The territory we know as South Florida is the traditional homeland of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and their ancestors, the Tequesta and Calusa Native nations. With reverence, I acknowledge their generational connections – in mind, body, spirit, and practice – to this land. With respect, I acknowledge the period of these Native nations’ refuge and, during the Seminole Wars, defense of many who share my African diasporic history.

This land made “available” through broken treaties with and forced removals of Native nations is the site of the exploited labor of the descendants of trafficked, forcefully enslaved Africans. With humility and sorrow, I reflect on those who endured – and those who did not survive – the horrors of the Middle Passage, chattel slavery, domestic terror, and Jim Crow. In solidarity, I acknowledge the past and continuing toil and suffering of immigrants, those incarcerated, and all exploited workers in this place and beyond.

I recognize our individual and shared histories of community, resistance, and perseverance in the face of oppression, exploitation, and attempted genocide. I am thus committed to remembering, recovering, and sharing the truth of these histories to effect healthy reconciliation between ours and all South Florida communities.