At the 2026 Grammy Awards, the very dour Billie Eilish shamed Americans for living on stolen land. What a wonderful way to signal her humanitarian virtue.

Then reality struck: Somebody noted that Eilish’s multi-million dollar mansion sits on the same stolen land as the mansions of all those Woke elitists who applauded her mindless proclamation. Oops! But the Woke elitists are not giving the stolen land back, in spite of their self-righteous virtue signaling. They did not bring it up at the Oscars!

But Woke Leftists are not the only ones spouting the stolen land narrative. The biggest pusher of the stolen land narrative is the Mexican government, which pushes a constant propaganda campaign claiming that the American Southwest rightfully belongs to them. Mexico claims ownership going back to Spanish Colonization in 1530.

But wait! The nation of Mexico — a European colony that stole its land from the indigenous peoples — is complaining that the U.S. stole Mexican land! It seems a bit over-the-top that Mexico should complain about stolen land, when all its land was stolen from indigenous peoples, starting with the destruction of the Aztecs.

Of course, before the Spaniards arrived, the Aztecs were famous for “genociding” neighboring tribes and stealing their lands. What goes around comes around.

Mexico conveniently ignores the inconvenient truths of their history while supporting ultra-nationalism and the Reconquista movement (re-conquest of the American Southwest).

Mexico’s ruling Morena (National Conquest) Party developed their ultra-nationalist politics (ironically) around an Aztec supremacy narrative — just like pre-World War II Germany built its ultra-nationalism around the Aryan supremacy narrative. Mexican ultra-nationalism is the openly stated objective of the LaRaza racial supremacy movement – now UnidosUS.

The great irony is that the American Left, which otherwise claims to oppose nationalism (especially American nationalism), supports Morena/LaRaza ultra-nationalism. Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. Perhaps the American Left shares LaRaza’s anti-America Reconquista agenda.

If stolen land is really a problem, then why does the American Left not pressure Mexico to return Comancharia (land of the Comanche) to its indigenous people and free them from Mexican Government and cartel oppression? Comancharia constitutes one-third of Mexico’s current land claims, and was stolen from indigenous peoples who were subjugated or murdered — including the Comanche, Apache, Navajo, and many others.

Looking east, the nation of Turkey sits on the stolen land of Anatolia, which was formerly inhabited by Galatians, Greeks, and Armenians. But those inhabitants were forced out by the sword 1000 years ago under threat of genocide by Seljuk Turk invaders from Asia, who had just converted to Islam.

Why does the American Left not demand that the Turks return to Asia and give the stolen land of Anatolia back to its previous owners? Conversely, why does the Left hypocritically complain that the Hebrew people have re-acquired their ancestral homeland of Judea, which was previously colonized by Arab invaders who became known by the historically incorrect Roman name “Palestinians”?

The British Isles were inhabited by Druids and Picts 3,000 years ago, but they were overrun by Celts, who were subsequently overrun by waves of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans – each stealing the land from previous owners by conquest. Perhaps the American Left can identify the righteous owners of the British Isles.

A few years ago, our local Seneca tribe claimed that Grand Island was stolen from them, but then somebody pointed out that Grand Island (and much of Western New York) was inhabited by the Erie and Ojibwa tribes until the Senecas genocided them during the Beaver Wars around 1654. Should residents of Western New York — including the Senecas — be required to leave WNY and return the land to the Eries and Ojibwas?

Oops, the Eries are all dead and Ojibwas were forced west – justice denied.

Perhaps the real problem is that we have too many cranky-puss busy-bodies conjuring up social justice nonsense to satisfy their appetites for agitation and conflict.

But alas! You should never feel guilty about living on stolen land. Almost 100% of the human population lives on land stolen by their ancestors from the previous owners who were buried under a history of genocide.

Like it or not, the land belongs to those who last conquered it – but only as long as they can defend it. As usual, Karl Marx had it all wrong: History is actually a series of land conquests for group survival, and was never about class struggle.

One question for the Left: Should Denmark give Greenland back to the indigenous Inuit people from whom the Danes stole it?

Michael Dee is a Silver Creek resident and Scott Axelson resides in Jamestown.