Assembly Bill No. 1968
Tribal Land Acknowledgment Act of 2020
It is important to understand history and our place within it, including atrocities such as genocide, ethnic cleansing, stolen land, slavery, human trafficking, and forced removal by colonizers. Indigenous peoples have endured colonial efforts to erase their existence, cultures, religions, languages, and connections to ancestral territories.
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Indigenous peoples inhabited the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years before encountering an onslaught of colonizers. The arrival of Europeans resulted in devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Their history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience.
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We recognize Native peoples as traditional stewards of this land. Many tribal nations remain displaced from their ancestral homelands and sacred spaces, yet are still actively engaged in cultural revitalization and resource protection.
We encourage each person who visits to think about what it means to occupy this space. We honor all Indigenous people across the nation, celebrate their diverse cultures and heritages, and choose to pay respect to the struggles of their journey; both past and present.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE
We live, work and recreate on the unceded land of the Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute), Pauite Indian Tribe of Utah, Kaibab band of Paiute Indians, Nüwüwü (Chemehuevi), Pipa Aha Macav (Mojave), Hualapai, Kwatsáan (Quechan), Xawiƚƚ kwñchawaay (Cocopah), and Yavapai-Apache Nations peoples.
We acknowledge these Native American communities, their tribal elders both past and present, as well as future generations.
Desert Adventures also acknowledges that the land was founded upon exclusions and erasures of many indigenous peoples, including those along the Colorado River corridor and the Mojave desert. We wish to show a commitment to beginning the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and providing a more accurate version of history, even if unpleasant and uncomfortable.
“My hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours.”
- Chief Standing Bear, who argued in court that Ponca were 'people' under the law.
“We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Acknowledging Tribal Lands
Honoring Indigenous Inhabitants
Tribal land acknowledgment provides a learning opportunity for individuals who may have never heard the names of the tribes that continue to live and learn from the land. Land acknowledgment is Native American tribal protocol, and the practice establishes a respectful routine and habit of offering reconciliation.
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We have tried to be as accurate as possible. If there are errors please let us know so we can correct them.
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"Hold on to what is good, Even if it's a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even if it's a tree that stands by itself."
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior and Orator 1830 - 1890
