Kumeyaay Land Acknowledgement

On September 3, the SDSU Senate passed a resolution to establish an official SDSU Kumeyaay Land Acknowledgement. Two versions (a full version and an abbreviated version) were written by Michael Miskwish (Kumeyaay):

Full Version

We stand upon a land that carries the footsteps of millennia of Kumeyaay people. They are a people whose traditional lifeways intertwine with a worldview of earth and sky in a community of living beings. This land is part of a relationship that has nourished, healed, protected and embraced the Kumeyaay people to the present day. It is part of a world view founded in the harmony of the cycles of the sky and balance in the forces of life. For the Kumeyaay, red and black represent the balance of those forces that provide for harmony within our bodies as well as the world around us.

As students, faculty, staff and alumni of San Diego State University we acknowledge this legacy from the Kumeyaay. We promote this balance in life as we pursue our goals of knowledge and understanding. We find inspiration in the Kumeyaay spirit to open our minds and hearts. It is the legacy of the red and black. It is the land of the Kumeyaay.

'eyay e’haan My heart is good.

Abbreviated Version

For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the San Diego State University community we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land; the land of the Kumeyaay.

For more information about land acknowledgement, and instructions on how to use a land acknowledgement statement, check out these resources prepared by the Division of Diversity and Innovation.