A discussion regarding the Land Acknowledgement Toolkit was made at the El Camino College Council meeting.

The toolkit will be reviewed by the Academic Senate during the first spring meeting in 2022, after which it will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees.

The approval of the toolkit would have El Camino College (ECC) officially acknowledge the past owners of the land it is built on. There is also the possibility of an exhibit being created that could begin the process of teaching and informing the ECC community about the indigenous beginnings of the campus.

Analū Kame’eiāmoku Josephides, a member of the Land Acknowledgement Task Force, spoke about the toolkit and why it should be reviewed in the future.

Originally owned by the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe who covered the Los Angeles Basin area before being forced out of their homes, the land was then going to be converted into a Black residential project called Gordon Manor in the 1920s before plans were interrupted by concerned white citizens, Josephides said.

This lead to the land being available space for El Camino to be constructed, he said.