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Giving the Land Back

An important article in the LA Times by JONAH VALDEZ STAFF WRITER
OCT. 10, 2022 5 AM PT

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-10/after-nearly-200-years-the-tongva-community-has-land-in-los-angeles-county

In 1851, the U.S. government signed and broke treaties with the Gabrieleno/Tongva promising 1.55 million acres (over ½ of LA County) of our 2.56 million acre ancestral territory. “171 years later, we launch the Return the Land Fund, to raise an initial and symbolic, $1.55 million for Tribal housing subsidies, land, plant, relative return, and cultural revitalization. $1 for every acre promised is meaningful and also so little; land has been commodified so much our own people can’t afford to live in our ancestral land.”

The Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy is a Tongva-led organization created to steward lands on Tovaangar, the traditional Tongva region, encompassing the greater Los Angeles basin. The Conservancy has received land back, is creating community and housing Native people, practicing ceremony, archiving, and repatriating the land.

To support the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy Campaign by making a “guest exchange” gift, visit: https://tongva.networkforgood.com/projects/174424-tongva-return-the-land-fund?utm_campaign=dms_email_blast_2212834&utm_source=email&utm_medium=ordercomplete&utm_campaign=Monday-2022-11-28

By Carolyn

Carolyn L. Baker is the award-winning author of An Unintentional Accomplice: A Personal Perspective on White Responsibility, published by 2Leaf Press and distributed by University of Chicago Press April 2020. Her second book DISPATCHES, From Racial Divide to a Road of Repair, A Collection of Essays will be released in May 2023.

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