Gabriel Duncan to Deliver Official Muwekma Ohlone Land Acknowledgment and Speech at June 14 No Kings Rally
ALAMEDA, CA – Gabriel Duncan, Founder and Executive Director of the Alameda Native History Project, will deliver the official Muwekma Ohlone Land Acknowledgment and a speech titled “How Our Pressure Is Working” at the No Kings Rally on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at Alameda City Hall.
The official Land Acknowledgment, authorized by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, will open the rally at 12:00 PM. This acknowledgment is presented in accordance with tribal protocol and reflects the Tribe’s sovereign presence and ancestral connection to the land now known as Alameda.
Duncan will return to the stage at 12:36 PM to speak on the dangers of symbolic solidarity, curated resistance, and the structures that continue to marginalize truth in favor of comfort. His remarks will ground the event in real-time struggles for justice across California, from San Diego to Concord, and underscore the responsibility to act with clarity rather than perform unity.
Known for his leadership in Indigenous food sovereignty, environmental justice, and public historical truth-telling, Duncan is one of the only individuals in Alameda delivering officially sanctioned Land Acknowledgments on behalf of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. His participation in the No Kings Rally is both a recognition of ongoing movement work and a disruption of narratives that seek to flatten it.
This event is part of a national day of action opposing authoritarianism and political repression. It includes a community food drive for local residents in need. Participants are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for donation. The site is on flat, paved ground. Attendees are welcome to bring lawn or camp chairs for comfort.
Media Contact:
Gabriel Duncan Founder & Executive Director Alameda Native History Project info@nativehistoryproject.org (510) 747-8423 https://NativeHistoryProject.org/
Event Details:
Saturday, June 14, 2025 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Alameda City Hall 2263 Santa Clara Ave Alameda, CA 94501
Land Acknowledgment – 12:00 PM No Kings Speech – 12:36 PM
Effective June 5, 2025, the Alameda Native History Project has permanently ended its affiliation with Bay Area MakerFarm. This decision follows MakerFarm’s failure to perform in response to an unresolved food safety hazard posed by its walk-in refrigerator unit that remains structurally unsound, unsanitary, and incapable of maintaining safe refrigeration temperatures.
The Alameda Native History Project initially suspended operations at MakerFarm on May 24, 2025, after repeated warnings were ignored. The organization issued a formal Notice of Suspension of Activities & Intent to Disclose, citing extensive documentation, including:
Over 400 pounds of rotting produce removed by ANHP from the walk-in on April 16
Temperature readings of 43°F–46°F, well above the USDA safe threshold of 40°F
Spoilage of fresh rabbit meat intended for a public event due to inadequate refrigeration
Manufacturer correspondence confirming the existing A/C unit was under-powered for the space
Despite these warnings and a clearly stated remediation deadline, Bay Area MakerFarm took no effective action. Instead of correcting the hazard, Bay Area MakerFarm minimized the danger,
re-framed documented concerns as interpersonal issues, and failed to uphold even basic standards of care or responsibility.
On June 5, 2025, ANHP issued a final Notice of Permanent Suspension of Activities and Withdrawal of Free Association. This notice cited failure to perform, breach of duty, disregard for public health, and misalignment with the standards of care required for Indigenous cultural work. MakerFarm was instructed to remove all references to ANHP from its website, signage, publications, and promotional materials.
This withdrawal is not about conflict. It is about care.
Food sovereignty requires food safety. Cultural work requires clean, safe environments. Community spaces must be accountable to the people they serve. We cannot, and will not, associate our work with conditions that put our community at risk.
To be clear: the negligence and unsanitary conditions at Bay Area MakerFarm have had no impact on the success of our programming. The Alameda Native History Project remains fully self-sustaining and independently organized. The ACORNS! Project Arc continues without interruption, and upcoming events will proceed as planned.
Our work is sacred and community-oriented. It cannot be shaken by a white-led organization that shrouds itself in the language of inclusion but, in practice, cultivates a hostile environment for BIPOC, non-binary individuals, and anyone whose dissent demands accountability.
