We are on land that was stolen from those indigenous to Mishigami (great water) ; originally home to people of the Three Fires - the Odawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi. We would like to pay respects to the nineteen Odawa chiefs who once governed the lands along the Grand River, in and around what is now the city of Grand Rapids.

The mass displacement and genocide of natives is something has been endured by people of color across the continent, largely impacting their lives for centuries. Shortly after the English invasion, colonizers brought with them hundreds of thousands of African people to enslave and force into servitude. For the next 400 years, they inflicted mass oppression onto the lives of all people of color, pushing them out of their homes and stripping them of their rights and their culture. They wiped out entire indigenous tribes with disease, mutilation, unjust treaties and physical destruction of their land. With them they brought technologies and beliefs that are widely woven into the lives we live today. Those beliefs continue to leave disproportionate disparities for BIPOC in America and across the world. 

The path created by those who have given their lives to the continued growth toward our freedom is one we are privileged to walk upon today. As we acquire land, choose our work paths and gain agency over our decisions, we recognize the fight that has gone toward our liberation for hundreds of years. We hope to continue to fuel that fight and live out the dreams our ancestors were robbed of achieving. We recognize our duty to bring nurture back to nature and are devoted to aiding the healing and redemption to the land and people it belongs to.