Brookline Will Hear Land Acknowledgement Before Town Meeting

Brookline MA

19 October, 2021

5:11 PM

Description

BROOKLINE, MA — Before the November Town Meeting, members will acknowledge that Brookline was established on Indigenous land, bringing Warrant Article 11 from the May Town Meeting to fruition. Although Town Meeting voted in favor of the chair or a designee of the Indigenous People Celebration Committee reading the acknowledgement following the National Anthem at each gathering, putting that vote into practice has been delayed due to pending approval from Attorney General Maura Healey. The article amendment, which was submitted by the IPCC with Maya Norton as the lead petitioner, was read earlier this month by Town Meeting member Arthur Conquest during a Zoom call organized to voice the acknowledgement ahead of Indigenous Peoples Day after members expressed concerns that it had not yet been put into practice. According to the town, Healey has 90 days to approve or deny bylaw changes, but the town was late in submitting information from the May Town Meeting due to a backlog of bylaw changes. Although Healey's deadline is December 1, Town Meeting Moderator Kate Poverman agreed to the November 1 reading last week. Brookline's land acknowledgement currently reads as follows: Indigenous People's Land Acknowledgement"As we gather today as Town Meeting Members, let us take a moment to acknowledge the history of the land we call Brookline. This is the unceded land of the Massachusett people, whose traditions, language and stewardship continue today through their lineal descendants, the Massachusett Tribe of Ponkapoag. Today, we are living on land that was taken by force. By 1641, the colonists in "Brookline" had allocated to themselves almost all of the land that had been inhabited by Indigenous people. Land was not the only form of theft that occurred. Lives were also stolen. Historical records state that in 1675, during King Philip's War, seven Indigenous men were sold into slavery in the Caribbean by residents of the area we now call Brookline. The seven men represent part of the early slave trade. As we remember these atrocities, Town Meeting Members and the larger Town must commit ourselves to address the ongoing inequities that are the result of our history of colonialism and racism. Although we as individuals were not perpetrators of these atrocities, we benefit from these systems. Thus, we dedicate ourselves to addressing them today."