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The Sogorea Te Land Trust

The Sogorea Te Land Trust

An urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people

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Indigenous Land Return Announcement by Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and Movement Generation!

June 21, 2023 by Inés Ixierda

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PRESS RELEASE

Berkeley, Calif. (June 21, 2023) — Today,  Movement Generation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust announced that they have partnered to return 43 acres of land to Indigenous care, in the unceded Bay Miwok territory of the San Francisco East Bay Area. MG and Sogorea Te’ liberated the land title from the speculative real estate market, with Sogorea Te’ now holding the deed. The organizations have created long-term agreements together for care of the land.

Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led nonprofit that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. For more than 20 years, its founders have been organizing to protect Indigenous lands in the Bay Area, where Ohlone people have lived for thousands of years and now Indigenous peoples of many nations call home.

“Returning land to Indigenous care is healing for us and healing for the land,” says Corrina Gould, co-founder of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and tribal chairperson of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan. “Working together with Movement Generation to create visions and commitments into the next generations allows us to reimagine relationships to this land and multiply the possibilities of our work.” 

The nonprofit collective Movement Generation began organizing movements in the Bay Area to address the ecological crisis in 2007. Its collective members developed a Strategic Framework for a Just Transition, offering strategies to shift from an extractive economy to economies that are sustainable, equitable and just for all people. MG’s work involves political education, movement building and cultural strategy towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor and culture.

“Land is imperative to justice and liberation movements,” says Quinton Sankofa, Movement Generation co-director and collective member. “When the Movement for Black Lives started, we spoke with Black organizers about how we could support their work through ecological justice. Land reparations was a common refrain. But we asked ourselves: How can we demand land from white people who stole it from Indigenous peoples? We needed to build Black and Indigenous solidarity.”

Movement Generation envisions the land to become a Bay Area movement hub for deep political strategy, reconnecting with earth and ancestry, and practicing rematriation, with the support of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. Here, MG will host intergenerational programs for organizers, healers, cultural workers and earth workers to engage in grassroots ecology, building their capacity to guide their own communities towards a Just Transition and an ecologically regenerative future.

When an ally brought attention to the opportunity to purchase 43 acres that had been owned by a local family for more than a century, Movement Generation and Sogorea Te’ mobilized to liberate the land. MG anchored the funding, and Sustainable Economies Law Center, the Center for Ethical Land Transition, Reimagine Real Estate, Original Blackprint, Nuns & Nones Land Justice Project, and the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center supported the process.

Those interested in learning more are encouraged to engage with the resources offered by both organizations and support their local Indigenous-led land return work. To support Sogorea Te’ Land Trust’s critical work of rematriation, non-Indigenous people residing on the Confederated Villages of Lisjan’s territory in the East Bay can make a voluntary annual contribution to Sogorea Te’s Shuumi Land Tax.

***

For media inquiries, contact Dana Viloria, Movement Generation, at dana@movementgeneration.org.

About the partners:

Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project is a nonprofit collective that inspires and engages in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture. Rooted in the wisdom of our ancestries and the principles of ecological justice, we strengthen our shared politic, practice and movement ecosystem through political education, movement building and cultural strategy for a Just Transition.

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. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization and land restoration, Sogorea Te’ calls on Native and non-native peoples to heal and transform the legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do. 

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The Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people living on traditional Lisjan Ohlone territory make to support the critical work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

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sogoreatelandtrust

Rematriar la Tierra Devolver la Tierra Regresar a Rematriar la Tierra 
Devolver la Tierra
Regresar a Tierra

Rematriate the Land
Return the Land
Return to Land

We are excited to be translating some of our materials into Spanish with the support of our team member Sharon. 

As we look at some of the language we use, we are discovering not everything always translates. 

What words have you seen being used for Rematriation, 
Land Back and Indigenous Land Return work in other languages?

