Land Acknowledgment
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is based in Yelamu, now also known as San Francisco. We acknowledge our location on the unceded territories of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, who, along with hundreds of other Native tribes, have resided in California for thousands of years. We recognize the centuries of violence and oppression faced by Indigenous peoples, which include their physical displacement from their historic homes. With this in mind, we affirm and celebrate the integrality of Indigenous culture and experience to American history and society, especially in San Francisco, which has one of the largest urban First Nations populations in the United States.
As an organization whose mission is to empower underrepresented voices in media and in the arts, CAAM condemns and must work continually to combat systemic racism faced by Indigenous peoples and communities, whose practice — especially in creative spheres like ours — has been erased in and through America’s legacy of colonialism. As community members, we hope to continue learning about and appreciating Indigenous art and artmaking from practitioners and culture-bearers. We honor the Native Americans upon whose land we work and live today, and acknowledge that this statement is but a first step in fostering meaningful connections with First Nations peoples, advocating for restorative justice for Indigenous communities, and taking part in the responsible stewardship of our homes and of our world.
If you are joining us digitally from outside San Francisco and are unsure of the peoples to whom the land you currently inhabit belong, we encourage you to research this information by visiting the following links:
https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/
https://nativegov.org/resources/
