Native American ‘land taxes’: a step on the roadmap for reparations
In the San Francisco Bay Area, local residents and businesses can pay to help restore Indigenous land to Indigenous stewardship
The two-acre plot deep within east Oakland is a bright green oasis surrounded by urban sprawl. The creek that runs through it has been sealed with cement, and an interstate highway has been built overhead. But for Corrina Gould, this piece of land represents justice for Native Californians.
It is the first parcel promised to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an intertribal, women-led organization that Gould co-founded in order to restore Indigenous land in the Bay Area to Indigenous stewardship.
Related: ‘Fire is medicine’: the tribes burning California forests to save them
It’s not reparations if we’re talking about something the US already owes
Related: California city returns island taken from native tribe in 1860 massacre
We see ourselves as the hosts of this land. And we want to be able to take care of all of our guests
