Dear Redbud Community,
On October 31st, I accepted a position on the inaugural Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education for the State of California.
The Redbud team is hopeful that my participation on this council will lead to every California student knowing the ongoing impacts of the state sanctioned genocide against our families.
California’s Native communities are survivors and thrivers- we continue to find ways to celebrate and protect our cultures and families despite the countless acts of violence that have been wielded against us over the last 180+ years. We hope we can create a platform to uplift stories of resistance, survival, joy, and strength in the context of a very difficult time in our history.
Redbud Resource Group’s curriculum team is also committed to highlighting the relationship between genocide and ecological destruction in California. What happens when Indigenous peoples are systematically removed from Indigenous land? That land suffers. We also know that returning Indigenous people to Indigenous land is a remedy for many of the challenges we face today as a community. We have the strengths, skills, and ancestral memories needed to restore balance and to create new life ways for our communities.
We will make this relationship known so that our communities can continue to rebuild relationships with our families, cultures, human and non-human relatives.
To read the full press release from the Governor’s office, CLICK HERE
Sincerely,
Taylor Pennewell