Last week, the Brentwood Diversity, Equity, Belonging and Inclusion (DEBI) Committee agreed to move forward with a Land Acknowledgement that would be read before each city council and planning commission meeting.
The item was approved in a 2-0 vote and will return to the city council meeting at a future date for full approval. A Land Acknowledgement which is a formal statement that publicly recognizes the Indigenous Peoples who have been displaced and dispossessed from their ancestral lands due to colonial and historical forces. It acknowledges that an organization, city, park, or other structure is located on the ancestral homelands of these Indigenous communities.
According to the staff report, presenting a Land Acknowledgment at official City Council meetings supports the Council’s commitment to advancing racial equity by promoting an environment that is both aware of and actively working to integrate Indigenous People and the history of local lands into decision-making processes. The goal is to promote inclusion and a sense of belonging in community engagement, staff recommends partnering with local Indigenous organizations to develop and present a Land Acknowledgment that accurately reflects the ancestral tribes of present-day Brentwood.
While members of the community spoke for and against the item, the issue prompted two members of the Brentwood City Council to speak during general public comments as “residents” rather than under their official title.
Mayor Susannah Meyer spoke in “strong support” of the DEBI committee sharing she was apart of the committee during its launch.
“I was a proud member to do what I could to stand up for DEI, DEBI principals which are designed to make us all feel equal to bring us all to a place at the table to lift people up who have been disenfranchised or misjudged or discriminated against so we all feel like we have value,” stated Meyer saying Brentwood is not only a diverse city, but becoming more so. “To me, it’s more strength than its ever had before, I want to honor it. I don’t think we need to necessarily be blind to color or to cultural beliefs, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, I think we need to honor and let those things bring us together and learn from one another.”
She said that may make some feel uncomfortable.
“I recognize that when those of us who have a voice and speak out for others that don’t agree with everyone that means some people are going to hate us, discriminate against us and judge us. And we have to be uncomfortable sometimes in order to grow and to learn” stated Meyer.
Meyer added she was here to support the DEBI committee and did support DEI along with all the differences within the City of Brentwood saying, “if we are not trying to learn from one another or trying to grow as human beings, if we are not trying to be better than the generation that came before then we are stagnant and that is not a good place to be.”
She closed by saying, “instead of everyone judging one another and assuming the worst, please come to our cultural events, they are welcoming to everyone, speak to each other, learn from each other and lets keep the city moving forward in a very positive and loving way.”
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza also spoke during public comments as a “resident” saying here were many sides to DEI. She cited a report McKinsey while noting Target removed its DEI and has seen 10 weeks of decreased traffic. Costco has kept its DEI and has grown sales over the past 13 weeks.
“Anyone who tells you it’s not a benefit to your business, it is,” said Mendoza. “As a Christian, I was raised to treat everyone the same and welcoming of everyone, so I was very discouraged to hear people used religion to discriminate. It’s very upsetting because I was taught to accept everyone, and I’ve never had to tear anyone down to make myself feel better. I can stand on my own two. I encourage you to continue the work of Diversity, Equity and inclusion, make sure everyone in Brentwood feels welcome.”
She said if people want to have a Farm Fest, by all means have it, but don’t tear others down to have an event – otherwise that is “hate filled”.
“When you tell me you don’t want to talk about DEI, you are telling me you don’t want to see us and the things we have to deal with us. You have never had to deal with discrimination the way we do and for people to just negate it, it’s completely insulting and to me, that is not Christ like,” said Mendoza.
After public comments, prior to getting into committee discussion, Vice Mayor Pa’Tanisha Pierson said there was not an event that Brentwood sponsors or provides funding to that is not inclusive of all people—everyone is invited to attend.
She said for those who brought up Juneteenth, she suggested people “Google It” because its very public and a part of history. She said all events are inclusive and they welcome new events—including grant options.
Councilmember Faye Maloney reiterated that all Brentwood events are for everyone and that she believed they needed more education.
“As we are doing these events, we need to say what we are celebrating,” stated Maloney. “I feel like that is being missed. We all needed to be part of that celebration but understand what it is. I also appreciate we all come from adversity and ones adversity isn’t better or more important than another, but it doesn’t give us the right to diminish the other adversities that have happened throughout life or the community. So being kind and aware of how we are bringing items forward is super important.”
She continued saying they can have conversations going forward without making others feel that they don’t belong in the community.
“I’ll say it, its bothered me about some residents here, some staff here, that felt that they don’t belong in this community after some of the comments that were heard,” said Maloney. “Before speaking out about something, considering what am I exactly bringing forward and how am I being solution to this problem or am I making it more of a problem or how can I make it more inclusive for everyone, including myself for this community. I think that’s where I’ve been taught, before I say something out loud, find out how it affects you, the people around you or your community. That takes critical thinking of how I can improve the quality of life. Therefore, bring something forward, but we don’t want it to be divisive.”
Maloney further spoke about the national rhetoric impacting local communities but said none of the DEI policies in Brentwood are what national rhetoric is spewing.
