The Blind Spot In The Great American Protest Song
Jennifer Lopez's performance of "This Land Is Your Land" at last month's presidential inauguration ceremony has reignited conversations about the erasure of Native Americans in the iconic folk tune.
Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" has long been offered as an "alternative national anthem," performed by musicians from Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger to Chicano Batman and Sharon Jones. Its message seems fairly simple — we are all equally entitled to the rights of this country, including the land we stand on. But Native Americans will just as soon point out that the core of the song, that "this land was made for you and me," is a wholly colonialist message.
Ever since Jennifer Lopez performed the iconic folk tune within a medley at President Biden's inauguration, alongside "America the Beautiful" and her own "Let's Get Loud," the song's relevance and inclusivity has been , especially as we enter into a new administration that.
