Though we, as individuals, may be scattered across the globe, the Center for Astrophysics and its affiliated campuses still sit on the traditional and ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. In Cambridge, these are the Massachusett and nearby Wampanoag peoples; in Arizona the O’odham, Papago, Ópata, and Sobaipuri peoples; and in Hawai'i, the Native Hawaiians who still seek federal recognition as an indigenous Nation. We recognize the painful histories that these people have endured, and understand our complicity in that history.

We know, however, that this statement alone is not enough. We encourage everyone in attendance today to familiarize yourselves with the Native peoples who originally inhabited the land on which you now work and live. We encourage you all to educate yourselves on their ongoing struggle against the colonialist structures that have so impacted their lives for centuries. We encourage you too, to seek out ways in which these peoples and cultures have survived, and the ways they have reclaimed joy.