Bay Area MakerFarm is structured around process idealism, not functional governance.
For BIPOC individuals entering these spaces, the dissonance is immediate. You’re told you’re welcome, but the minute you name harm or point out gaps in care, the tone shifts. Suddenly, you’re “too intense,” or you’re “not being collaborative.” Your lived experience is pathologized. Your insistence on accountability is framed as aggression. If you’ve ever felt isolated, second-guessed yourself, or wondered if you were overreacting, you weren’t. You were being gaslit by a structure that protects comfort over truth and feelings over safety.
What happened at Bay Area MakerFarm is not an anomaly. It is the default operating mode of too many white-led, self-proclaimed progressive collectives.
These are spaces built on white fragility, trustafarian politics, and a curated aesthetic of care that masks deep resistance to real accountability. They specialize in optics over outcomes, claiming to be inclusive while maintaining structures that ensure power remains concentrated and critique is punished.
These environments weaponize process to maintain the status quo, and perform emotional labor not to address harm, but to center themselves in it.
The ‘confusion’ and ‘hurt’ expressed by leadership are not genuine steps toward repair. They are tactics of delay and deflection. The endless talking circles, the forced emotional exposure, the vague invitations to ‘build understanding’—these are not accountability mechanisms. They are containment strategies designed to absorb dissent and protect those in power.
If you’ve been in these spaces and felt like you were being handled instead of heard, you were.
If you’ve been encouraged to participate in healing rituals while the root causes of harm were never addressed, you weren’t imagining things. This is the blueprint. And Bay Area MakerFarm followed it exactly, until we walked away.
When valid safety concerns, grounded in health codes, USDA guidelines, and food safety best practices, were dismissed as a “fancy A/C purchase,” it was an intentional act of gaslighting.
This re-framing didn’t just diminish the issue. It recast an urgent health risk as a personal whim, discrediting the messenger to avoid responsibility.
It sent a clear message: evidence doesn’t matter, what matters is preserving comfort and control.
This is not about collaboration; it’s about conformity to a structure that protects those in power while discrediting those who speak up. Your expertise, your warnings, your truth all become irrelevant the moment they challenge the dominant narrative.
When someone ripped the locking bracket off the door of a shared space with zero consequence, in spite of the fact we were all given the code to the dial lock, it signaled that even basic safety and boundary-setting could be violated without accountability, if you were the right person.
And when that same someone ripped carefully cultivated plants out of the soil, offering a hollow apology deflected by ‘I thought you said…,’ it underscored not only a disregard for labor, presence, and contributions, but a deeper refusal to recognize the agency and personhood of BIPOC participants.
This was not carelessness. It was a pattern: a way of diminishing harm by rewriting intent, shifting blame, and robbing people of the right to define what has happened to them.
The lack of regard, care, concern, or consequences, reinforced a message many BIPOC folks know too well: you’re only welcome for as long as we allow it. It’s not your consent, it’s ours. The moment you assert boundaries, ask for accountability, or disrupt the illusion of harmony, you become the problem.
Bay Area MakerFarm’s consent-based model is ideologically rigid and operationally brittle, built to neutralize dissent rather than incorporate accountability.
Its core principle, that a ‘No’ is an invitation to leave, is framed as a way to prevent obstruction and support momentum. But in practice, it punishes those who raise necessary concerns, especially BIPOC individuals who name harm.
The message becomes clear: if you cannot quietly consent to a flawed process, you must remove yourself. This doesn’t build consensus, it enforces silence. And it enables those in power to preserve their comfort while pushing out anyone who challenges it.
The organization’s reliance on free association, siloed committees, and performative inclusivity enables a culture where responsibility is diffused and no one is held accountable.
Committees operate without real oversight. Urgent concerns are reframed as procedural obstacles. Individuals with lived experience are pushed out when they raise inconvenient truths, especially when those truths reveal deep cultural or structural harm.
