land back & acknowledgement

I acknowledge that I live on the lands of the Piscataway, indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who lived in this region for over 10,000 years. "Piscataway" means "the people where the river bends," and their territory includes southern Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area. The Piscataway are known for their sophisticated agricultural techniques as well as hunting, fishing, and gathering.

European invaders enacted colonial violence on the Piscataway people for over two centuries. The Piscataway endured massacre and warfare, disease epidemics, forcible displacement and dispossession, forced assimilation, cultural decimation, and still experience discrimination today. There has been no federal recognition of the Piscataway people or the genocide they endured.

Today, I call for the restoration of Piscataway sovereignty, the reparation of historical injustices, and return of the ancestral lands to their original stewards. By acknowledging Indigenous peoples' traditional knowledge of sustainable land management and environmental protection, I call for a return of this land to the Piscataway. I express my gratitude and I honor the resilience, the ingenuity and the power of the Piscataway people and their ongoing contributions.