SURPAS Acknowledgement Statement

SURPAS Council Meetings begin with the following Acknowledgement Statement:

“I would like to begin by acknowledging that we meet today on the ancestral and unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. As an uninvited guest on these lands, I am a beneficiary of the ongoing displacement of the Ohlone people. I pay my respects to the Native peoples, past and present.

I would like to acknowledge the suffering and resilience of all people whose lives and livelihoods were stolen by those with power, including but not limited to the millions of enslaved African American people. The devastating effects of these injustices continue to be felt today.

I would like to acknowledge everyone who has a lived experience of oppression, be it racism or sexism, classism or ableism, transphobia or homophobia, or any other form of oppression. To ignore oppression is to assent to oppression.

I appreciate and respect the knowledge and personal experiences of everyone gathered here and I thank you for choosing to share your time and energy to be here today.”

Read more about what an Acknowledgement Statement is, why we think it is important and how to properly conduct it HERE.