A Land Acknowledgement and Call to Action on Indigenous People’s Day
The Justice Collective is based in Oakland, California in the San Francisco Bay Area on the land of the Ramaytush Ohlone people*. Today, on Indigenous People’s Day 2020, we at TJC would like to make a conscious and intentional space to acknowledge the Ramaytush Ohlone people and land. Though Ohlone peoples, traditions, and practices are very much alive today, Ohlone peoples are not federally recognized, making it extremely important that we, as people, businesses, and institutions on this land acknowledge, pay respect to, and celebrate past and continued presence of the Ramaytush Ohlone people.
Today, we do not wish to entertain the debates about whether or not Christopher Columbus was a good or bad or moral person. Those conversations are certainly important to have because they complicate the legacies of our celebrated historical figures, and push us to think critically about the dominant narratives we are taught about this country. However, the reality is that Columbus and his crew arrived in the Caribbean and enslaved Indigenous people using brutal, violent, and downright dehumanizing tactics. Columbus and other Spanish colonizer’s brutal tactics of systematic slavery and overwork in the search for gold and other natural resources ultimately set the groundwork for systematic Indigenous genocide and Black chattel slavery in the Americas because of the newly “discovered” need for labor in the colonies.
Though colonizers attempted to kill Indigenous culture, people, and ways of knowing in the Americas, they did not succeed. For example, it is known that using American Indian land practices could help decrease the scale of fires in California. Contemporary Indigenous leaders emphasize the ways that Indigenous knowledge guided fire management practices, as Indigenous peoples in California historically burned the landscape to steward the land. A century of fire suppression, and the impacts of climate change have fueled extreme conditions resulting in poor air quality, darkened skies, and mass evacuations. Fires have burned more than 1 million acres, a record that we never wanted to see. Longer and more extreme fire seasons on the West coast are absolutely demoralizing on top of navigating the impacts of Covid-19 and continued state-sanctioned violence against Black bodies.
Unfortunately, many conversations about climate change and “green” policies are missing American Indian frameworks and practices that center reciprocity with the living world. Put shortly, these frameworks emphasize that if we take care of our living world, it will take care of us. Driven by White Supremacy Culture and capitalism, we have not been caring for our plants, animals, or land. Thus, we are all suffering.
Knowing all of this, we stand firm in the position that we should be celebrating Indigenous People’s Day, which can look like appreciating Indigenous populations for their care and maintenance of this land over generations. We should recognize the magic in this land and all it provides for us. We should consider the gifts we can give back in return.
On this day we’re also reflecting on our relationship to the land. What does it mean to be Asian, Latinx, Black, Multiracial and/or white on Indigenous land? How and why did you or your people come to this land? In what ways does the broader context of race, capitalism, and oppression shape your relationship to this land?
At TJC, we’re recognizing and appreciating the features of the bay area that nurture our mind, body and spirit: the gentle fog rolling in over the hills, smell and shadows of old-growth redwood trees, the cold, salty sensory experience of the Ocean, the sweet taste of Dungeness crab, and fall-summer evening strolls.
We are inspired by this quote by Corrina Gould, leader of traditional Bay Area territories (Confederated Villages of Lisjan):
“Because if you live in San Francisco Bay Area, you have to know that this place is full of magic. There’s movements that have come out of the Bay Area, like the takeover of Alcatraz, the American Indian movement, Indians of All Tribes, the Brown Berets, the Black Panthers, all kinds of technology and ideas have come out of here. But why would this bubble place be that place? Because our ancestors for thousands of years put down prayers on this land. This land is magic. It’s our responsibility to take care of this place in such a way. But, taking care of this place is not just for us to do. There are thousands of people that live in our lands now, and so now that you live in our lands, it is also your responsibility. Because this land also takes care of you. Those prayers that our ancestors put down for thousands of years also take care of you and your family.”
We leave you with this question: How will you care for this land as it cares for you? How will you resist contemporary Indigenous removal and erasure?
*This specific tribal designation doesn’t necessarily reflect the diversity, complexities, and exact location of indigenous villages and is more of a generalization. For more information on indigenous land visit: https://native-land.ca/
Additional Resources for Further Education and Action
- Contemporary Ohlone History by Kanyon Konsulting LLC — A history of Ohlone peoples and land.
- Landless in the Bay Area — A moderated a discussion at the San Francisco Public Library between three leaders of traditional Bay Area territories, Corrina Gould (Confederated Villages of Lisjan), Ruth Orta (Ohlone/Bay Miwok/Plains Miwok), and Jonathan Cordero (Ramaytush Ohlone).
- Sogorea Te’ Land Trust — Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. They facilitate the The Shuumi Land Tax which is an invitation to support the vital work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. @SogoreaTeLandTrust on Instagram.
- The American Indian Studies Department at SF State — The mission of the American Indian Studies Department is to educate, inspire, and prepare students for engaged careers and/or graduate school and to be an educational hub and site for community participation and learning focused on the Indigenous peoples of the northern Americas.
