Decolonization is not a metaphor. This article aims to remind readers of the unsettling nature of decolonization. Decolonization involves the repatriation of Indigenous land and life, not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies. The easy adoption of decolonizing discourse, evident in the increasing number of calls to "decolonize our schools," use "decolonizing methods," or "decolonize thinking," turns decolonization into a metaphor. While its goals are significant, social justice, critical methodologies, or approaches that decentralize the settler's perspective have goals that may be incommensurable with decolonization. Since settler colonialism is built on a tangled triadic structure of settler-native-slave, the decolonial desires of white, non-white, migrant, post-colonial, and oppressed people may become similarly entangled in resettlement, reoccupation, and reinsertion, which actually promote settler colonialism. Metaphorizing decolonization allows for evasions, or "settlers' moves to innocence," that problematically attempt to reconcile settler guilt and complicity, thus rescuing settler futurity. This article analyzes various settlers' moves to innocence to foster an "ethics of incommensurability," acknowledging what is different and sovereign for decolonization projects in relation to social justice projects based on human and civil rights. It also highlights concerning issues in transnational/Third World decolonization, abolition, and critical space-place pedagogies, challenging the coalescence of social justice efforts, creating potential more significant alliances. Keywords: decolonization; settler colonialism; settlers' move to innocence; incommensurability; Indigenous land; decolonizing thinking.Decolonization is not a metaphor. This article aims to remind readers of the unsettling nature of decolonization. Decolonization involves the repatriation of Indigenous land and life, not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies. The easy adoption of decolonizing discourse, evident in the increasing number of calls to "decolonize our schools," use "decolonizing methods," or "decolonize thinking," turns decolonization into a metaphor. While its goals are significant, social justice, critical methodologies, or approaches that decentralize the settler's perspective have goals that may be incommensurable with decolonization. Since settler colonialism is built on a tangled triadic structure of settler-native-slave, the decolonial desires of white, non-white, migrant, post-colonial, and oppressed people may become similarly entangled in resettlement, reoccupation, and reinsertion, which actually promote settler colonialism. Metaphorizing decolonization allows for evasions, or "settlers' moves to innocence," that problematically attempt to reconcile settler guilt and complicity, thus rescuing settler futurity. This article analyzes various settlers' moves to innocence to foster an "ethics of incommensurability," acknowledging what is different and sovereign for decolonization projects in relation to social justice projects based on human and civil rights. It also highlights concerning issues in transnational/Third World decolonization, abolition, and critical space-place pedagogies, challenging the coalescence of social justice efforts, creating potential more significant alliances. Keywords: decolonization; settler colonialism; settlers' move to innocence; incommensurability; Indigenous land; decolonizing thinking.