[ID: A set of slides with a turquoise textured background with  curved bold yellow text that read Rematriate la Tierra, Devolver la Tierra, Regresar a Tierra, Rematriate the Land, Return the Land and Return to Land] 

#Rematriate #Rematriar  #SogoreaTeLandTrust #UrbanIndigenous #WomenLed #LandReturn #LandBack #Rematriation #aroundtheworld
Meet the Crew: Jelly! From the streets of Huchiun Meet the Crew: Jelly!

From the streets of Huchiun to rematriated land. Even the littlest one is doing their part. Welcoming Jelly to our team! 

[ID: a tiny fluffy dog in a big truck with a Sogorea Te Land logo that reads Rematriate the Land].

#TheCrewIsCute #SogoreaTeLandTrust
Reawakening the land by sowing our energy into it. Reawakening the land by sowing our energy into it. How it started and How it’s going 🌱
We are grateful to witness Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color connect to the earth 🌳

Mitiini Numma youth program is growing the truth by weekly tending to a little garden space. Bringing in native plants to grow made the garden very happy and it has gifted us with a lush and lively space 🪱🌼🌿

#youthprogram #howitstarted #howitsgoing #nativeplants #sogoreatelandtrust #youthgarden #mitiininumma #growthetruth #stickymonkeyflower
Meet the Crew: Araceli! Araceli or Ara is a non- Meet the Crew: Araceli! 

Araceli or Ara is a non-binary, undocumented artist and community organizer born in so called Mexico City and raised in the Bay Area. Araceli has been part of Bay Area organizing efforts for youth, students, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and working class communities of color.

As a life-long student, Araceli continues to expand their knowledge in ethnic studies, art history, visual arts, and communications. In their volunteering capacity, Araceli has led labor unionizing efforts, campaigns against deportations, and grassroots fundraising for community-led causes.

Ara joined the team as one of our Mitiini Numma youth program coordinators.  Thank you Ara! 

📷 @tooda.fuji 

[Id: A polaroid style picture of a smiling person in white with long dark hair sitting  and looking towards  a cute and small dog on their lap.  The background is white with leaves from a hanging plant trailing down. ] 

#MeetTheCrew #Staff #SogoreaTeLandTrust #Urban #Indigenous #WomenLed #LandTrust #LandReturn #Rematriation
Indigenous women defending land and life from Turt Indigenous women defending land and life from Turtle Island to Abya Yala. 🪶

Offering a thank you to Mapuche elder Lonko Juanita Millal who joined us to share the story of her people and her struggle  fleeing violence and political persecution in Chile to seek political asylum in the U.S. 

Lonko Juanita has dedicated her life to uplift Mapuche culture, protect the land, waters and the people, creating solidarity among marginalized communities and bringing awareness of the Mapuche peoples’ present day fight against colonization, displacement, incarceration and violent repression.

Visit Lonko Juanita @laregiae to learn how to support her political asylum and work.

 [A Mapuche elder in brightly colored clothing and traditional jewelry is holding a blue Mapuche flag in front of a mural with part of a tule boat, mountains and sunrise visible]

#IndigenousWomen #LandDefenders #WaterDefenders #CulturalWorkers #SogoreaTeLandTrust #SolidarityAcrossBorders #RematriateTheLand
“When you create a web of education, it is power “When you create a web of education, it is powerful.” ✊🏽

Hear from the participants in Mitiini Numma about the program and their experiences!✨ 

#mitiininumma #growthetruth #youthleaders #youthprogram #Huchiun #sogoreatelandtrust
Hummingbird Sage harvest! Rammay’s hummingbird Hummingbird Sage harvest! 

Rammay’s hummingbird sage has spread generously through self propagation by sowing its own seeds into the soil and, its pretty healthy rhizome root system. It has bloomed throughout the last winter month providing plenty of nectar for hummingbirds, here is a beautiful harvest of the leaves 🍃.
We’re looking forward to more blooms!
Indigenous People for a Free Palestine. Indigeno Indigenous People for a Free Palestine. 

Indigenous People for a Ceasefire.

Indigenous People for an End of the Occupation. 

