Alameda Native History Project

Month: June 2024

  • Indigenous Land Lab Update

    This is an excerpt of an email to the Indigenous Land Lab mailing list.

    Updates:

    1. June 8th Willow Harvest Meetup went great!  With the help and enthusiasm of our Land Lab partner, Liz, we were able to harvest about 30 pounds of willow poles and reeds.
    2. We received donations of:
      • Weed whacker, from Naomi!  It worked great in knocking down those weeds at the Land Lab.
      • Beautiful Pots and Monstrously Large Sage Trimmings from Laura!  The pots are marking the outline of the site.  The sage has been trimmed and is now drying.
    3. The Acorn Granary Challenge begins on July 7th!!!  

    Priorities:

    Collecting as much materials for Acorn Granary construction as possible.

    What do we need?

    1. Willow and Hardwood poles to create the legs and superstructure of the granary.
    2. Willow reeds to weave the sides of the granary.
    3. English Ivy, Honeysuckle Vines to use as cordage and help keep everything together.
    4. Large rosemary “spears”.  Like, “big ‘ol stems or branches”.  These are for pest control.
    5. Large bay tree boughs, very important for pest control.
    6. Eucalyptus boughs, experimental non-tradish pest control.

    There are other, more serious plants, like stinging nettle, which I would like to take the time and make some cordage from.  Just like splitting the willow reeds to make strips for weaving the granaries.

    Hard-to-find materials would be redwood bark–which would be nice to use on the outside of a granary.  And then Pine Sap–which simply won’t be readily available until later, and will require some travel into higher elevations to gather.

     If you would like to help gather more natural materials for Acorn Granary Construction, please sign up for the Indigenous Land Lab Email List, to help plan what dates and times work best to plan a meet-up to harvest materials.

    Next Steps for the Land Lab:

    These are the next steps we are anticipating.

    1. Meet up to harvest materials for acorn granary construction.
    2. Weed and Hemlock Management.
    3. Cover with silage tarp for 1 month.
    4. Plan 3 Sisters x Victory Garden (create Garden Design)
    5. Harvest local plant seeds from around Indigenous Land Lab and Greater Bay Area
    6. Source heirloom and native seeds.
    7. Till soil.  Make rows according to Garden Design
    8. Build mini-greenhouse and tray/propagation tables
    9. Fence important stuff
    10. Begin planting cover crops or actual crops or both.
    11. Install Acorn Granary
    12. Begin propagation

    You are invited to participate in any or all aspects of planning and working.  We’re assuming tilling should happen sometime in August.

    Tool & Equipment Drive

    We’ve received a lot of interest, support, and some very generous donations of equipment, supplies, and money!  (All donations are tax deductible!)

    What do we need?

    We’re still looking for the basics:

    1. Shovels
    2. Metal Rakes
    3. Pickaxe
    4. Hoes & Scrapers
    5. Saws
    6. Post driver

    Specific things we need:

    1. Silage tarp (for area 30′ x 30′)
    2. 8 fence posts
    3. Chicken-wire (120′ x 4′)
    4. 3-5 Cubic Yards of Compost
    *Once the size and design of the restoration nursery is finalized, we will be adding construction materials to our list of specifics.

    We managed to find a roto-tiller we can use when we’re ready!

    Some of these things we know we can borrow, like a post driver.  But other stuff–like shovels and rakes–we need to keep on hand.

    Luckily, we don’t need a large amount of anything other than Silage Tarp, Chicken-Wire, and Compost.

    Best ways to support?

    Join us in harvesting Willow, Bay Leaf, and Nettle for granary construction. 

    Donate tools:  If you have some tools, supplies, or equipment on this list, we can pick it up.  If you have a truckload of compost, we can meet you at the land lab for a drop off.

    Purchase directly from our wishlist.  Indigenous Land Lab Wishlist is available here.

    Donate to the Alameda Native History Project.  Tax deductible donations can be made to the Alameda Native History Project here.

    Alameda Native History Project is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499).  Any monetary donation, or donation in-kind is tax deductible, and you will receive a donation receipt whether you want it or not.  LOL.  I mean, if you say no, then we won’t, but who doesn’t like a small write-off?

    What Next?

    • Check your garden for the plants we need.  Check your neighbors’ too!
    • Come out and harvest materials for granary construction!  (Plan on about 2-3 hours. Sometime next week.)
      We’ve got lots of water and snacks.  Please bring a bag lunch.
    • The next meeting should happen in early July.  Think about when you’re generally available for a 30-60 minute Online Meeting.
      Our meetings are fast, agendized, and focused on business and planning.  Feel free to ask questions or submit a topic for the next meeting and I’ll do my best to make sure it’s covered/included.

