I want to acknowledge and recognize that I’ve curated and am maintaining The Black Community Guide on Kalapuya Land, also known as Portland, OR.   So, I want to give a shoutout to Kalapuya peoples and other tribal nations/communities of what we currently know as Oregon (The Confederate Tribes of Grand Ronde, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Cowlitz, Multnomah, Clackamas, Clatskanie, Nehalem, Tillamook, Klickitat, The Confederate Tribes of the Siletz Indians, and Atfalati to name a few), as they are still very much here, and this is very much still their Land to steward.  

Even as an Indigenous person, I recognize that I am a guest on these relatives’ ancestral homelands and that respect and reciprocity is due.

I also want to acknowledge that at one time Oregon was known as the "white man's territory" and prohibited Black folks through legislation such as Exclusion laws and Sun-down laws, which enshrined anti-Black racism in the foundations of this state. I want to further recognize that many of these laws didn’t come off the books until recent history, and that the legacy and ongoing violence of such legislation and policies has produced generational harm for Black folks throughout so-called Oregon.

So, the work that I do every day on Kalapuya Land (and across Turtle Island) is in honor of both Native and Black folks who have endured and resisted under white supremacy, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism.  Not only in Oregon but throughout this country. And with that I'm very much indebted to my forbearers and I will use my voice and my work to continuously uplift Native and Black folks of the past, present, and future.

Find out whose Lands and territories you currently reside and work on (as a guest) by visiting Native-Land.ca.

-Amber

P.S. Land Back!