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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

  • About
    • Purpose and Vision
    • Our History
    • Staff & Board
    • Partnerships & Alliances
    • Contact Us
  • Lisjan (Ohlone)
    • Lisjan History & Territory
    • Mak Noono Tiirinikma
  • Initiatives
    • Cultural Revitalization
    • Himmetka: In One Place, Together
    • Mitiini Numma Youth Program
  • Rematriation
    • Land in Rematriation
      • Lisjan
      • ‘Ookwe
      • Rinihmu Pulte’irekne (Sequoia Point)
      • Rammay
      • ‘Ištune
    • Return Land / Land Return
    • Rematriate the Land Fund
  • Media
    • Updates
    • Resource Library
    • Creative Collaborations
      • Hella Feminist
      • On Indigenous Land Field
      • Rematriate the Land Billboard
      • RETURNS: Participatory Rematriation
      • STLT x Jackie Fawn
      • Tule in the Sky
  • Engage
    • Make a Request
    • Donate
    • Get E-mail Updates
    • Other Ways to Engage
      • Land Acknowledgements
  • Pay Shuumi
    • Shuumi Land Tax
    • Institutional Shuumi Land Tax
    • Shuumi Land Tax FAQs
    • Testimonials

How to Come Correct

Protocols, Guidelines, and Invitations



The work of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is made possible by the strength, resilience, leadership, and labor of Indigenous women and culture keepers.

We are also supported by many allies and accomplices of different backgrounds, engaging with the vision of Indigenous women led land return and rematriation. 

Collectively we are all still in a world founded on the theft of the lives and land of Indigenous people.  As a society we are just beginning to learn how to navigate what it means to acknowledge the history of the land we are on, to build meaningful relationships and collaborations that honor the past and engage with the knowledge, time, energy and resources of Indigenous people in respectful and reciprocal ways.

As we move towards transforming our relationships the land we are on, here are some tips for how to engage with our work, request a speaker, cultural consultation, land acknowledgement, offer an opportunity, or contact us.

PREPARE

A great way to prepare is to do some research before you even reach out and ask us for something! Check out our website for a ton of great resources and information.

 


STUDY UP

  • Learn the history of the land you are on
  • Learn about the relationship of your own family line to stolen land
  • Find out about the issues impacting Indigenous communities today

  • Start a study group or penpal with your friends or family about whose land you are on, settler colonialism, dismantling white supremacy, unsettling, land return and rematriation 
  • Learn about your local sacred sites, take an action to protect them  
  • Learn about the pressing environmental issues where you are, take an action 
  • Do your part to shift and redistribute resources to communities who have been historically extracted from 
  • Check out our Recommended Readings

Ask Yourself

  • How have you benefited from stolen land?
  • What structural advantages have you had?
  • What is the intention of your request?
  • What is your relationship to our work?
  • What labor are you asking from Indigenous people?
  • Who will benefit from what you want to do? How?
  • How will this be reciprocal? What do you bring?
  • How are you centering Indigenous leadership?
  • How can this be transformative?
  • Are you prepared to do the work?


REQUESTS

We appreciate opportunities to engage with different communities and share our work.

At the same time, many of us experience constant requests for  our time, our energy, for culturally extractive information, and unreciprocated labor. 


Be Respectful. We are not a clearinghouse of free information.  A lot of the work we do is related to healing and historic harm,  presenting the history of colonization and genocide is not easy.  

Pay real honorariums, especially if you are connected to corporations and institutions. And then get those corporations to pay Shuumi Land Tax.  If you dont have any funding, consider organizing a  fundraising effort and coming back with your request  in a couple months.  

It helps us if you give us a minute to respond. We are navigating many requests and engage specific processes for decision making. Please refrain from contacting us through Sogorea Te’ members personal social media or via their family and friends for organizational requests.   



To request a member of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust for an event,conference, or interview please use our Inquiry Form, including as much information as possible, including  who, what, where why, dates/times/etc, 2-4 weeks in advance. 


CONSULTATIONS

“I would love to pick your brain….”

A consultation is a request for information, advice, a discussion and/or feedback.   

 

This is an important and essential way to engage with Indigenous voices, perspectives and leadership.   If your project includes or represents indigenous people, culture, land etc, ask for Indigenous guidance and participation in its creation.

  Consider, what is your intention with this information or representation?  What will it be contributing to creating? Who will be credited?  Who is getting paid? Who will have access to the project, research, interview, etc? How can you make this a more transformative interaction?  Can you leverage your position. Please spend time with our questions for reflection before reaching out for a consultation. 

To  request a tribal, cultural, art, or other type of consultation please use our Inquiry Form. 


LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Land acknowledgement is a way to recognize the original and ancestral people of the land you are on.

Historically, there are always Indigenous traditions around ways of acknowledging and entering other peoples ancestral territories. 

There are many different contemporary and traditional protocols and practices around land acnowledgmeent. Today, many organizations, institutions, cities and people all different backgrounds are beginning to practice land acknowledgement as a way to recognize a small piece of this history and present day reality. 

Indigenous people are still here.  Acknowledging that is is important. Please do so in a respectful way.   But just “acknowledging” occupation or presence on Indigenous lands with no other relationship or action, actually recreates extraction and erasure. We encourage our allies to go beyond Land Acknowledgements. For more information visit our Land Acknowledgement Page.


REPRESENTATIONS

Any kind of writing, art, research, project, or portrayal  that includes an image of, reference to or  are inspired by Indigenous people, Indigenous history, Indigenous issues, or Indigenous culture, creates a representation.

 

If your request includes the creation of a representation please consider:

Who created or will create this representation? Why? What power dynamics does this representation draw from, interrupt or recreate?

Consider all  the possible politics of representation in your work and efforts.

If your representation includes a request from Indigenous people  for information, time, energy, knowledge, and work, please see Consultations. 


 

 Representations can recreate or interrupt assumptions,  stereotypes, inequality,  and / or power relationships.

Always allow Indigenous people to represent themselves.


FUNDRAISERS

Hosting fundraising through your networks and communities is a great way to  support our work, Many of our projects are funded through small individual contributions, grassroots fundraisers.   If you are going to host a fundraiser please make sure to send us a message at info@rematriatetheland.org and let us know first. 

Please use the fundraising accountability practices:  If you publicly post our name to collect money on our behalf, we request also publicly post your donation receipts.  

Consider how to build deeper reciprocity.  Who really benefits if you use our name and images to generate social media content for  a 10% off sale?   Engage with our work. 

We appreciate fundraising support efforts and also encourage institutional allies, businesses and organizations to move beyond sales based percentage fundraisers to  give  Institutional Shuumi Land Tax, to link their personal or business fundraisers directly to our website, to distribute our outreach materials, to redistribute resources, and come up with creative ways to collaborate. 


SHARING OUR WORK

Please feel free to share our public social media posts, information about Shuumi Land Tax, and links to our website with credit to the artists and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

We appreciate tags and credit. please feel free to share public information from our website for small class projects or similar unpaid educational projects.

If you want to include our work in larger projects,  places were presenters are being paid or in print, please reach out to inquire at info@rematriatetheland.org 


PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTATION 

Please ask before taking photographs of us on our land, at our sites, or offices.

Please ask before using images from our website or creating representations of our work beyond educational sharing.   If you are engaged in a project hoping to use or create representations, please use our inquiry form and allow time for us to engage our decision making processes. 

 Please note:  We do not collectively or individually sign release forms that seek to own or privatize images or intellectual property related to our work. We never consent for outside use of our images, land or work in terms of  perpetuity, without our final oversight or for non-Indigenous profit making.


BOUNDARIES

  • Practice Respect. Cultural knowledge is sacred. Refrain from asking Indigenous people questions about closed practices, ceremonies, and traditions.
  • Avoid contacting people through personal social media platforms, family or in person with Sogorea Te’ requests. The fastest way to get a response is our request form or email: info@rematriatetheland.org 
  • Refrain from using/participating in Indigenous medicines and ceremonies that are known closed practices or not from your own lineage. A closed practice is one that is  traditionally passed only within a specific lineage. 
  • Treat us as you would any other expert in their field.
  • Allow Indigenous people to speak on behalf of their own lived experience.

TAKE ACTION

Do Your Part!

  • Take Action! Build! Organize! Engage! 
  • For those settling in the East Bay, pay your Shuumi land tax! 
  • Do you have access to land, opportunities, equipment, skills, funds? See how you can use those resources to aid the efforts of Indigenous people.
  • If you do not have disproportionate resources, maybe you can share something else like a skill or volunteer support or maybe you know someone who can. Talk to them! 
  • Support Indigenous businesses and artists
  • Support Indigenous community workers, activists, and organizers
  • Learn about and protect the sacred sites of the land you are on
  • Organize to take down monuments to racists and colonists 
  • Organize to change racists or colonial names of local school, parks, etc 
  • Plant native plants in your neighborhood and communities
  • Protect your local creeks and watersheds
  • Be a good guest!

Thank you for engaging with us.

We appreciate you.  

