Charlotte Roller Derby would like to acknowledge and pay tribute to the Indigenous history as part of our responsibility to recognize, honor, and affirm Indigenous culture and experiences. Charlotte Roller Derby recognizes that it exists on land that originally belonged to the Catawba, Cheraw, Sugeree, Wateree, and Waxhaw peoples, who cared for this land for generations before colonization and whose memories may have been erased by violence, displacement, migration, and settlement. It’s also important to acknowledge that Charlotte’s growth came at the expense of enslaved African people and their descendants, whose forced labor helped build the region. Recognizing this history can’t just be performative, it should push us to actually listen to Indigenous and Black communities and challenge the systems that still create inequality today.