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To open, I humbly make a land acknowledgment. I would like to recognize and acknowledge the indigenous people of this land: the Lenni Lenape, Shawnee, and Hodinöhsönih- the six Nations, that is, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga and Tuscarora. We are gathered today on Jö:deoge', an Onödowa'ga or Senaca word for Pittsburgh or "between two rivers": the welhik hane and Měnaonkihěla. These are the Lenape words for the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which translate to the "best flowing river of the hills" and "where the banks cave in and erode." While a land acknowledgment is not enough, it is an important social justice and decolonial practice that promotes indigenous visibility and a reminder that we are on settled indigenous land. Let this land acknowledgment be an opening for all of us to contemplate a way to join in decolonial and indigenous movements for sovereignty and self-determination. Lastly, I am grateful to Melissa Borgia-Askey and Sandy Gajehsoh Dowdy for valuable etymological and pronunciation help. Also, I thank Andrea Riley Mukavetz and the American Indian Caucus for helping me with this land acknowledgment, and providing the convention with similar language for everyone to use in their sessions this year.
Now, I must prepare everyone for what I'm about to say. The message I offer comes from a deep sense of love and compassion for everyone who makes the sacrifices it takes to teach writing and rhetoric in our world today. I know you are good people. And because I love you, I will be honest with you, and it may hurt. But I promise you, it hurts not because I've done something wrong, but because I'm exposing your racial wounds. These wounds are the precursors to the killing referenced in my title. I also ask many of you to be patient as I first address my colleagues of color, but the fact that I must ask for your patience to do this is evidence of the White supremacy that even we, conscientious teachers of writing, are saturated in.
My colleagues of color, I wink and nod. We will break the steel cage of White supremacy, of White racial bias, of the many bars, like the physical bars of the jails and prisons that house the 2.3...