What he would add to land acknowledgments
"We should, perhaps, do something about this. But regardless, this is how it is; the hollow reality of what happened looms in front of us like a mountain wall, and we should acknowledge it, whatever action is warranted next."
"If one is aiming for incremental change, then tiny inadequate first steps need to happen first. But in that case, I'd say that. 'This is the beginning of our attempt to make change; it is not sufficient by itself.'"
Something I actually like about "We here at UC Davis acknowledge that the land on which we are gathered has been the home of the Patwin people for thousands of years." is that it acknowledges a dissonant fact without rushing to closure or a positive commitment. The fact is a fact; acknowledging it lets the speaker and audience chew on it and metabolize it and consider whether they want to do something about it. I can see the worry about it being an empty virtue signal that displaces real action, but I dunno. Sometimes a small token action is in fact all that's warranted, and then a token action is in fact appropriate. And I'm a fan of weird perspective-tilting facts, and of staying in touch with dissonance and uncertainty.
Maybe some other follow-on disclaimer could work here, like:
"We should, perhaps, do something about this. But regardless, this is how it is; the hollow reality of what happened looms in front of us like a mountain wall, and we should acknowledge it, whatever action is warranted next."