BFS Honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day

As a Quaker school rooted in the values of equality, integrity, and community, we take this moment to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an important recognition of the history, culture, and contributions of Native communities. It serves as a moment to reflect on the injustices indigenous people have faced and continue to face, promoting healing, education, and reconciliation.

Quakerism with its strong focus on equality, peace, and social justice resonates deeply with these principles. Historically, many Quakers have supported Indigenous rights, advocating for fair treatment and understanding. Today, we acknowledge that our school stands on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape people, who have stewarded this land for generations.

We recognize the rich cultural heritage, resilience, and enduring contributions of Indigenous communities, not only in this region but across the world. As a community committed to justice and equity, we reflect on the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, displacement and divestment on Indigenous peoples – a system we benefit from. We also honor and recognize the ongoing struggle and enduring resilience in resistance of indigenous communities in their reclaiming and retelling through historical social justice and sacred traditions. We hold ourselves accountable to learning from the wisdom of Indigenous traditions through our own example.

In the spirit of our Quaker testimonies, let us use this day as an opportunity to deepen our understanding and commitment to justice for Indigenous communities, and to walk in partnership toward healing and reconciliation. To honor Indigenous Peoples Day, Brooklyn Friends School centers local organizations that uplift Native people in Brooklyn and the greater community. These six nonprofits, both Indigenous serving and led, provide important services and would benefit from support and engagement.

• American Indian Community House: The mission of American Indian Community House (AICH) is to improve and promote the well-being of the American Indian Community and to increase the visibility of American Indian cultures in an urban setting in order to cultivate awareness, understanding and respect.
• Lenape Center: Lenape Center is a nonprofit organization fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Their work has been the creation and development of exhibitions, public art, symposia, performance, music, opera, theater, and education. (workshops, lectures, curricula).
• The Mexican Coalition: Their mission is to develop the individual, organizational, and community capacities that will enable Latinos and Mexican Americans to realize their full civic, cultural, and political integration into American society.
• Mixteca: Mixteca Organization is a community-based organization with the mission to empower the Mexican and Latin-American immigrants of the New York area by providing them access to services that enhance their quality of life and will allow them to reach sustainable social and economic development.
• Urban Indigenous Collective: Their mission supports access to culturally-tailored health and wellness services for self-identified Indigenous peoples in Lenapehoking and the greater NYC area (NY, NJ, CT, PA) through community-based participatory research, advocacy, community programming, and direct services.
• Worker’s Justice Project: WJP is a New York City worker center that educates, organizes, and fights for better work conditions and social justice in the workplace. They pursue these goals through advocacy, grassroots organizing, education and training, creative expression, and by working in coalition with allies that support their community.