Our 2020 Annual Shuumi Land Tax
2020 was the year that Bread SRSLY got serious about examining our privilege and power and using our business to advance justice for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
A group of our employees launched a Culture, Inclusion, and Community Club to collaboratively create a more psychologically safe workplace for all staff, as well as address ways we can use our business as a vehicle to honor and amplify BIPOC voices, and strive for equity for marginalized folks within and outside of our team.
As a result of these conversations, our team turned its attention to the fact that our manufacturing facility in Berkeley, California operates on stolen land — land that rightfully belongs to the Lisjan Ohlone Indigenous people. After thousands of years of inhabitance, three waves of genocide completely pushed these people off their territory.
As a company that now conducts business on this traditional Ohlone land, Bread SRSLY has decided to pay an Institutional Shuumi Land Tax based off of our annual profit. We were inspired to start paying our tax based on seeing Sana Javeri Kadri, Founder and CEO of Diaspora Co., talk about the importance of the Shuumi Land Tax and pay hers. We recently made our first contribution of $291.11 based off of our 2020 finances, and will continue to do so on an annual basis as long as we operate within the Bay Area.
What’s the Shuumi Land Tax?
The Institutional Shuumi Land Tax is a financial contribution paid to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust for running a business on traditional Lisjan Ohlone land. We pay it to acknowledge the Ohlone community, as well as support its work to build community centers, maintain urban gardens, and purchase and manage land, among other work.
Shuumi means “gift” in the Ohlone language Chochenyo.
If you’d like to learn more, the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust website is rich with resources that we’ve learned greatly from.
What can I do to acknowledge and support the Ohlone community?
- If you live in or run an organization within the East Bay of California, you too are on Ohlone land. You can also pay a Shuumi land tax for your rented or owned home, or for running a business, organization, school, or religious group in the area. Learn more about paying your annual Shuumi on the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust website.
- Educate yourself. Check out this recommended reading from the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
- If you don’t live on Ohlone land, you can still make a donation.