BERKELEY, Calif. – Protestors and pedestrians watched in disbelief Friday morning as 400 law enforcement officers began their daily barricade enforcement of People’s Park with a land acknowledgment. 399 riot cops stood in well-organized columns and rows facing Sargeant BlenAlden Vixon as he held a baton in one hand and a 14-inch MacBook screen in another. On it, the screen, in bold papyrus font, read, “We recognize that People’s Park sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people. We affirm that we will hold a 15-minute seminar about how to be a part of the solution in 5 years in which attendance will be optional.”
The incident left political science major Maya Trul with a change of heart.
“When I initially heard about the deployment of 1400 riot cops to board up a historical landmark, I was completely outraged. I mean, there are at least 8 other sites the university could build student housing on, without displacing unhoused people. But when I saw thousands of cops on the scene affirming that they’re on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people, I was like, wow the way they’re going about this displacement is super ethical. I think it’s really important to acknowledge history when you’re going to echo it.”
But much of UC Berkeley’s student body did not share Trul’s optimism. Many expressed outrage at the Berkeley Police Department, calling the usage of land acknowledgments before displacing hundreds of unhoused people ‘performative,’ ‘odd,’ and ‘indicative of a neoliberal hellscape.’ UC Berkeley’s administration swiftly responded to the backlash by deploying UCPD officers to People’s Park and partnering with construction to paint the shipping containers currently barricading People’s Park in the colors of the Pride flag.