THE STOLEN LAND CHARGE IGNORES MOST OF HUMAN HISTORY

National Review

 

The ‘Stolen Land’ Charge Ignores Most of Human History

By Rich Lowry

February 4, 2026 6:30 AM

 

If we are guilty of 'stealing land,' so is nearly everyone else in history, including Native Americans.

 

Billie Eilish can be forgiven for being thoughtless — as a pop star, it’s practically part of her job description.

 

But her anti-ICE declaration at the Grammys that “no one is illegal on stolen land” — met with rapturous applause — pungently expressed a point of view that has significant support on the left and in academia.

 

The sentiment is a distortion of the history of North America and, more than a shot at President Trump’s immigration policy, an attempt to delegitimize the American project at its root.

 

There is no doubt that we were, at our worst, brutal and duplicitous in our dealings with Native Americans, and that we were a land-hungry people.

 

The misapprehension of the simplistic “stolen land” narrative, though, is that, prior to Europeans showing up, peoples in North America had clearly delineated territory with a provenance stretching back into the mists of time. In fact, all was conflict and flux.

 

The context for contention between Europeans and Native Americans over land was set, tragically, by the spread of disease that catastrophically diminished native populations. In the early 19th century, according to Jeff Fynn-Paul in his book, Not Stolen, fewer than 100,000 Native Americans lived east of the Mississippi, while the population of the United States was 5 million and rapidly growing.

 

Early on, Europeans by and large accepted Native American land claims and thought purchase was the way to gain new land. The deals might strike us as lopsided — Manhattan for some trinkets — but the Native Americans had plentiful land on offer, while European trade goods were extremely valuable to them.

 

It was when the power disparity between the United States and the Native Americans grew more stark in the 19th century that we see the most infamous incidents of forcible dispossession.

 

But if we are guilty of “stealing land,” so is nearly everyone else in history, including Native Americans, who constantly fought and dispossessed one another.

 

The Iroquois, for instance, gained military superiority by acquiring firearms from the Dutch and English in the 17th century and proceeded to wipe out or displace the Huron, the Neutral Nation, and the Erie. They established what is called the Gunpowder Empire, with its locus in Eastern and Central New York.

 

For their part, the Comanche originated in the northern Rocky Mountains, then moved into the Great Plains. Their prowess as mounted warriors allowed them to displace the Apache and subordinate the Wichita and establish dominance in a vast region known as Comanchería.

 

And so on.

 

The historian Elliott West describes how the rise of horse culture amplified conflict.

 

In the West, he writes, “Two great coalitions — Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Lakotas north of the Arkansas River and Comanches and Kiowas south of it — clashed bitterly until making peace in 1840, then both preyed on sedentary peoples on the fringes.”

 

Further south, he continues, “Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches launched wolfish raids” into Mexico, seeking to snatch “horses, mules, and slaves.”

 

The Southwest, meanwhile, had been a persistent cauldron of violence: “Navajos and Apaches had long preyed on Pueblos and Hispanos, Apaches on Mexicans and Navajos, Utes on Navajos and Plains tribes, and Comanches on Pueblos, Hispanos, and Mexicans.”

 

In short, it wasn’t exactly Dances with Wolves.

 

As it happens, American leadership created a post–World War II world where the integrity of sovereign territory and borders was reinforced. If it’s true, as Eilish said, that no one is illegal on stolen land, then basically no countries around the world — almost all of which were “stolen” at some point — can have borders.

 

Of course, Eilish shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It presumably matters to her that she lives on her plot of Los Angeles land, not that of her neighbor; that she lives in California and not, say, Nevada; and that she lives in the United States rather than Mexico.

 

None of these distinctions would be possible without the kind of borders that she and her compatriots profess to be so troubled by.

Below is the story that sparked this column:

New York Post

 

‘Stolen land’ Grammys rant explodes in Billie Eilish’s face as critics demand she hand over her luxury homes

By Patrick Reilly

Published Feb. 2, 2026

Updated Feb. 2, 2026, 12:50 p.m. ET

 

Lefty pop star Billie Eilish is facing calls to hand over her ritzy Los Angeles digs to a Native American tribe or illegal immigrant after she declared “No one is illegal on stolen land” at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.

 

The “Wildflower” singer, 24, is being accused of virtue signaling for the anti-ICE remarks she made while accepting the award for Song of the Year on Sunday night.

 

“What about if we all showed up to her mansion and said we are going to live there now? It’s stolen land right? She doesn’t own it,” wrote one X user in response to Eilish’s comments.

 

“Meanwhile, she’s chilling in her … Hollywood Hills fortress with armed guards and a moat of privilege. If the land’s so stolen, sis, hand over the keys to the nearest tribe or migrant family,” wrote political commentator and YouTuber Brandon Tatum.

 

Drone view of Billie Eilish's renovated Glendale home, featuring stables, a paddock, and a swimming pool.

 

“The woman is a blithering idiot. Of course, if she really means it, then she’ll happily hand over her multi-million pound Malibu beachfront home to illegal migrants,” wrote British journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer on X. “Which she won’t, because it’s all just silly celeb posturing.”

 

“Any white person who does a public ‘stolen land’ acknowledgement should immediately give his or her land to native Americans. Otherwise they don’t mean it,” charged US Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on his personal X account.

 

Eilish, who Forbes estimated had a net worth of $53 million in 2020, purchased a $2.3 million horse ranch in Glendale when she was just 17 years old. That home previously belonged to British singer Leona Lewis, according to Hello! Magazine.

 

It’s unclear what other properties she owns.

 

Her brother and music partner Finneas O’Connell, who stood beside Eilish as she accepted her Grammy on Sunday night, reportedly sold his beach house on the sands of Malibu for $5.66 million in 2022, the LA Times reported.

 

O’Connell had purchased a Spanish Colonial-style home in Los Feliz in 2019 before purchasing the house next door in 2022 to create a small compound.

 

“As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything, but that no one is illegal on stolen land,” Eilish said from the stage of the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

 

“’F**k ICE’ is what I wanna say,” the singer concluded.