Obama Center Features Native Dance After Controversial ‘Stolen Land’ Admission

Clear Facts

• The Barack Obama Presidential Center held a traditional Native American dance performance by the Black Hawk Performance Company during its opening weekend in Chicago
• The $850 million center’s opening ceremony began with a ‘land acknowledgment’ stating the facility sits on land belonging to Native American tribes including the Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi nations
• The acknowledgment drew widespread criticism on social media for hypocrisy, with commentators noting the center kept the land while claiming it was stolen

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago featured a traditional Native American dance performance on Saturday, just days after its controversial opening ceremony included a widely criticized “land acknowledgment” claiming the facility sits on stolen indigenous territory.

The Black Hawk Performance Company, a Native American dance troupe composed of dancers from several Indigenous tribes, performed at John Lewis Plaza on the center’s campus. The hour-long display included a drum circle, traditional dances and songs, with one performance specifically honoring a Native American flag.

Saturday marked the third day of the center’s grand opening weekend, which featured performances ranging from international artists like John Legend to local drum lines. The Native American performance drew hundreds of spectators to the plaza, with many audience members joining the celebration toward the end.

The cultural display followed Thursday night’s opening ceremony, where Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to Obama and current CEO of the Obama Foundation, delivered the contentious land acknowledgment.

“We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” she said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa and the Potawatomi nations.”

Some of Saturday’s performers represented the Ojibwe tribe mentioned in Jarrett’s acknowledgment.

The land acknowledgment sparked immediate backlash on social media, with critics calling it performative hypocrisy. Such acknowledgments have become increasingly common at progressive events but are often criticized as empty gestures that fail to address the actual claims being made.

“Obama Presidential Center grand opening begins with acknowledging they’re on stolen land. And then they kept the land,” one social media user observed. “Pretty sure Indians would remove the apocalyptic looking Soviet bloc style dumpster building from their land first thing.”

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck sharply criticized the contradiction inherent in the acknowledgment.

“The sheer arrogance of the Obama Foundation using the $850 million Obama Presidential Center to lecture us about standing on ‘stolen land’ is HILARIOUS,” he said. “They’re basically saying, ‘Yeah, we acknowledge we stole this land. IT’S SO WRONG. But the gift shop is to your left, and tickets are 30 bucks.’ If they genuinely believe they’re holding stolen property, they should either GIVE IT BACK or shut the hell up.”

Town Hall senior strategist Siraj Hashmi added his own commentary with a reference to Chicago rapper Chief Keef.

“Pretty disrespectful for the Obama Presidential Center to not acknowledge the current tribe leader of the South Side of Chicago: Chief Keef,” Hashmi quipped.

The controversy extends beyond the opening ceremony. The center features a permanent placard recognizing that the land belongs to “indigenous peoples.” The sign states that the Obama Foundation acknowledges “the sovereign Indigenous peoples who have, since time immemorial, inhabited and stewarded the lands many of us call home.”

The placard claims “Indigenous peoples” have worked to “combat and rightfully reverse the forces of settler colonialism.” It also includes a 2009 Obama quote reflecting on broken treaties and the treatment of Native Americans.

“Treaties were violated. Promises were broken,” Obama said at the time.

The inclusion of both the land acknowledgment and Native American performances at the center’s opening weekend highlights the ongoing tension between progressive symbolic gestures and substantive action. Critics argue that wealthy institutions using such acknowledgments while maintaining control of valuable real estate represents the height of performative politics.

The $850 million facility opened to the public after years of planning and construction on Chicago’s South Side.

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