For BIPOC participants, this pattern is not a glitch, it’s a feature. Your concerns become disruptions. Your calls for care are labeled conflict. And your presence becomes untenable the moment it asks too much of a system designed to protect white comfort.
To white participants and leaders in these spaces: you may believe you are building collective power, but what you’re often building is a structure of exclusion.
When your systems require emotional neutrality to be heard, and protect the process more than the people, you’re not creating platforms of care, you are reinforcing structures which cause very real and tangible harm.
When you equate disagreement with obstruction, and disagreement from BIPOC people as hostility, what you’re really doing is preserving a hierarchy where safety and belonging are only available to those who never question the rules.
The result is a space that not only fails to uphold health and safety, but also betrays the very values it claims to uphold.
We believe in collaboration without compromise.
As stated in our Working With Us guidelines: “We do not believe in compromising our values to maintain partnerships. We believe that true collaboration is only possible with honesty, transparency, and accountability.“
Our partnerships are grounded in mutual respect, transparency, and accountability. We expect spaces that align with our values to center care, uphold safety, and take responsibility, not just in language, but in practice.
Our approach is rooted in Indigenous principles. We bring our full selves to the work, as Two-Spirit, BIPOC, and community-led organizers committed to food sovereignty, safety, and collective care.
We do not stay silent when harm is ignored, minimized, or redirected through performative process.
When we walk away, it is not to create drama. It is because staying would require us to betray the very responsibilities we carry.
We did not leave Bay Area MakerFarm because of a disagreement. We left because they refused to take accountability. And we will not allow their dysfunction to jeopardize the sacredness of our work.
The Alameda Native History Project has moved on.
To every BIPOC person who’s been silenced, gaslit, or pushed out of a space that claimed to value you… this is your reminder: you’re not imagining things.
You deserve spaces that meet you with integrity, not containment. And you don’t owe your labor to collectives that can’t hold themselves accountable.
The Acorn Granary Challenge begins in July. So we need to begin gathering the willow necessary to build our granaries now. If there’s enough, we could even be looking at some willow splitting sessions, which would result in fancier granaries.
Learn about willow trees as a key species, and how to gather responsibly. Help gather materials we will actually use. Learn more about California Native food storage, and foodways.
All through hands-on experience.
All ages are welcome with parent/guardian supervision. These are pretty family friendly events. Everyone is welcome, but our events are clean and sober. You don’t have to be Native to kick it, as long as you respect the Indigenous Space you are being invited into.
If you would like to join us, sign up for the “Indigenous Land Lab” using our Volunteer Signup Form.
We are so excited to announce the first session in our ACORNS! Culinary Series, happening this Sunday, April 6!
The ACORNS! Culinary Series will feature Acorn Flour produced from the Acorns we harvested during the First Annual Acorn Harvest, in Alameda, and donated by our friends in San Ramon, and collected by our Alameda neighbor, Jerry!
It has been a long journey from the harvest to the plate, and we are so grateful that you’ve followed us throughout our journey to collectively reopen Indigenous foodways, by producing (at scale) Acorn Flour for the first time in over 300 years!
Much of our techniques for harvesting, processing, and leaching acorns had to be created from scratch. Including our iconic Acorn Leaching Machine–which was responsible for leaching all of the acorn flour we’re using for the ACORNS! Culinary Series, and to offer to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area!
In the ACORNS! Culinary Series, we will show you several different ways to incorporate acorns into dishes that highlight traditional and contemporary Native American Cuisine.
We will offer tastings, and recipes; and foster the discovery and discussion of what Indigenous foodways are, and how producing natural, nutritional, and culturally-relevant encourages health, and healing…
And inspire participants to imagine the benefits of Decolonizing Our Stomachs.
The ACORNS! Culinary Series is happening every Sunday in April.
Join us in reopening Indigenous foodways by creating Acorn Flour for the first time in Alameda in over 300 years!
