The San Francisco Bay Area is the territory of xučyun (Huichin), the unceded and occupied ancestral lands of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone such as the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. It is stolen land, and all decolonial action on this land falls short without the acknowledgment of this harm and the intention to speak out and take any action possible to restore the land to its rightful relationship with the original inhabitants. 

This region continues to be of great importance to all the Ohlone People and familial descendants of the Verona Band. We recognize that we continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this land. Consistent with the values of community, inclusion, and diversity, all people have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible the relationship to Native peoples. It is vitally important that we not only recognize the history of the land on which we stand but also that we recognize that the Ohlone people are alive and flourishing members of the broader Bay Area communities today. 

This is adapted, with consultation with the  Sogorea Te’ Land Trust & Save The Shellmounds, from the UC Berkeley Graduate School Land Acknowledgement, UC Regents, 2023. For more on land acknowledgments, please see https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/