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CCBC's Land Acknowledgement

Land Acknowledgement

A land acknowledgement is a statement that formally recognizes the historical and continuing connection between indigenous peoples and their native lands.

In this spirit, we humbly make this land acknowledgement.

We gather here today on Turtle Island, the Indigenous term for the North American continent.

We are convening on the ancestral land of the Paskestikweya (Pist-ka-tanh-wah) people in Baltimore City. We humbly offer our respects to the elders, past and present citizens, of the Cedarville Band of the Piscataway Conoy, the Piscataway Indian Nation, and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, all Algonquian (Al- Gon-Qwe-An) Peoples.

We have come together today on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The word Chesapeake is also an Algonquian word named after a nation of people who once lived near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, in an area now called Hampton Roads, Virginia.

While a land acknowledgement is not enough, it is an important social justice and decolonial practice that promotes Indigenous visibility and a reminder that we are on sacred land. Let this land acknowledgement be an opening for all of us to contemplate the ongoing struggles to resist colonial indoctrination through various Indigenous movements for identity, sovereignty, and self-determination.

Created in partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Writing Center and Mario Harley, Member of the Piscataway Nation Council ©2019

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