A land acknowledgment is a statement that formally recognizes the historical and continuing connection between indigenous peoples and their native lands.

In this spirit, we humbly make this land acknowledgment.

We humbly acknowledge the historical and continuing connection between Indigenous peoples and their native lands. While we gather today in person and/or virtually interconnected across Turtle Island, the Indigenous term for the North American continent, we specifically acknowledge the presence of the University of Mayland, Baltimore, the host institution for this conversation, on the ancestral land of Algonquian-speaking peoples who shared this area through their relations and whose descendants are thriving and resisting settler occupation. We honor these descendants, who include the Cedarville Band of the Piscataway Conoy, the Piscataway Indian Nation, and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe. 

We acknowledge the historical, deliberate, and ongoing attempts by setters and their systems of oppression to appropriate Indigenous cultures, ignore or break treaties with sovereign Native Nations, and perpetrate and obfuscate racist and violent acts of political, social, economic, and ecological white supremacy. We further acknowledge the fundamental role that these colonialist acts play in the historical and contemporary disenfranchisement, surveillance, and harm of Black Americans. 

Recognizing these intertwining injustices, this land acknowledgment serves as an opening for all of us to contemplate the continuing struggles to resist colonial indoctrination through various Indigenous and Black movements for identity, freedom, and self-determination. May this digital space serve as one moment among many for ending anti-Black racism, modern colonialism, and white supremacy and for creating equitable relations that honor and heal communities and the land. 

Created in partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Writing Center and Mario Harley, Member of the Piscataway Nation Council ©2019