Let Gaza Live. 

We demand an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.  We condemn the Israeli siege, we condemn apartheid, we condemn genocide, and we demand an end to U.S military aid and funding of Israeli violence.

From the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust statement in solidarity with Palestine. 

[ID: The above text over a video clip of a group of people holding American Indian Movement and Palestinian flags in the wind at the Shellmound to Shellmound Prayer walk in solidarity with Palestine]

#Ceasefire #FreePalestine #FreetheLand #FreethePeople
May we return to balance. ✨ We call in the ener May we return to balance. ✨

We call in the energy of Spring equinox, growing towards the light, and returning to balance as we think of and pray for justice, safety, and equity for our relatives around the world struggling to survive genocide, violence, inequality and oppression. 

We carry these struggles in our hearts as we plant seeds and tend the soil of dreams we hope will flourish,  as we compost the old, let it transform into something that can nourish and work our gardens to grow the worlds we want to live in.

#SpringEquinox #ReturnToBalance
Ask First. Its always respectful to ask first. Ask First. 
Its always respectful to ask first. 

Ask before fundraising for us. 
Ask before using our photos, writings and images. 
Ask before using Indigenous language, representations, or practices that are not your own.

Before you ask us, ask yourself:

How have you benefited from stolen land? 
What labor are you asking from Indigenous people?
How is this reciprocal? 
What do you bring?
How will this be transformative?
Are you prepared to do the work?

From How to Come Correct;
protocols, guidelines, & invitations

bit.ly/howtocomecorrect, link in bio

[ID: a set of slides with a purple, blue, pink, yellow ombré background and the text in the above caption)
#howtocomecorrect #resources #protocol #guidelines #Iniviations #sogoreatelandtrust 
#urbanindigenous #womenled #landreturn #landback #rematriation
Ancestral arts weaving workshop led by Inès✨ T Ancestral arts weaving workshop led by Inès✨

Thank you @aicrc510 for joining us this week! ❤️🧵

#youthprogram #mitiininumma #rematriate #weaving #ancestralarts
Listening to the Land One of our most FAQ is “Wh Listening to the Land
One of our most FAQ is “What do you plan to do with this land?”
 Many land sites have returned to indigenous hands are not in  best conditions. Some conditions are invasive plant and tree species, contaminated soil that will take years to regenerate and years of layered trash. 
Listening and observing the land gives us time dream and plan out our vision. 
We spend time learning about the history of the site and who “owned” it before it returned, what was built on it and most importantly acknowledging that the land needs to rest. 

#LandBack #landreturn #returntotheland #indigenousautonomy #indigenoussovereignty 

📸: @shay_marcos97 
📸: @creative_mudafukah
"...The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a move "...The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a movement to restore other lands to Indigenous people. The site — a three-block area Berkeley designated as a landmark in 2000 — will be home to native medicines and foods, an oasis for pollinators and wildlife, and a place for youth to learn about their heritage, including ancient dances and ceremonies, said Melissa Nelson, chair of the board of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

“Thousands of years ago, this site was a thriving … urban center for Native Americans, for California Indians with their beautiful shell mounds dotted all around the bay,” said Nelson. “We want to be a place for global Indigenous leadership to come and gather in solidarity. We want to educate, we want to restore and we want to heal...”

from @KQED 

#IndigenousJoy #LandBack #LandReturn #RematriatetheLand
“Now this area will be restored under Indigenous “Now this area will be restored under Indigenous women’s leadership. We are Rematriating this West Berekley Shellmound.” 

Dr. Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Métis [Turtle Mountain Chippewa]) Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Board of Directors 

#sogoreatelandtrust #westberkeleyshellmound #pressconference #landback #rematriatetheland
Live with @corrina_gould! Reactions from the lan Live with @corrina_gould! 

Reactions from the land return!
Press Conference at The West Berkeley Shellmound Press Conference at The West Berkeley  Shellmound “This Land has been Returned to Indigenous Hands”
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