For the past several years, many of the concert brochures provided by the Dallas Opera House have included a “land and people acknowledgment” on the inside of the front cover.

The acknowledgment states that “Creating a place of belonging for everyone to experience this art form is a vital part of inspiring generations of opera lovers and honoring those who came before us.”

As a part of this ‘honoring,’ Dallas Opera claims, “We are on the original land of the Caddo, Wichita, and Comanche sovereign nations, whose people faced horrible treatment and policies that forced their removal from the land.”

Matt Rinaldi, the chairman of the Texas Republican party, mocked the opera’s acknowledgment in a statement to The Dallas Express, saying, “If the Dallas Opera House wants to announce to its patrons that it is run by clowns, that is their right. But the government should stop funding organizations like this that publicly denigrate our society.”

The opera house is, in fact, a recipient of taxpayer funds, receiving nearly $1.4 million in 2020, according to tax filings.

Supporters of land acknowledgments suggest that “it is important to understand the long-standing history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history,” according to advocacy organization Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group.

However, the group goes on to claim, “Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation.”

Yet as historian T. R. Fehrenbach identified, “In the beginning, before any people, was the land … No human beings were native to the New World; every race of men entered as invaders.” As the various tribes moved into the area that later became Texas, they raided, fought, and conquered each other to secure resources.

Furthermore, historians suggest that “virtually all Indians of Texas had practiced some sort of ritual cannibalism, eating a small part of their enemies to take their strength.”

This fact fails to appear in the acknowledgment “honoring those who came before.”

The Caddo tribes engaged in “ceremonial human sacrifice and cannibalism,” while the Wichita “practiced cannibalism on enemies killed in battle.” The Comanche, while not regular consumers of human flesh, would do so “under starvation conditions.”

The acknowledgment continues to suggest, “While none of us created these conditions, we have the opportunity, responsibility, and honor to uplift these communities through truth-telling, greater connection, and holistic celebration.”

When asked who participated in writing the acknowledgment, the opera house declined to comment, so it is unclear if any historians participated in the process.  It is also unclear what a ‘holistic celebration’ is exactly.

The Dallas Express reached out to the Dallas Opera House for more information about the acknowledgment but received no response.