Late Tuesday afternoon, with candles lit and the voice of the river resounding, 20 community members and friends gathered at Royal River Park for a first reading of the YCARE Land Acknowledgement. In our circle, Ron Siviski led us in drumming, sang the Honor Song in his Native language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkx66mpqiMU and then recited the Land Acknowledgement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXDmk2zmJms&t=56s. We heard the impact of the words and experienced a feeling of community. We took a moment to imagine this work carried into other community groups.
We thank all who joined for a first reading on the evening of the solstice. We also thank those who contributed in the process of developing this Land Acknowledgement.
We are aware that this living document represents a point of departure for work yet to do, consistent with YCARE’s purpose “to work to dismantle racism within all aspects of ourselves, our organization, and in Yarmouth” and consistent with guiding principles in writing a land acknowledgement “to leverage deeper action and change” and “to be willing to live in discomfort.” We call particular attention to the paragraph “We seek to act in solidarity with our indigenous friends and neighbors who are still here, supporting the inherent sovereignty that, along with hundreds of other indigenous nations, is rightfully theirs.”
We invite you to read it.
We welcome your thoughts and feedback about the document itself and where it can take us. Please use this email to send us your reflections yarmouthforracialequity@gmail.com.
YCARE Land Acknowledgement Committee
