspective: Influenced by Biblical texts (Genesis), viewing nature as something to subdue, dominate, and manage from the outside.
Indigenous Perspective: Views humanity as part of a "cosmological circle" where all living things and the land are equal and worthy of protection.
Traditional Land Management: Indigenous people managed the land for millennia. For example, tribes in Yosemite Valley used fire to manage underbrush and support food crops, debunking the myth of "untouched" wilderness.

The movement gained substantial momentum following the Standing Rock (No Dakota access pipeline) protests.
In $2020$ , the Indian Collective launched the Land Back Manifesto at Mount Rushmore, formalizing a campaign for the reclamation of stolen lands.
Beyond land ownership, the movement seeks to restore cultural knowledge, languages, ceremonies, governmental sovereignty, and food security.

The Esselen tribe reclaimed $1,200\,\text{acres}$ in Big Sur, California, after $250\,\text{years}$ for cultural and conservation use.
California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed $\$100,000,000$ for tribes to repurchase ancestral lands.
Global research indicates that lands managed by Indigenous communities in Brazil, Australia, and Canada often exhibit higher biodiversity than government-managed conservation areas, assisting in the fight against climate change.

Question: How can anybody refuse you legal rights to your own property?
Response: Miles Bess notes the irony of Indigenous peoples being forced to buy back land that was originally stolen from them, comparing it to buying back a stolen bike from a flea market.
Question: What does it mean to "give it all back"?
Response: Karina Gold and internal movement logic suggest it literally means returning the physical land and the authority to manage it, as it was stolen. While some critics find this "absurd" or "impossible," proponents argue the moral and ecological benefits outweigh management concerns.