This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive.

Jennifer Lopez's 'This Land Is Your Land' Performance Criticized For Colonial Themes

This land is stolen land, many pointed out.

Pop star Jennifer Lopez’s performance during U.S. president Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday delighted those who noticed her playful ad-lib and appreciated her Latina presence at the historic event, but the song she sang left much to be desired for many Indigenous viewers.

JLo sang a medley of “This Land Is Your Land” and “America The Beautiful,” before ending with a reference to her own hit “Let’s Get Loud.” Sung in English, she briefly spoke in Spanish mid-performance. According to the Los Angeles Times, her words translate to “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” or the final line of the U.S. pledge of allegiance.

The main song, written by folk musician Woody Guthrie in 1940, saw a spike in online searches during the inauguration.

"this land is your land" is the top trending search query in the world in the past hour#inauguration

— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) January 20, 2021

The song has been covered countless times over the decades and was revisited last year by New York Representative Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for an emotional message shutting down racist hate directed towards fellow politician Ilhan Omar.

This land is your land,
This land is my land,
This land was made for you and me. 🇺🇸💜#IStandWithIlhan https://t.co/LfQZYzKdHh

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 19, 2019

The version Lopez sang its most recognizable for its main hook:

“This land is your land,
This land is my land,
From California,
To the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.”

Watch: Jennifer Lopez performs at the 59th inauguration. Story continues below.

Many Indigenous people on Twitter, including Juno award-winning Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, noted how much they disliked the song, however.

This Land Is Our Land is my least favourite song

— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) January 20, 2021

“This Land Is Your Land” is the epitome of Indigenous erasure!

— melanin mvskoke (@MelaninMvskoke) January 20, 2021

The inauguration began by JLO singing a song celebrating stolen land and Indigenous genocide.

— Nick Estes (@nickwestes) January 20, 2021

Cheeky memes also got across the disdain for settlers singing such lyrics in relation to unceded territories, also known as stolen land.

“This land was made for you and me. From sea to shining sea.”

Indigenous people: pic.twitter.com/EbrroMjLpJ

— miskwaadesi (@ShredFlintstone) January 20, 2021

ntvs when the inauguration band cues up "This Land is Your Land" pic.twitter.com/7jy9omUneq

— Nick Martin (@NickA_Martin) January 20, 2021

For the record. pic.twitter.com/4oKSwk6ul9

— Rebecca Nagle (@rebeccanagle) January 20, 2021

As Abenaki musician Mali Obomsawin wrote for Folklife — an online magazine by the Smithsonian — in 2019, the lyrics of “This Land Is Your Land” never sat well with her for representing how U.S. patriotism erases Indigenous representation.

“In the context of America, a nation-state built by settler colonialism, Woody Guthrie’s protest anthem exemplifies the particular blind spot that Americans have in regard to Natives: American patriotism erases us, even if it comes in the form of a leftist protest song,” Obomsawin wrote at the time. “Why? Because this land ‘was’ our land. Through genocide, broken treaties, and a legal system created by and for the colonial interest, this land ‘became’ American land.”

“Because this land ‘was’ our land. Through genocide, broken treaties, and a legal system created by and for the colonial interest, this land ‘became’ American land.”

- Mali Obomsawin

From this understanding about who land belongs to, Indigenous and settler allies on Twitter made clear how they themselves felt about the song choice.

"This land is your land"

But it's not, though pic.twitter.com/5lrh4ME59P

— Justinne KatarungAnn Ramirez (she/her) (@JustinneRamirez) January 20, 2021

The political backstory of ‘This Land Is Your Land’

While used in this instance to swear in a Democrat ― and for many mainstream commercial purposes ― the song’s roots lie in social commentary, specifically hitting back at rich property-owners. “This Land Is Your Land,” in its original form, contained verses that referenced income inequality.

lol they played guthrie at the inauguration. he was a revolutionary socialist, and "this land is your land" is a communist folk song. they always leave out the last verses to hide that fact pic.twitter.com/uos00HVNIv

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) January 20, 2021

Before in his death in 1967, Woody Guthrie invented the phrase “This machine kills fascists” and wrote a song condemning Donald Trump’s developer father for being an anti-Black landlord.

Woody Guthrie once wrote a song about Fred Trump's racist rental policies, "Old Man Trump." https://t.co/6yGyDZeINh

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) January 19, 2021

It’s unknown if Guthrie was aware of the Indigenous-centered criticism of the colonial themes in “This Land Is Your Land,” but The Conversation notes that he previously spoke out in solidarity of Indigenous people living in the U.S.

Pete Seger brought the song into the mainstream, long before fellow cover artist Bruce Springsteen called it “the greatest song ever written about America,” adding “It gets right at the heart of what our country was supposed to be about.” Seger would sing a modified version of the folk anthem, with verses penned by Indigenous activist Carolyn “Cappy” Israel. It goes:

“This land is your land,
But it once was my land,
Before we sold you Manhattan Island,
You pushed my Nation to the reservation,
This land was stole by you from me.”

BBC writer Dorian Lynskey posits that, given the valid criticism, the lyrics of “The Land Is Your Land” can and should be changed, depending on who is singing it and why.

While likely done as an attempt to be inclusive on Inauguration Day, Lopez’s rendition did not strike the right chord as many used their voices to remind settlers whose lands they were really on.

Did the Biden inauguration really have to start with "This Land Is Your Land," an ode to land theft, settler colonialism and Indigenous genocide? (No matter how well-intentioned Woody Guthrie may have been.) YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND! pic.twitter.com/fCmiLfRbf5

— UAINE (ndnviewpoint) (@mahtowin1) January 20, 2021

Also on HuffPost:

Close
This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.