How to Come Correct

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. 

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, including Lisjan History, Requesting a Speaker, Rematriation Resources, Shuumi Land Tax , and STLT Updates!

Rematriation:

Indigenous women led work to restore sacred relationships between Indigenous people and their ancestral land. Honoring our matrilineal societies and lineage’s ways of tending to the land, in opposition of patriarchal violence.

Be A Good Guest

It’s always respectful to ask first before taking action for or in place of Indigenous people. Please note that permission may not be granted or we may advise for reflection and research.

Engagements

We appreciate opportunities to engage with different communities and share our work. At the same time, many of us experience constant requests for culturally extractive 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.

Indigenous people are not a checkbox or cultural display. Don’t consume us. Engage with us.

To request a member of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust for an event, conference, or interview please use our Inquiry Form, 3-4 weeks in advance. 

Representations

Any kind of portrayal  that includes any inspiration by Indigenous people, 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?

Images & Documentation

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.

A consultation could be an informational such guidance in development of land acknowledgements or requests for feedback on a project. Some consultations are cultural and are referred to the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation (Ohlone).

Please keep in mind there are many sensitive issues around access to Indigenous representations. Sometimes, even efforts that start with an idea of being respectful, inclusive or supportive can end up impacting Indigenous people in a way that is extractive and exploitive.

Boundaries

Avoid contacting people through personal social media platforms, family or in person with requests. The fastest way to get a response is our request form. Refrain from using and participating in Indigenous medicines and ceremonies that are known closed practices or not from your own lineage. Treat us as you would any other expert in their field. Allow Indigenous people to speak on behalf of their own lived experience.

We appreciate fundraising support efforts and also encourage institutional allies 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.

Pay Shuumi! Or your local honor/land tax! Contribute to the Rematriate the Land Fund!

There are many resources around land acknowledgments created by Indigenous people. Sogorea Te’s “So You Want To Do A Land Acknowledgement” resource was created as a way to navigate our own land acknowledgement collaborations. This resource is available on our website!

Do Your Part! Take Action!

For those settling in the East Bay, pay your Shuumi Land Tax! For those outside of the East Bay and interested in supporting our work, contribute to the Rematriate the Land Fund! 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 don’t have disproportionate resources, maybe you can share something else or maybe you know someone who does.