–Sogorea Te’ Land Trust 

* Please Note: This is a collectively created living document and may change as we grow and develop our processes

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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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Sogorea Te Land Trust
“It’s going to take a lot to heal but I think “It’s going to take a lot to heal but I think we’re at the beginning. people want to do something different, were finding the power to move in different ways...”

— Sogorea Te Land Trust cofounder Corrina Gould

From @culturalconservancy’s Native Seed Pod interview with Melissa Nelson.

Art from our geomorphic visualization of rematraited land with Maise Richards. 

Both available in our resource library. link in bio. 

Images are 1. Rematriated landscape with a stream passing through  green trees, native plants, and grasses with long roots extending into a sandy base. There is a fading freeway in the background. one slide has the above quote in sandy colored letters and the second has the words Rematraite the Land. 

#rematriatetheland #resourcelibrary #listenup #sogoreatelandtrust #urbanindigenous #womenled #rematraition #landback #landreturn #returntoland
❤️Himmetka ❤️ Throwback to the shipping ❤️Himmetka ❤️ 

Throwback to the shipping container for our first Himmetka arriving on a pink tractor trailer truck, January 2019, Lisjan. 

Named with the Chochenyo word for “in one place, together,” our Lisjan Himmetka includes a ceremonial space, food and medicine gardens, water catchment, filtration, and storage, first-aid supplies, tools, and a seed saving library.

Images are 1. A red shipping container being unloaded from a pink tractor trailer truck with logs in the foreground and a blue sky in the background. 2. Front view of the container covered in art with a sign that reads Himmetka, everything together in one place. 

#tbt #himmetka #sogoreatelandtrust #iniatives #urbanindivenous #womenled #lrematriation
The land formerly known as Sequoia Point has been The land formerly known as Sequoia Point has been renamed Rinihmu Pulte’irekne!

The Chochenyo name, meaning “Above the Red Ochre,” was given by @villages_of_lisjan language carrier Deja Gould. 

The name honors the location and connection to red ochre, once abundant in the East Bay hills.  Ochre holds cultural significance for Ohlone people and many Indigenous people of the world. It was among the natural materials extracted and exploited in the settling of California. 

Welcome back Rinihmu Pulte’irekne. 

Music: Landback @rebelwisemusic 
Drone video: Alfred @threesistersgardens 

Video is a peek of the view from the Oakland hills through tree branches fading into an aerial video of the land, panning out to the city and bay from an eagles eye view with text announcing the land formerly known as Sequoia Point has been renamed Rinihmu Pulte’Irekne. 

#rematraitetheland #sequoiapoint #RinihmuPulte’irekne #sogoreatelandtrust #urbanindigenous #womenled #landtrust #landback #landreturn #rematriation
Welcoming youth back as we continue our Indigenous Welcoming youth back as we continue our Indigenous led youth program, Mitiini Numma wave one! We are so excited to be back with you all and hope you had an amazing winter break ❄️. On our first day back we got to learn about and from each other during a yarn toss game 🧶, highlighting who we are, how we got to the land we are on, and sharing our relations. Looking forward to a spring full of fun activities, rematriated site visits, exciting field trips, amazing wisdom keepers, creative workshops, and more! 🤎

Image: Youth and facilitators gathered in a circle in our youth program space, each holding a piece of yarn connected to all of them, during a game of yarn toss. 

#MitiiniNumma #backinprogram #growthetruth #youthleaders #youthprogram #Indigenousled #oaklandyouth #rematriatetheland
This is what Indigenous women and two spirit land This is what Indigenous women and two spirit land rematriation looks like! 

Throwback to the official signing of the cultural easement returning the land formerly known as Sequoia Point to Indigenous care, December 13, 2022. 

Image is five Indigenous women and two spirit people of various ages wearing long skirts and dresses, standing in a line, looking out past the viewer. In the background is glimpse of an image of a ceremonial structure. 

#squadgoals #thecrew #matriarchylives #indigenouswomenled #sogoreatelandtrust #culturaleasement #itsofficial  #landreturn #landback #rematriation #Oakland #indigenousland
Lisjan: Rematriated Indigenous Land Ask Permissi Lisjan: Rematriated Indigenous Land 

Ask Permission 
Walk With Honor 
Respect The Sacred 

*No Photos * No Substances*

Image is a turquoise sign at the entrance of Lisjan with the above text in red and black letters with the Sogore Te' Land Trust logo- a silhouette of the Oakland skyline above an Ohlone basket- in front of an abundance of thriving green plants. 

#Lisjan #guidelines #comecorrect #askpermission  #sogoreatelandtrust #rematriatetheland
Winter Work ⛈️ Seasonal planning with the c Winter Work ⛈️ 

Seasonal  planning with the crew. 

