Carolina Kickoff
Carolina Kickoff's Statements
As a social justice nonprofit within the Campus Y, Carolina Kickoff is committed to creating a safe and equitable experience for individuals from all backgrounds and with all identities at UNC. Below, we have included statements that align our mission with important issues going on in the world today as well as historical acknowledgements relating to UNC’s campus.
Statement on the Israeli-Palestine Conflict:
As a partner of the Campus Y and an organization devoted to social justice, CK is committed to speaking against injustice everywhere. As such, we stand with the Campus Y Executive Board and in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for land and freedom. Please read the Exec. Board’s full statement here.
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CK echoes the Campus Y’s position in their calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as well as UNC divestment from companies and organizations supporting the genocide of Palestinians. Hatred in any form has no place in our organization, on our campus, or in our world; and as such, we call for justice and peace.
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-CK Exec 2023-2024 (May 2024)
CK Land Acknowledgement
Carolina Kickoff acknowledges how UNC has benefited and continues to benefit from settler colonialism. The land we stand on was stolen, and its legacy is rooted in the dispossession of the people who originally inhabited it. Much of the wealth accumulated by UNC systems is a direct result of the forced removal of indigenous peoples and the commodification of land for private gain. UNC must address these harms and theft by providing funding to research the history of the people from whom this land was taken, contributing reparations to the Native peoples of NC, and working to reckon with its history and present as a colonial and racist institution.
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We recognize that the land we stand on today was traditionally part of the territories under the stewardship of the Occaneechi, Shakori, Eno, and Sissipahaw peoples. Native Americans are not relics of the past, and as such, we honor their living legacies. We ask that you do the same by listening and learning from them, standing in solidarity with them, and living in a way that honors their past and present stewardship, love, and respect for the land.
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Carolina Kickoff’s main event, CKamp, takes place at Camp New Hope, Chapel Hill. We would like to acknowledge that Camp New Home is on the lands of the Saponi, Occaneechi, Cheraw, Eno, Shakori, Catawba, and Lumbee peoples. The descendents of these peoples are the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation Indian Tribe and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina – though, these are only the specific groups recognized by the state of North Carolina. We recognize the importance of acknowledging the history and ongoing impact of colonization and strive to engage in meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities. We would like you to do the same by honoring their stewardship of the lands we exist on, standing in solidarity with Indigenous rights movements, and reckoning with your position within a colonial system.
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-CK Exec 2023-2024 (Fall 2023)
