Native Land Reparation
An Act of Conscience
Native land reparation involves efforts to address historical injustice from colonization, forced displacement, cultural genocide, and other forms of oppression. It seeks to amplify the voices of Indigenous communities and advance the cause of justice and reconciliation for past wrongs committed against them.
The Native Land Reparation Pledge Project
What Is It?
The spirit behind The Native Land Reparation Pledge is rooted in the awareness that the land we live on was, in nearly all cases, forcibly taken from Indigenous Peoples over the centuries, and we, being the beneficiary of this wrongful act, wish to make reparation. Charitable giving this is not. Reparation explicitly seeks to make amends for injustices done in times past.
How It Works
By signing The Pledge, individuals agree, when the time comes to sell property, to contribute 1% of the sale price of a home or property to the native community whose land you now own and from which you will financially benefit. In the absence of an Indigenous presence for that land, the option to contribute instead to a native led organization would also be possible.
Our Journey
On February 27, 2020, the U.S. Court of appeals declared the government had not been authorized to take the Mashpee land into trust in 2015. On March 3rd, 2020 Mashpee Wampanoag’s 321 acres of Tribal land was to be taken out of trust, disestablishing the reservation.
While Indigenous America was responding to the growing number of coronavirus cases in its communities, the Trump administration was busy revoking the reservation status of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts. From this injustice The Native Land Reparation Pledge Project emerged.