    Anyway, it’s Pride Week, so things are totally hectic as I volunteer for the Gay American Indians.  Check out the attached fliers for GAI events.  Consider marching with Gay American Indians at Pride!

    Be well; and talk to you soon!

    Yours truly,
    Gabriel Duncan
    via collab@nativehistoryproject.org

    To join the land lab, email collab@nativehistoryproject.org, or use the form below.

    Indigenous Land Lab
    Mailing List Sign-Up Form






  • Gay American Indians To March In SF Pride Parade To Celebrate 49 Years of Indigenous Resistance

    June 24, 1979; Gay American Indians banner at Civic Center during San Francisco “Gay Freedom Day Parade”. Photo by Joe Altman.

    It’s official, the first and oldest Two-Spirit Society in the Nation, the Gay American Indians, will be appearing as their own contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade to celebrate their 49th year in existence.

    This year’s (2024) theme is “Visibility is Our Essence“.

    When Gay American Indians (GAI) was found in 1975, the world was a very homophobic and racist place. While the Castro was supposedly the Gay Mecca of the world, it was still only accessible to White Gay Men. In a very Jim Crow kind of way: Women and People of Color were refused service and kicked out of Castro businesses.

    What’s more, homophobia and learned anti-traditional behavior on reservations across Native America helped form a mass exodus of LGBTQ Native American people from their homelands, into the cities.

    Because of the discrimination and ignorance both at home, and in the Castro (and other cities), LGBTQ Native American people suffered from depression, and languished from being kept out of and separated from the social support networks enjoyed by our white gay counter-parts. This situation only compounded a suicide and substance abuse epidemic–which started soon after the Relocation Act (of 1956), and still plagues our communities today.

    But it was because of the tenacity and visibility of Two-Spirit Activists like GAI co-founders Barbara Cameron, and Randy Burns, that many of the services and rights for Native American People exists–not the least of which is the fight GAI and Two-Spirit People had with the American Anthropological Association to use the term “Two-Spirit” instead of the derogatory name “berdache” for LGBTQ Native American People.

    AIDS

    Just because we were weren’t let into businesses and bars on the Castro certainly did not mean we were spared from “Gay Diseases” like, AIDS–which ravaged the Gay American Indian community. In fact, the AIDS Epidemic hollowed out the Native American LGBTQ community worldwide.

    And, the ignorance and homophobia surrounding the virus created an impenetrable stigma which resulted in the unnecessary pain and suffering, and indignities seen across the Gay Community, but which profoundly Two-Spirit People in their own Native American communities–some of which would not let their own relatives be buried in their own cemeteries, on their own homelands.

    HIV/AIDS testing and care services are still needed in Native America.

    Roughly 20% of Native Americans living with HIV/AIDS don’t even know they are infected.

    Only 21% of Urban Natives have ever received an HIV test.

    And, despite the National HIV Infection Rate decreasing–the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections in Native American has increased by 16%.

    This is in stark contrast to the fact that only 64 out of 100 Native People living with HIV/AIDS were “virally suppressed”–meaning: taking medicine to stop the viral replication process, to become undetectable, or “untransmissible”.

    The other 36% of people who are not on medicine may not be at fault. They may be part of the 20% that doesn’t even know they’re infected; they may be unable to receive the care they need because of stigma from within their rural healthcare communities (which I have experienced first-hand) or because of the myriad barriers to gaining access to, and retaining, HIV/AIDS care and treatments.

    The amount of research The lack of testing & research done on the prevalence, rates, and effects of HIV/AIDS on Native American People and Communities means that most Health & Service Agencies are blind to the true extent and impact of the epidemic on our friends and relatives. This issue became front and center when, in 1987, the late Jodi Harry became the first Native (that we know of) to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. [Harry would later take his own life.]

    At that time the CDC did not keep track of HIV/AIDS diagnoses or deaths in the Native American Community. But that did not stop GAI from taking care of its own members. And, when male GAI members were too few or too sick, it was the sacrifice and service of our sisters, like Barbara Cameron, which helped us through one of the darkest chapters in Gay American Indians history.

    GAI will never forget the brothers and sisters we lost to HIV/AIDS. And we honor them every day we continue to breathe and fight for the rights and representation of our Two-Spirits relatives everywhere.

    The Term “Two-Spirit”

    … Refers to Native American people who do not fit the Western/European idea of what Men and Women are, and what their roles in society should be.

    [The whole premise of this first sentence is offensive to Native American people because we honestly don’t care what white people think of us. And, it’s for the very reason that all People of Color have been disregarded, or all together regarded as a monolith, that has led to countless inequities in every facet of our existence in society, from healthcare to sports. In fact, the consideration and explanation of People of Color by people who treat mayonnaise as a spice, and consider the sun an enemy has never really worked out for us, at all.]