Custom Ohlone Territory Hoody 
hand printed at a staff meet, 
By @creative_mudafukah 

Image is a figure in an orange Ohlone territory hoody, adding a post it to a large sheet of paper full of multicolored notes. 

#projectprocess #planning #sogoreatelandtrust #urban #Indigenous #womenled #landreturn
New year, new opportunity to Rematriate the Land. New year, new opportunity to Rematriate the Land. 

Hit us up. 

Image: a stack of stickers with a turquoise to pink gradient behind a silloutte of Oakland, with birds flying and the words Rematriate the Land, Sogorea Te Land Trust.

#2023 #landback #landreturn #unsettletheland #rematriatetheland #sogoreatelandtrust
🎄Land Back 🌲 If you have more that you nee 🎄Land Back 🌲 

If you have more that you need consider redistributing to Indigenous led work wherever you are. 

#landback #thatsthespirit #rematriatetheland #urbanindigenous #seasonsgreetings #sogoreatelandtrust #spotted #oaklandgraffiti #indigenousland
✨Rest ✨Reflection ✨Renewal ✨ Returning to ✨Rest ✨Reflection ✨Renewal ✨

Returning to balance with the seasons. ⚖️ Every year on Solstice we close for our Winter hibernation. This is a time separate from vacation for our crew to rest, reflect and recharge for the new year. 

Sending solstice wishes for winter wellness to all. 

Image is an Indigenous woman standing on the edge of a piece of green grassy land  high up in the Oakland hills hills looking out at the view of  dark winter clouds and green trees opening to  vista of the distant city and Bay. 

#solstice  #winter #hibernation #sogoreatelandtrust #urbanindigenous #womenled #returntobalance #rest #reflection #regeneration  #rematriaton  #territoryofhuchiun
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Team wants to thank all o Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Team wants to thank all of our community members and allies who have volunteered & supported us throughout the past year. We are because of you all and we are immensely grateful for the continued support we have received. 

We look forward to connecting with folks in the new year! In the meantime, feel welcome to fill out our volunteer form to receive notification emails: https://tinyurl.com/STLTVolunteer. You can also find other ways to stay engaged by visiting our website: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/other-ways-to-engage/ 

Alt Description 1:

The background is a transparent picture of some yellow and multi-colored corn. In the middle of the post, you find another yellow transparent box with a solid dark white box in front of it that says: “As Sogorea Te' Land Trust wraps up another incredible year, we want to say thank you to all our community members and volunteers who have supported us throughout these past twelve months. The work we do is possible because of the on-going support we receive from our community who believe in us and share the same goal as we do. Kiš horše ‘ek-hinnan (Thank you so much)”. At the bottom two corners of the white box, you find three vertical hearts. 

Alt Description 2:

The background is a transparent picture of some yellow and multi-colored corn. In the middle of the post, you find another yellow transparent box with a solid dark white box in front of it that says: “Our office has closed volunteer days and they will be reopening mid-January. We will be back with more volunteer opportunities in the new year so keep a lookout! In the meantime, feel welcome to fill out our volunteer form to receive notification emails: https://tinyurl.com/STLTVolunteer. You can also find other ways to stay engaged by visiting our website: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/other-ways-to-engage/
🌿 Respect my Medicine 🌿 Block printing wit 🌿 Respect my Medicine 🌿 

Block printing with the crew for the end of the year. 
Art by vick @creative_mudafukah 

#respect #native #medicine #sogoreatelandtrust #blockprint #art
✨💛Rematriate the Land 💛✨ #customeveryth ✨💛Rematriate the Land 💛✨

#customeverything #lisjan #thepony #sogoreatelandtrust #urbanindigenous #womenled #landreturn #landback #rematriation
Big Valley Dancers ✨ Closing of the Rinihmu Pul Big Valley Dancers ✨

Closing of the Rinihmu Pulte'irekne land return celebration. 
December 13th, 2022

📷 @hulleah 

#sogoreatelandtrust #sequoiapiont #landreturn #landback #rematriation #celebration
Celebrating the Return of Rinihmu Pulte'irekne✨ Celebrating the Return of Rinihmu Pulte'irekne✨

December 13th, 2022

📷 Jean Melesaine 
@bayarealife 

#sogoreatelandtrust #sequoiapiont #landreturn #landback #rematriation #celebration
Round Valley Dancers✨ Opening of the Rinihmu Pu Round Valley Dancers✨

Opening of the Rinihmu Pulte'irekne land return celebration
December 13th, 2022

📷 @ines_ixierda 

#sogoreatelandtrust #sequoiapiont #landreturn #landback #rematriation #celebration
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