The nutritious, culturally-relevant food we produce–Acorn Flour—will be shared with local tribes and indigenous communities; as well as used for our upcoming ACORNS! Culinary Series.
Our upcoming Acorn Flour Production events run all day.
Saturday, March 29
Sunday, March 30 [weather depending]
What we’re doing:
Washing
Sorting
Cracking Acorns
Inspecting inside
Peeling
Grinding
Packing leaching machine
Drying Acorn Meal
What to bring?
Water
Gloves
Hammer
Join us to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime experience!
For centuries, Native American communities have faced brutal suppression of our cultural heritage and spiritual practices. Our ancestors’ lands were stolen, our traditions criminalized, and our people forcibly relocated to urban areas.
Today, 87% of Native Americans live in cities, disconnected from our ancestral territories and the natural resources essential for our cultural survival.
Over 18,000 Native and Indigenous People reside In the San Francisco Bay Area – the majority of whom are from tribes in other areas; many of whom are the descendants of families relocated by the Indian Relocation Act of 1956.
The historical traumas persist as the ongoing persecution of “Indianness”:
Urban displacement separates us from nature, making it hard to maintain cultural heritage and traditional practices rooted in the land.
Privatization of land forces us to trespass or face fines for practicing our cultural ceremonies. (Even on Tribal Land, we are still harassed.)
Our cultural practices don’t end at reservation borders – we still need sage, berries, acorns, pine nuts, and traditional foods & materials for ceremonies, healing, and cultural survival.
Native American People are still criminalized for gathering the materials we need to practice our cultural and religious traditions.
But there is hope.
We have been blessed with an opportunity to reclaim our cultural heritage and decolonize a sacred space in the Bay Area.
The Indigenous Land Lab will be a thriving hub for:
Traditional medicine and herb garden
Restoration nursery for environmental healing
Safe sanctuary for Indigenous people and allies to decompress, honor the earth, and collaborate in decolonization efforts
We need your support to make this vision a reality.
Our immediate goals require funding for:
Seeds for our traditional medicine and herb garden
Fencing to secure our land, and protect this sacred space from damage by invasive wild boars
Greenhouse construction for year-round growth and education
Decolonization efforts to reclaim our cultural heritage and restore balance to the land
Every donation brings us closer to decolonizing our homeland and revitalizing our cultural practices.
Your contribution helps cultivate reciprocity – a mutual exchange of respect, resources, and restoration.
Reclaiming cultural heritage and sacred spaces is crucial for our survival. Collaborating to restore this land and realize our connection to it is how we move forward.
Decolonization starts with a single step – yours.
Donate today to support the Indigenous Land Lab and join a movement reclaiming heritage, land, and justice.
Be our Top Fundraiser and Win a Free *Premium* Indigenous Bay Hoodie!
Join our fundraising team and get rewarded for your hard work!
The top fundraiser will receive a Premium Indigenous Bay Hoodie as a thank you gift for helping us reach our fundraising goals through peer-to-peer fundraising!
Wear your land acknowledgment with pride knowing you’ve personally contributed to the decolonization of Indigenous Land.
Find out more by signing up using the “Fundraise” button on our Decolonize This Place! campaign page:
Shalom Bruhn opening remarks at the rally, on a cold windy, Monday afternoon in Alameda.
People gathered outside of Alameda City Hall on Monday, February 3, 2025, to show their unified resolve for Alameda’s Sanctuary City status.
I was honored to be among such speakers as Shalom Bruhn, Amos White, Rev. Michael Yoshi, Dr. Cindy Ackert, Kimi Sugioka, Rev. Vathanak Heang, Hiro Guida, and more people spoke during the open mic session.
Kimi Sugioka (left) holds a sign reading “Alameda Stands United Against Hate”; Amos White (right) speaking at the rally.
These are the remarks I delivered.
