We support our Indigenous partners to reunite with their ancestral lands and practice land return and rematriation. Our land justice “clients” are more like partners, collaborators, or co-conspirators, and we are honored to be in relationship with them. We try to come correct to the work by engaging in political study with resources produced by our partners or by inspiring movement leaders.
What does legal support for rematriation look like exactly? As Indigenous-led groups move with intention down a spiritual path, with guidance from the ancestors, we are there listening, learning, and helping to remove obstacles. Many of these obstacles involve sorting through contract language, filling out paperwork, contacting the relevant government agencies, the list goes on. Our role is often to get the paperwork out of the way: Choosing an entity recognized by the colonial legal system that can “properly” hold land, assisting with land “purchase” (which is again a colonial fiction), and assisting with ongoing land stewardship legal needs like property tax exemption. We have come to learn how disruptive the legal system can be to groups practicing land rematriation.
One of our first endeavors to that end was to help Shelterwood, a BIPOC and LGBTQ-led forest community and education center, apply for status as a tax-exempt non-profit. We supported them in developing their governance structure and compliant employment practices, acquiring and paying ransom on 990 acres of land, and securing property tax exemption for that sacred land. Moreover, we have worked for over four years to develop trust, deep understanding, and a fine-tuned working relationship with representatives from the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. We helped them conceptualize and form an entity structure for Sawalmem — a land holding entity that is a California unincorporated association with church status through the IRS. We supported them in reuniting with 1,100 plus acres of their ancestral land, and we helped them navigate everything from zoning and property tax to developing business practices for their Indigenous art enterprise.
Read the rest at Sustainable Economies Law Center
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