Acknowledgement of Land and PlaceThis statement was written by Native American Student Development in partnership with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.We recognize that Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huchiun, pronounced Hoo-Choon), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band.
We recognize that every member of the Berkeley community has benefitted, and continues to benefit, from the use and occupation of this land since the institution’s founding in 1868. Consistent with our values of community and diversity, we have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible the university’s relationship to Native peoples. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold the University of California, Berkeley more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
I encourage everyone reading this from Ohlone lands (the Bay Area) to consider paying Shuumi Land Tax. Shuumi means 'gift' in Chochenyo.