Land Acknowledgement
Image made using native-land.ca. Along with their engaging, interactive map, they have many educational resources to help educators and families learn more about the land they live on, the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations.
Words in the Wild would like to acknowledge the Chochenyo-speaking Muwekma Ohlone people who were enslaved, forcibly removed from their land, confined to three Bay Area missions, and targets of a "war of extermination" waged by the first Governer of California. Our office is located in xučyun (Huichin) — known today as Oakland — on the unceded territories of the Muwekma Ohlone people. The territory comprises five Bay Area cities — all of Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, and most of Oakland.
Ohlone is a collective of around 50 separate tribes with related languages that were placed under the umbrella term: Ohlone. The Ohlone are Native American people located on the Northern California Coast, whose tribes inhabited areas from San Francisco through Monterey Bay to lower Salinas Valley. The Ohlone have been living in the Bay Area for 10,000 years and still have a presence today, in Oakland and throughout the Bay Area.
We acknowledge with respect the Muwekma Ohlone people, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations, while not forgetting the colonization of this land and while recognizing that we and every member of the Oakland community has — and continues to benefit from — the use and occupation of this land. The Ohlone people have been petitioning the US Government for federal recognition since 1995.
Ways you can take action today:
Visit the Muwekma Ohlone’s website to sign their petitions, donate, and learn more about how you can support them
Expand your reading and learning perspectives by decolonizing your bookshelf. Here are a few great lists we’ve found:
Oakland Public Library — nonfiction & picture books
Share what you learn with others and start a conversation