    The term “two-spirit” came about as a preferred moniker to the term “berdache“–which is a french slur meaning “boy whore”–and is widely offensive to LGBTQ Native American People from a diverse plethora of tribes, communities, and backgrounds–and especially Lesbian Women, and people Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB.)

    Because of the work the Gay American Indians did in bringing forth their research, and the opinions of researchers like Will Roscoe, Paula Gunn Allen, Maurice Kenny, in the first Gay American Indians Anthology: “Living the Spirit”….

    … And comments and narratives from Two-Spirit People like GAI co-founders Barbara Cameron, and Randy Burns; Erna Pahe; and people like notable activist and Tribal Law Expert Clyde Hall during the 1993 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting….

    … The American Anthropological Association has all but officially abandoned the use of the offending term, in favor of “Two-Spirit”.

    Today, Two-Spirit Associations can be found all over what some people refer to as “Turtle Island”.

    GAI’s 50 Year Anniversary

    In 2025, next year, the Gay American Indians will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary. And we are going all out. We are going to be creating story boards and presentations to honor:

    • GAI co-founder Barbara Cameron, and her legacy as an activist, SF Pride Board Member, published author, and more.
    • GAI’s ongoing legacy in SF Pride: Randy Burns, Community Pride Marshal (2005); Morningstar Vancil, Community Pride Marshal (2012); Johnson Livingston, SF Pride Board Member (2007/2008)
    • Memorial to GAI Members who Lost Their Lives to HIV/AIDS
    • Commemorating GAI Veteran and Their Service To Our Country
    • History of Gay American Indians over Five Decades, from 1975 to 2025

    If you are a GAI Member, or are an archivist, photographer, or someone who has articles, photos, recordings or other things which you think will help us tell the story of the Gay American Indians’ 50 Year Legacy, please reach out to us directly so we can arrange a time to talk about your collection/item.

    If you would like to show your support for Gay American Indians, and Two-Spirits everywhere, by marching with us in this, or next years’ San Francisco Pride Parade, you can reach out to us by emailing: gai@nativehistoryproject.org.

    Check out GAI’s event Friday, June 28th:

    For more info email GAI@nativehistoryproject.org; or call Randy Burns (650) 359-6473

  • Indigenous Land Lab Begins

    This is less a news event, than this is a prayer for healing, learning, and success. I’m humbled and ecstatic to say the Indigenous Land Lab is happening.

    There is land for a lab. With amazing potential. There are seeds. And water.  We are ready to begin.

"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today."

    The plan, right now, is to have a (mini) propagation lab, small nursery, and 3 Sisters x Victory Demo Garden.

    And all of it will be made from the ground up.

    What a great place to start. This is exciting.

    You can share in this awesome journey, too!

    Bring gloves, a hat, and your waiver. LOL. (No, for real, it’s for our fiscal sponsor.)

    We’ll provide water, some shade, and (hopefully) lunch during official workdays. (At least snacks!)

    We would love for you to join us!

    If you would like to sign up to work on the Indigenous Land Lab with us, please use this Indigenous Plant Lab Role Selection form:

    https://forms.gle/zCe8ab5VnPwQDJYMA

    You can support the Indigenous Land Lab in other ways, too!

    The first, of course, would be by donating landscaping & gardening equipment you no longer use. But, we would be especially grateful for the use of your walk-behind “brush mower”, “brush hog” or “rotor cutter”.

    The land we have is wild, and untamed. It’s overgrown with invasive grass, some hemlock, and a random shrub or two. This is why our list sounds more like a fire crew equipment list than what you’d expect for an established garden.

    Here’s a list of what we would really like to get our hands on:

    Tools

    • Metal Rakes
    • Shovels
    • Pickaxes
    • Hoes & Scrapers
    • Chingaderas (a fire tool good for “extracting deep rooted fuels”)
    • Post drivers
    • Saws (hacksaw, chainsaw)

    Equipment

    • A walk-behind Brush Mower/Brush Hog/Rotocutter
    • Rototiller
    • Supply locker/chest/weatherproof box

    Supplies

    • Chicken-wire
    • Fence Posts

    If you wish to donate any of these tools, or if you have other tools you’d like to donate:

    Please send us an email ( collab@nativehistoryroject.org ) so we can arrange a good time to come to you, receive your generous donation, and supply you with a donation receipt you can use for tax purposes.

    One more way to support the Indigenous Land Lab is to donate to the Alameda Native History Project.

    Alameda Native History Project donation link.

    Alameda Native History Project is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499). As such: all donations you make are tax deductible.