From our Sacred Grounds in Action (SGIA) Ministry:
As our Cathedral Land Acknowledgment asserts, “…We commit to the vital work of educating ourselves, increasing community awareness, and promoting reconciliation with our Indigenous neighbors….,” one of the many ways those wrongs can be addressed is through reparation: giving back stolen land or providing remuneration for it to the Indigenous inhabitants. However, whether religious, city, county, or federal, such governmental processes needed for restitution can take an interminable time. Fortunately, the Ohlone people have created a way that invite individuals to contribute (Click Here) to the “rematriation” of their land in the East Bay.
Solutions like the Shuumi Land Tax can offer immediate action that well-intentioned Land Acknowledgments purport to address. The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Perhaps other California nations may consider this concept as a more direct and timely way to invite their neighbors to invest in the land of its original inhabitants.
If you are interested in learning more about how our faith calls us to examine the harmful, faith-based Doctrine of Discovery which justified stealing land and removing children from their families, consider attending the upcoming Faith Formation five-week book study in October, The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery by Sarah Augustine. More to come on registration!