“No one is getting hired here on the color of their skin or their gender orientation, those things are redacted,” said Maloney. “Its just your training, experience and education that is on that application before you are being selected, so that would eliminate racism or discrimination in my opinion because that is all redacted.”
Maloney asked Sukari Beshears, HR director, to correct her if she was wrong with her statement.
Beshears clarified that if they are in the testing or examine phase, that information is not available to any of the departments saying they do not have names until they have the candidates before them while the gender and ethnicity is not available until they select the candidates for the interview process.
Maloney stated there was misinformation on both the “right or left” and with research or emailing the council or staff to get accurate information versus national rhetoric.
The committee then got back to the Land Acknowledgement.
Robert Bell, Equity Management Analyst, he recommended they co-create its Land Acknowledgement with the local indigenous tribes that overlapped with the City of Brentwood which included:
Bell said what is being proposed, the Land Acknowledgement would be read before every committee, sub-committees, and council meetings.
During discussion, Maloney asked staff if they had any type of relationship with tribal leadership near the city. Staff said “not that they were aware of” but would be reaching out.
Maloney suggested some type of ceremonial event with them.
Pierson said in her role as district director working for Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias (D-Martinez) she has the ability to mee with legislative aids and legislative people who do a lot of legislative work for tribes, she sees and knows the disparities those communities have and what the importance of what land acknowledgements are.
Pierson then read a prepared statement:
“Land acknowledgements serve as a powerful practice to recognize and honor indigenous people who originally owned and stewarded this land, the land you are all sitting on in chairs in right now, Land acknowledgement are a single, small, but significant way to bring about reparations, especially here in California where we have a complex history of displacement, colonization and cultural erasure of Mexican and Native American tribes. Land acknowledgements bring about educational awareness and require us to acknowledge all of our history, American History which is all of our history no matter who we worship to, no matter what color our skin is, no matter our gender or our sexual orientation. If you are here today, it is acknowledgement of all of our history, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So that we do not repeat the bad, so that we learn how to incorporate the good into our future and that we teach our children, our actual history. We teach it to our youth instead of grooming them to perpetuate hate and lies. Land acknowledgement bring about reconciliation, which thank you for acknowledging my name, which means to reconcile differences and healing. Sometimes, truth telling and acknowledgements of our faults can be the bridge to the gaps of differences to build relationships where we can grow from learning about our unique differences. So during my time where I have discussion, I want to take a moment to honor the Julpun Bay Miwok and Yukut Indian tribes, I want to acknowledge our native Mexicans who still don’t get the proper recognition in our country right now and our being treated like trash. I want to acknowledge that this country was built in part by the forced labor of millions of enslaved, I said millions, not hundreds, millions, this is real history that is trying to be erased, our children can’t learn about it, of enslaved Africans whose resilience and brilliance in the face of unimaginable brutality shaped every single aspect of American life. I am committed to truth, remembrance and I want to work towards a just future for every single person no matter what percentage they sit in. So even if I am in the 5 percent of residence I want to make sure that we recognize each and every person because as we know, we have systems in place that prevent us from moving further, for some of us, even when we have DEI efforts, like what Councilmember Maloney said, or hiring practices, there are still ways based on implicant bias even when you erase someone’s name, that someone is hire based on gender or race. So I want to recognize the full extent of our truths that our implicant biases are here but I want to make sure we are working on a direction that is just for everybody and not just for some people.”
Maloney confirmed the Land Acknowledgement confirmed with staff this would happen before every meeting. When staff confirmed, she suggested it be more “ceremonial”
Pierson didn’t agree saying it would only be a few seconds of each meeting while saying they acknowledge and thank people for coming to meetings.
“I feel like we sit on someone’s land and we can’t thank them, says a lot,” said Pierson adding some people don’t feel welcome. “Because of displacement of Native Americans, we may have regions of California where there are not a large amount so I want to make something that is more impactful.”
She said in her “day job”, she has learned that “recognition is a big deal” and while some see reparations as a bad word, when you hit someone’s car, insurance fixes it so she feels like reparations is the fixing of the damage caused.
“It’s a very small thing that we can do and I don’t see what the harm in saying, we say the pledge to a flag that sits on the ground of these people, I think an acknowledgement is the least we can do,” said Pierson. “And it takes less than 10 seconds to say.”
Maloney responded saying she came from an indigenous Mexican family, and wanted what they did be meaningful and not lost in translation where each meeting they were saying something just to say something.
“Saying it word for word every meeting, that will get lost in translation,” said Maloney.
Pierson offered a rebuttal, “that would be like saying I thank you for your service is not meaningful, but if you ask a veteran every single time we say thank you for your service that is meaningful,”
Maloney suggested why not do a ceremony?
Pierson said she would be okay with both but did not know what the impact would be given they don’t have a large population in Brentwood. But called the “recognition” is a big deal.
Pierson then motioned to accept the recommendations before the committee for the Land Acknowledgement before the city council and planning commission meetings.
It was approved in a 2-0 vote. The item will go before the city council at a future meeting for full approval.
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