Lafayette City Council Votes Tonight on Sunsetting the Bay Miwok Land Acknowledgment Task Force

LAFAYETTE, CA — The Bay Miwok and neighboring Ohlone people have lived in and moved through what is now Lafayette for thousands of years.

In 2023, the Lafayette City Council assigned a task force to decide how — or whether — to acknowledge the fact.

Tonight councilmembers will vote on whether to dismantle the task force that developed acknowledgements in word and deed.

In word, the task force recommended adopting a statement, referred to as a Land Acknowledgment, designed to reflect on what it means to occupy space on unceded indigenous lands. The acknowledgement, adopted in October 2023, is read at the start of city council meetings and other official events.

Following a list of other recommendations, acknowledgements take the form of street signs, Bay Miwok educational signs at the Rain Garden and the Community Center, and — among others —a mural "recognizing indigenous culture" that will be installed as part of the Downtown Mural Program managed by the Public Art Committee.

The work of the Land Acknowledgment Task Force is done, according to the city manager, Niroop Srivatsa.

"The Land Acknowledgment Task Force has completed the tasks assigned to them by the City Council," she wrote in a report to the city council. "As such, staff recommends that the Council thank the members for their exceptional service and sunset the Land Acknowledgment Task Force."