Obama Center hosts Native American dance after mocked land acknowledgement
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CHICAGO – A traditional Native American dance performance was featured at planned events Saturday, after officials kicked off the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center with a widely mocked “land certification,” a nod to the political far left that believes the United States was built on “stolen land.”
Black Hawk Performance Company is a Native American dance group based in the Chicago area, comprised of dancers from various Native tribes.
Saturday marked the third day of the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening, which featured musical and cultural performances ranging from international superstars like John Legend to local drumbeats.
The live Native American show, held at the John Lewis Plaza on the center’s campus, featured a drum circle, a variety of traditional dances and songs; one of which was a song honoring the Native American flag. The show lasted about an hour, and toward the end many of the hundreds of people watching in the plaza joined in.
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Black Hawk Performance Company, a Native American dance group, performs at the Barack Obama Presidential Center on June 20, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
But the center’s opening ceremony Thursday night began with the awkward acknowledgment that the center is located on land rightfully belonging to Native Americans.
Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s senior advisor when he was president and current CEO of the Obama Foundation, got things started.
“We also want to take some time to get to know the original inhabitants of the lands where we gather today,” he said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi nations.”
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Black Hawk Performance Company, a Native American dance group, performs at the Barack Obama Presidential Center on June 20, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
Some of Saturday’s performers were from the Ojibwe tribe.
Land acknowledgments like Jarrett’s are sometimes criticized for evoking hollow-sounding performative gestures, as numerous X users noted after Jarrett’s speech.
“The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center starts with acknowledging that they were on stolen land. And then they kept the land.” x commenter in question. “I’m sure the first thing the Indians will do is remove the apocalyptic-looking Soviet bloc-style garbage container from their land.”
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Black Hawk Performance Company, a Native American dance group, performs at the Barack Obama Presidential Center on June 20, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck exposed the hypocrisy.
“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 basically say, ‘Yes, we admit we stole this land. THIS IS SO WRONG. But the gift shop is on your left and tickets are $30.’ “If they truly believe they are in possession of stolen property, they should either return it or shut up.”
City Hall senior strategist Siraj Hashmi angered Obama and his friends by referencing famed Chicago rapper Chief Keef.
Black Hawk Performance Company, a Native American dance group, performs at the Barack Obama Presidential Center on June 20, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
“It’s pretty disrespectful for the Obama Presidential Center to not acknowledge Chief Keef, the current tribal leader on Chicago’s South Side,” Hashmi said. witty.
There is also a banner in the center stating that the land actually belongs to “Indigenous peoples.”
The sign says the Obama Foundation recognizes “sovereign Indigenous peoples who have lived and governed the lands that many of us call home since time immemorial.”
Obama Presidential Center with its glass facade and surrounding trees. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
It also says “Indigenous peoples” are working to “fight and rightfully reverse the forces of settler colonialism,” and includes a 2009 Obama quote reflecting on broken treaties, lost lands, and the treatment of Native Americans.
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Obama said at the time, “The treaties were violated. Promises were not kept.”
Fox News Digital Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