Remarks at the Alameda Display of Unity Rally
On February 3, 2025, in Alameda, California
“Hello, my name is Gabriel Duncan. I’m the founder of the Alameda Native History Project. I’m a mix of Paiute, and Mexican (Chichimeca). I’m Gay, Two-Spirit, and Queer. I’m also disabled; I have AIDS. I’m a mix of many things that are being targeted for deportation, defunding, and disenfranchisement.
“That’s why I want to talk about the fear of belonging to a group of people being targeted. Of the fear I felt when I first came out (just like now.) And how I did it, even though I was afraid.
“I came out not just for myself. But for my LGBTQ and Two-Spirit cousins who could not do it themselves–to stand up and advocate for the other members of my community who were isolated, targeted, and attacked because of who they are–to defend our humanity, and demand to be treated with dignity and respect. I stand up because my conviction and belief in justice and equality give me strength.
“Even now, even though I am afraid, I cannot let people I called my friends, my neighbors, even my family–I cannot let them go on terrorizing the innocent people who came here to escape violence and persecution, who came here looking for a better life, for a brighter future. We cannot allow them to continue demonizing our differences, chasing down our most vulnerable, and subjecting them to more violence, and more persecution.
“Because, the reality is, our diversity gives us strength.
“This is why sanctuaries exist. Sanctuaries exist to give refuge, to provide safety. To allow people to live, and thrive with liberty, justice and dignity. The pursuit of happiness, living in freedom. This is the promise of the American Dream. America is supposed to be a sanctuary.
“As we stand here today, to let out our cry for dignity, inclusivity, and respect, we do this as a diverse community of people who still believe that the American Dream is just as much ours as everyone else’s.
“I stand before you here to re-affirm my commitment to support, advocate, and fight for the inclusion of the people who built this city, this state, and this nation–and who this place was built upon!
“People who provide us with the food we eat, the care for our children, for our sick, and elderly, who do the jobs no one else will do–I will advocate for them because they belong here more than many of us.
“If you believe in liberty, equality, and justice; then it is your duty, too. It is your duty to create and protect a sanctuary as a group, as a collective, that we can share with our friends and neighbors–and even strangers–when they need it most.
“Let us make sure that Alameda is a Sanctuary City – NOW AND FOREVER!”
Special thanks to EB-FLOW (East Bay Fierce Loving Organized Women) for organizing this rally.
This is EB-FLOW organizer Shalom Bruhn reading her poem at the rally.
Update: After receiving the signed petition from Monday’s rally, during the Alameda City Council Meeting on Tuesday, the City of Alameda released the following statement on Wednesday.
“The City remains committed to the values of dignity, inclusivity, and respect for all individuals, regardless of ethnic or national origin, gender, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or immigration status. We are committed to upholding the Constitution and ensuring a safe community for everyone, consistent with the City’s Sanctuary City policy.”
February 5, 2025 “Statement from the City of Alameda”
Native History Project Condemns White Supremacy and Threats to Native American Sovereignty
Alameda, California – Today, the Alameda Native History Project issued a strong statement affirming its values and condemning racist ideologies.
“Alameda Native History Project vehemently condemns white supremacy, racism, xenophobia, and fascist ideologies. We abhor Trump-era policies destroying civil rights gains, threatening Native American sovereignty, and deporting indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. Our project stands unwaveringly against bigotry, discrimination, and hate – affirming equality, justice, and dignity for all.”
Contact:
Gabriel Duncan info@nativehistoryproject.org (510) 747-8423
Acorns are the single most important food stock in California.
They are enjoyed by First Californians from coast to coast. And it was traded throughout the state and beyond. We all share this heritage, even though we have different stories, songs, and journeys.
While the First Californians are famous for eating acorns; we are not the only people in the world who gather and process acorns for food.
As we develop the equipment necessary to process the acorns we harvested during our First Annual Acorn Harvest en masse, we wanted to tell you more about the global significance of acorns.
