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Indigenous Justice

The offices of the ACLU of Northern California exist on the occupied territory of over 100 tribes. In recognition of this reality, our Indigenous Justice work supports tribal sovereignty and self-determination through community-directed processes, recognizing and uplifting Indigenous peoples as they preserve their cultures, dignity, and autonomy.

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Land Acknowledgment
Read the ACLU NorCal’s land acknowledgement statement, as well as information about the process we engaged in to create this statement and our ongoing learning process to offer land acknowledgements at our internal and public events.
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Student Rights to Tribal, Cultural, and Religious Objects at Graduation
In California, you have a right to wear tribal regalia and other items of cultural or religious significance at your high school graduation. But every year, we hear from students and advocates that schools are denying students’ rights to wear tribal regalia at commencement. Learn about your rights and our work to defend them.
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Protection and Preservation of Sacred Sites and Ancestral Lands
We seek to further the protection, preservation, and access to ancestral lands, sacred sites, and other important landmarks critical to tribal sovereignty and Indigenous identity.

One of these places, Juristac, is the heart of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s ancestral lands and one of the Tribe’s last remaining sacred sites. Today, private landowners want to turn Juristac into an open-pit sand and gravel mine.
 Protect Juristac campaign