Gail Melix, a member of Sandwich Monthly Meeting, co-clerk of NEYM Earthcare Ministry, and a board director of Native Land Conservancy, an Indigenous-led land trust, has co-authored A Native American Land Reparation Pledge, a thought-provoking article on reparations to Indigenous Peoples which may be of particular interest to Friends:

Reparations to Indigenous Peoples can take many forms. Through our work with Massachusetts’ Peace Abbey, we have developed one action that might work well for others, the Native Land Reparation Pledge (NLRP). The pledge states one’s intention to donate 1% of the sale price of our homes (when we sell) to the Indigenous tribe whose ancestral homeland we now own and from which we financially benefit…

The spirit behind the reparation pledge is rooted in the awareness that the land we live on, in nearly all cases, was forcibly taken from an Indigenous Tribe many years ago and we, being the beneficiary of this wrongful act, wish to make reparation. All contributions are made by the homeowner directly to the Indigenous Tribe. This is an act of conscience, and though it is not legally binding, it is a sacred promise.

                                                                                               -from A Native American Land Reparation Pledge by Gail Melix and Lewis Randa