The Global Significance of Acorns
Acorns are eaten in North America, Europe, and Asia. China is a major manufacturer of acorn harvesting and processing equipment. Their largest customer is Korea. Where acorns are a major food stock, so common that acorns are part of the pop culture.
Anecdotally: The dude at a gas station near our office gave me his mother’s recipe for Berber Acorn Bread, when I told him what I was working on. He shared with me that acorn bread was something he ate as a child, and shared his fond memories of gathering and processing acorns.
When I brought him an acorn from a Coast Live Oak, he was so used to the sweet acorns of his homeland that he immediately opened the acorn to eat it–not realizing that this acorn is high in tannin and very bitter. But it was his experience that influenced his belief that all acorns were ready to eat, because they are in the place he’s from.
This is all to say that acorns are global. And they are something which can tie us together when we need it most.
Foodways are intersected by the acorn, not the other way around.
This is why we all have an innate fascination with acorns. Because we all share an ancestral urge to eat them!
For our purposes, we’re going to be processing acorns en masse, in an effort to produce food for as many people as possible.
Yes, it’s true that some of the most traditional ways to process acorns include soaking acorns in flowing water.
Most processing methods use water directly from rivers, streams, and springs.
So, we couldn’t show you how to do it traditionally, even if we wanted to. Because it’s not safe.
Anyone who tells you different is probably gonna pull out a glass jar, or some coffee filters to process acorns in their kitchen, anyway–and that’s not “traditional”, either.
So let’s just lay this one to rest and make peace with the fact that the world has changed [is continuing to change] and it behooves us to adapt accordingly.
None of this makes the acorn less special, or our mission less important.
It means that we can share our enthusiasm and celebrate the reopening of indigenous foodways with more people!
And there’s nothing better than sharing something with people who appreciate it as much as you do.
Modern Acorn Processing Techniques are Well-Documented
These are the kinds of Acorn Processing methods we will show you during our Public Acorn Processing Workshops:
Modern, relevant, acorn processing techniques you can enjoy in your own kitchen, with readily available tools and supplies.
While those are good for small amounts. We’re going to be processing much larger quantities.
We are offering two types of Acorn Processing Events.
The first one (listed above) is our public workshop. We are also running productionworkshops.
Production workshops will be focused on producing the Acorn Flour and Acorn Meal we’ll actually offer and distribute to Indigenous Communities, and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Learn more about how we will accomplish this task by volunteering to help us process the acorns we’ve harvested.
So, I know the whole “plant thing” might not make sense to people who want to build bigger levees, and sea walls.
I’m trying to say we can’t manage with walls alone. Walls cost tons of money. We don’t know how tall to build them, or how fast. The earth is continuing to warm at a runaway pace. And we need to plan accordingly.
Currently, much of our shores are covered with riprap and sand that has been trucked into, and poured upon the surface of the shore. Sometimes the riprap is covered with a steel mesh, and cabled and bolted into place. But it doesn’t matter. Every time we get big waves, increasingly bigger pieces are being taken away from the shore.
Consider the fact that the pre-1900 [“alameda”] peninsula was encapsulated by lush, verdant, thriving wetlands; and that the south shores and bay farm coast were rich in oyster and clam beds.
Just like the rest of the earth, the Bay Area is a living, breathing, place. Our environmental systems sustain life in and around the bay. And floodwaters are supposed to be a regenerative force in the lifecycle of our ancient coastal blue carbon ecosystem.
The roots of fast growing estuarine and aquatic plants (like eelgrass, tule, etc.) stabilize shorelines by trapping sediment in their root systems and creating a buffer zone that absorbs floodwaters. The rising tide and sediment bury plants and form nutrient-rich (low-oxygen) soil which builds up the land mass, and gives rise to new fast-growing growing plants. The interring of carbon captured by the plants, which are buried in a low-oxygen environment, is the main mechanism behind what is now being referred to as coastal blue carbon habitats.
Restoring our ecosystems is the best chance we have to survive as a species. We need to learn how to terraform our own planet before we attempt to colonize another.
