Acknowledgments
Language- Four Indo-European languages (Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese) are politically dominant in each country in the Americas. Native languages have been denied to indigenous people through punitive actions by colonizers, the settler culture stripping the value and prestige of native tongues, limiting their use and forcing foreign names on their bodies.
For our events, training, and programming we will use English as the central language. However, we would like to acknowledge and bring awareness that this is a settler language imposed upon those indigenous to the land.
We would also like to honor the linguistic diversity of the American continent through recognition and making visible the various indigenous languages as well as the languages of Afro-descendant communities in Latin America. These include, and are not limited to, Garifuna, Patua, Creole, and Palenquero.
Labor- We recognize that many enslaved, indentured and incarcerated peoples were forced to dedicate their work to the construction of cities throughout Washington state, such as Seattle. For these peoples and their descendants, we recognize their indelible mark in the space in which we gather for our events. Finally, in recognizing that this land is colonized indigenous territory that has been designed through forced labor, it is our collective responsibility to critically interrogate the stories and later lives of these events, and to honor, protect, and sustain this land.
Native Land- We ask that those who are members and who engage with the Society reflect on the lands in which we reside and acknowledge all the ancestral homelands and traditional territories of indigenous people who have been here since time immemorial.
We want to acknowledge that many of our events, trainings, and programming occurs in the territories and along the waters of the Salish Coastal people. As uninvited guests, we are operating on lands in Washington state belonging to the:
Chinook Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Duwamish Tribe, Hoh Indian Tribe, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Lummi Nation, Makah Tribe, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Nooksack Indian Tribe, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Quileute Tribe, Quinault Indian Nation, Samish Indian Nation, Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Snohomish Tribe of Indians, Snoqualmie Tribe, Snoqualmoo Nation, Spokane Tribe of Indians, Squaxin Island Tribe, Steilacoom Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, Suquamish Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Tulalip Tribes, Upper Skagit Tribe.
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