Who we are, what we do…

Jews On Ohlone Land activates our Jewish communities in solidarity with Indigenous sovereignty.

The heart of Jews On Ohlone Land is organizing, educating and advocating to maximize Jewish participation in the Shuumi Land Tax throughout the East Bay. Together, we are exploring how we as Jews can live in right relationship to this land, its ancestors and the Indigenous people and communities who live here now.

The Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary annual financial contribution that non-Indigenous people living on traditional Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone territory make to support the critical work of the Sogorea Te Land Trust. The Shuumi Land Tax directly supports Sogorea Te’s work to acquire and preserve land, establish a cemetery to reinter stolen Ohlone ancestral remains and build urban gardens, community centers, and sacred arbors so current and future generations of Indigenous people can thrive in the Bay Area. Learn more at sogoreate-landtrust.com.

Goals

• 100% Jewish participation in the Shuumi Land Tax (individual and institutional) in the East Bay

• Help integrate Indigenous history of the East Bay into Jewish educational curricula for kids, teens, adults

• Organize Jews to show up for Indigenous-led events, campaigns, programs, etc.

• Collectively move towards a “right relationship” with the land we live on

• Support a national network of Jews working on Indigenous solidarity

Guiding Principles

• We root ourselves in teshuvah (ceasing harm, restoring wholeness and repairing relationship), tzedaka (acting to promote justice), and humility.  

• We don’t speak for Ohlone people. Ohlone people speak for themselves and we listen.

• We speak for ourselves, and name the positions/experience from which we speak.

• We are in a primary accountability relationship with Sogorea Te Land Trust. While we are responsible for our own actions and do not speak for Sogorea Te, we strive to act in alignment and solidarity with Sogorea Te and its leadership.

• We make a commitment to ongoing self education about Indigenous experience.

• We practice being mindful of what we ask of Indigenous people, what’s appropriate, what’s helpful, checking privilege and assumptions.

• We practice being mindful of cultural differences and approaches, not assuming that our cultural norms are shared by people in Indigenous community, and being curious about and respectful of other ways of being. 

• We practice “collaborative iteration” - we experiment, reflect and together make it better.

• We’re building an organizational structure that is both decentralized and accountable. Decentralization supports and empowers many people to take this work into the world in our own ways; and Accountability holds us together in realizing our vision and doing our work with integrity.

• All fees generated by JOOL for our services (workshops, trainings, consulting, etc.) will go to the Sogorea Te Land Trust / Shuumi Land tax, less our direct expenses (gas, milage, materials, etc.).