The Land We're On: Brooklyn Law School’s Responsibility to and Relationship with the Lenape People

Exploitation of indigenous Americans was not confined to the West.  The original inhabitants of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and beyond -- the Lenni Lenape – were forcibly displaced by European settlers.

Brooklyn cultural institutions like the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Public Library have recently been engaging in a process of acknowledging and learning from our Lenape past and collaborating with the Lenape Center on the return of the Lenape to Brooklyn.  

Should Brooklyn Law School join in acknowledging the people who occupied the land before us, perhaps in the form of a plaque on the law school building?  What should such an acknowledgement say?  What other steps should we be considering to go beyond the performative.

Please join Hadrien Coumans, Co-founder and Co-director of the Lenape Center, Dean Karen Porter, Professor Susan Herman, and law students Joseph Famulari, Danika Gallup, Kathryn Kubinski, Nicole Moccio, and Kacy Vance, to learn more about this history and to discuss what Brooklyn Law School can and should do to acknowledge this past, to teach our community, and to take action toward restorative justice.    

The Brooklyn Public Library and the Lenape Center are offering a current series of events, including a virtual panel on February 23 (registration required) about the forcible relocation of the Lenape, and Lenapehoking, a Lenape-curated exhibit of art and cultural artifacts, at the Greenpoint branch.  

See the Calendar of Events on BLS Connect for the Zoom link.