Land Acknowledgement

For thousands of years, the land on which our buildings stand – where we live, work, study, play and rest – was the home of Patwin people. The Patwin people thrived on this land and cared for it for generations. They still do so today. Three federally recognized Patiwn tribes, the Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, continue to protect and steward the land. These sovereign nations make invaluable contributions to their communities and to our region through the practice and preservation of their history, language, art, and culture, as well as through their agricultural and business ventures. We are humbled and honored to be present on their ancestral homeland.

Why did we write a land acknowledgment?

As a progressive Christian campus ministry, social justice is one of our core values. Our values are not mere passive statements of belief, we strive to live them out in our words and actions. Social justice centers the inherent dignity of all people and insists we recognize the ways in which certain communities have been marginalized and oppressed throughout history and in the present day. Social justice demands that we actively work to dismantle existing systems of oppression and mitigate the harms they have caused. 

We believe God calls us to love one another. Love is not simply a positive feeling or warm wishes for others. Love is an active force. Love requires us to hold space for others, to work with them, to serve them, and to speak truth to power. Jesus modeled this in his own life and we seek to follow his example. 

With this land acknowledgement, we recognize the history of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and forced displacement of Indigenous peoples. We acknowledge that Indigenous communities continue to endure the hardships wrought by this history and that they experience the current challenges systemic racism produces.