Indian Recovery Act: Putting Activist Theology to Work

Rebecca Gonzalez-Campoy, Beloved Community Communications Team

I believe stories change hearts and minds, and we are in such civic and social conflict that we need stories that help create conditions of possibility for social healing…. When we lead with our heart, we learn that our mind and body more closely align with putting thought into action. In short, faith without works is dead. Faith, being that thing that animates our heart, our internal narrative of how we make sense in this vast world, is compelled by the questions of what and how: What do we do? How do we do it?
                                                                                         — Rev. Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza (now Roberto Che-Espinoza),  Activist Theology

These two questions—what do we do and how do we do it?—are central to the conversation surrounding reparations to Indigenous communities and nations for treaties broken and land stolen. Several years ago when members of Unity Church-Unitarian began a conversation with Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs (Mohican) of Healing Minnesota Stories about efforts to restore and maintain Indigenous language, culture, and land, the idea of “land back” remained elusive, something we would figure out years from now. However, today reparations can take on many forms well beyond the singular view of returning the land on which Unity sits to a Dakota community and leasing it from them.

Before any final solution to American history can occur, reconciliation must be effected between the spiritual owner of the land—American Indians—and the political owner of the land—American Whites.” 
                                                                                                                                                                                -- Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red: A Native View of Religion

The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery and its Repair Network are spearheading efforts to pass a surtax on Minnesota real estate sales to support Indian programs run by Indian people. The proposal is called the Indian Recovery Act or IRA. Here is an overview of the plan to be introduced during Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session:

• Concept: A fund financed by a 0.05 percent surtax on all real estate transactions.
  Example: a $250,000 sale generates $125.
• Potential yield: $25-40 million accrued annually, based on sales of recent years.
• Beneficiaries: Any and all of Minnesota Indian communities.
• Potential uses: Renewal of language and culture; education; health services; purchase of land; community and heritage centers.
• Proposals: Any Minnesota Indian nation or organization may submit proposals to an oversight board.
• Administration: The Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF), a national, community-based organization serving American Indian nations and people, based in Minnesota.
• Process: Build support among Indian tribes, individuals, religious and other organizations via informational presentations and volunteer activities.

​This proposal is the culmination of work by Dakota and Ojibwe tribal councils and their allies. Originally intended to be introduced during the 2024 Minnesota legislative session, the parties involved determined the original bill needed some tweaking, and would fare better during a non-election year. The delay gives us extra time to help build support for the IRA. For additional information, contact the Repair Network’s Legislative Team at [email protected] or call 612-440-4526. They are looking for volunteers to speak at churches and other faith communities, write letters of support, testify before legislative committees (when the time comes), and other tasks that will move the IRA forward.

As Che-Espinoza, one of my pillars of spiritual foundation, writes:

Heart work demands attention to one’s own complexity and the narrative that we live with, day in and day out…The mind is a valuable tool for our becoming activist theologians, but the heart and the ability to (em)body our feelings generate the most robust action and help tie together thinking with action. The heart of becoming is in finding the plumb line of one’s own story. That’s the heart of activist theology.