Colonization is the process of exerting complete control over the Indigenous people of a particular area by attempting to erase the culture, language, and histories of the land and its people. In the United States, settler colonialism has been predicated on the physical and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples.

By contrast, decolonization is a process that seeks to undo the ongoing effects of colonialism, both on our physical environments but just as importantly on our understandings of history and culture. Decolonization calls for individuals to use different methods to achieve this goal, such as: caring for the land so as to restore sacred connections; challenging public stories, such as racist or outmoded thinking about Indigenous peoples; and reversing the dispossession of lands by recognizing native title. It is necessary for decolonization to occur, specifically for the Pokanoket nation, because it seeks to restore the histories and traditions of the Pokanoket that colonizers have long attempted to erase.