Presentation #219.04 in the session HAD I Interactive Activity — A New Observatory Is Coming to Your Neighborhood.
AAS members have been actively engaged in their support of the rights of Indigenous communities as part of expressing their own indigenous identities and making space for other indigenous astrophysicists. Academic communities connected to the University of California and University of Hawaii have expressed their position in an open letter in support of indigenous rights by requesting that these two universities divest from Mauna Kea. Our graduate students have crafted an open letter to the astrophysics community requesting further dialogue with indigenous communities rather than relying upon police and military interventions. Observatories do have programs to facilitate improved relations with local indigenous populations, but the work is ongoing. The AAS, the Royal Astronomical Society and IAU Division C Working Group on Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture have partnered to create a new initiative focused on culturally sensitive sites.