“We sit on stolen land” said the speaker at the University of Minnesota graduation ceremony, asking everyone in the auditorium to acknowledge that “fact.”

“Racism is endemic, systemic in this country,” said another presenter. “We must make certain we are striving for equitable outcomes in the future.”

“It is not enough for us in the nursing program to heal the human sick and wounded. We must also strive to heal the planet,” said a third, referring to climate change.

“Diversity is our strength,” said yet another.

All the proud parents, friends, and family members were anxiously waiting to witness their loved ones graduate, but first they were asked to acknowledge that they were occupying stolen land. Those in control of the event, occupying the bully-pulpit as it were, thought it mandatory to attempt to coerce those of us in attendance into believing — or at least acknowledging — a preposterous piece of ideological drivel. It would not have felt out of place at that moment had we been asked to stand and swear our fealty to this notion — and, by extension, to them -- by way of a Nazi-style salute.

And then we were subjected to roughly an hour of various speakers, several from North African or Middle Eastern nations, berating America, and everything it once stood for. (As they stood there, living testaments to the benefits and opportunities that nation, in which they themselves are not native/indigenous, provided them! Talk about “chutzpah!”)  

A speaker lectured us on the “genocide” in Gaza. A voice or two chimed in with “Free Palestine!”

We were similarly treated to a tutorial on “women’s reproductive care.” We were told that the nation — and the state — was a sh*t-show for children’s health. The speaker asked, “How are our kids doing?” To which the proper reply would have been, “You mean the ones we haven’t aborted?”

“Diversity” was mentioned incessantly.

One speaker said of her success, “I’d like to thank myself.” 

Diversity. Racism. Climate change. Diversity. Racism. Climate change. Rinse. Repeat.

I have addressed racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, climate change, and Jew hatred on this site — and others -- on multiple occasions in the past. Let me now say something about “stolen land.” I happen to be very fond of Native Americans in general, and several in specific, but the idea of stolen land is ridiculous. If we “stole” the land from, say, the Sioux, there is every likelihood that they stole it from, say, the Ojibwe … who may have stolen it from someone else. Who may have stolen it from those who first crossed the land bridge from Russia to North America. Who would have stolen the land from wolves, caribou, and bison, among others. Who stole the land from more primitive animals … who stole the land from multicellular creatures … who stole the land from single-cell organisms.

By this line of “reasoning,” mankind could never have made it out of the “Cradle of Civilization.” The first primitive man or clan to step outside the “Fertile Crescent” would have subsequently accused anyone else who followed — or even attempted to pass through — of “stealing” their land. If they wished to hang around in that area, they would have been branded “colonizers.”

The rest of the planet would have been devoid of humans. There would be no one living in North or South America, Europe, or Australia. And I thought indigenous peoples didn’t believe in ownership of land, anyway.

I walked out on the speakers on three separate occasions. (No one else did, at least so far as I could tell.) At a graduation ceremony, that is supposed to be a celebration. But I could not walk out on my daughter. I made sure I was there to see her receive her graduate certificate. I walked out on the speakers because I cannot walk out on my country, or all those who sacrificed so much for it.

The engraving on the granite façade of the building in which my daughter graduated read in part, “DEVOTED TO THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH AND THE WELFARE OF THE STATE.”

Tragically, the school today is far more devoted to the indoctrination of youth and the advancement of the welfare state.

Image: Alexius Horatius, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED