This syllabus and class’s foundation has a number of sources to thank:

Christopher Pullman — whose class portals and syllabus have served as my introduction to motion design, I’ve modeled this class from his foundational course at Yale, Motion Design.
Mindy Seu — whose website, syllabus and class structure for On Gathering have served as the organizational structure and language for this class and syllabus.
Herdimas Anggara — whose input and guidance through the class preparation process has largely influenced this course's direction.

And many other faculty and staff from VCU that helped me organize this class and provided a lot of detailed instruction and input. And, those who generously provided their VCU syllabus from the shared archive that helped me with this very phrasing, and other detailed language in the syllabus.

Land Acknowledgement Statement

It is important to recognize the written histories of this country, Richmond, and this institution is fractured. Virginia Commonwealth University sits on the traditional homeland of the original caretakers, the Powhatan people. With respect and gratitude, the School of the Arts honors the many Indigenous peoples who have, do, and will call this land their home. We acknowledge that we have benefitted from the repeated attacks on Native Americans that forced these peoples’ land to be seized violently. This land seizure led to the era of economic development and rapid growth, making Richmond the city it is today. Let us also honor the enslaved people who built the wealth and foundation of this state and institution. We are obligated to our students and the Indigenous peoples now living in Richmond to do no further harm, amplify Indigenous and Black voices, and fight for justice. (sourced from https://arts.vcu.edu/community/diversity-inclusion/committee/)

We acknowledge that the land each of us live, learn and thrive are the traditional, ancestral and unceded homelands of Indigenous and tribal nations. Our home and institution is on the original homelands of the Monocan tribal nation(s). We acknowledge the genocide and systems of oppression that have dispossessed Indigenous people of their lands and we honor and respect the diverse and beautiful peoples still connected to this land. (sourced from https://www.vcualumni.org/about/dei/)

Even for our video calls, Zoom relies on servers at Equinix data centers in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Melbourne, New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Silicon Valley & Sydney, according to Rory Solomon, Assistant Professor at the New School. Let’s discuss: Why do we recognize the land? “To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory you reside on, and a way of honoring the indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. It is important to understand the long-standing history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation. It is also worth noting that acknowledging the land is indigenous protocol.” (sourced from www.lspirg.org/knowtheland)
More information can be found here: native-land.ca

Land acknowledgement statements are meant to be crafted in conversation with representatives of the respective nations. Some organizations believe that this should be paired with fiscally contingent plans as the start of reparations. To my knowledge, it is not clear if VCU or VCUarts has reached out to members of the Powhatan and Monocan tribal nations. I still choose to add this land acknowledgement to our syllabus in order to begin this conversation with you, our students, as a small attempt towards this goal.