Since we’re not supposed to change anything on the server, our Merch/Giveaway page is still offering Limited Editions of the Indigenous Bay Maps and T-Shirts!
As always: we’d like to remind you that Alameda is Ohlone Land; the ancestral homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara, and San Jose; and who were also members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County.
A shellmound is a graveyard, a mortuary complex, an ancient structure. It’s a place where the first peoples who live along the coasts and rivers of California, used to bury their dead. This article briefly explores why that is.
Spanish Influence on Indigenous Use of Shellmounds
This missionization of local indigenous people can be characterized by the abduction, forced baptism, and slavery of Indigenous people by Spanish Priests and Conquistadors. And, the outright theft of natural resources (like food) which indigenous people had helped cultivate and depended upon for all of their food, medicine, building materials, etc.
In spite of the homefield advantage, and larger numbers, indigenous people could not defeat the colonizing Spanish force.
When Spanish colonizers had ruined the ecosystem by grazing, logging, razing, and waste, indigenous people found themselves with little choice but to join the missions or flee to places outside of the reach of the mission system. (In reality, no Indigenous Californians were safe from the missions, except those in the far North of California, where Missions did not exist.)
Because the Missions were located in Central Areas; and because of the Area of Influence Spanish Invaders were able to exert dominance over was so vast (due to horses); indigenous people of the area known as the Bay Area were forced to abandon their burial practices because they had to abandon the land their graveyard was situated upon.
This meant that indigenous people had to figure out how to bury their dead using the resources found away from the coasts and rivers they were used to.
It also meant that, indigenous people were being buried in graveyards at Catholic Missions all around the Bay Area.
American Influence on Indigenous Use of Shellmounds
Soon, American aggressors would begin to appear in what they though was their frontier land; an “Indian Frontier”. This was during the time of the “Wild West”, when Indian Wars were being actively fought.
The Indian Wars would be romanticized for years to come in newspaper stories, and on the screen especially during the 1950’s with such films/shows as:
Winchester ’73
Gunsmoke
The Lone Ranger
Davey Crockett
They Died with Their Boots On
But there was nothing romantic about the real story of the California Genocide.
Americans would purposely destroy or vandalize sacred sites for entertainment or out of spite. One famous shellmound, in Alameda, California, was used to pave Bay Farm Road in 1908. The bodies of ancestors were routinely ground up and used as aggregate for cement, or even calcium enrichment for roses and other flowers (instead of eggshells.)
Militias were paid by the United States Government, and (later) the State of California, to hunt and kill all indigenous people. The United States Army “expeditions”, especially what they liked to call “punitive expeditions”, were marked by the execution of indigenous men, and the rape, torture, and mass-murder of indigenous women and children.
In 1848, the area now known as California was ceded by Mexico, at the end of the Mexican-American war. Two years later, California would officially earn statehood, and its first governor, Peter Hardeman Burnett, during his first State of the State address mentioned the California genocide explicitly.
“A war of extermination will continue … until the Indian race becomes extinct,” Peter Hardeman Burnett, the First Governor of California continued, “the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.”
Now, all Indigenous people were actively under threat by all white people, who were paid for each “Indian” they killed, baby they stole, or person forced into slavery via “prisoner debt” to white business and property owners. Prison debt was money owed to a person or business for a crime committed against it. These were often times for extraordinary amounts of money which the debtor was only able to pay through involuntary labor or servitude. The prison debt system was created to control Indigenous People, and People of Color, and prevent them from gaining any foothold or capital in a society and world which white people viewed themselves as being solely entitled to because of their religious or racial beliefs.
Once Native Californians were being displaced, forced onto reservations, into indebted servitude, boarding schools, orphanages; and their burial places forced abandoned, and desecrated by American invaders. Many indigenous people began the practice of cremation. One of the most common reason for why someone is cremated was because they wouldn’t be able to be buried with their ancestors, next to their loved ones, or with their family or tribe. It was better to live the afterlife free of their body than to have it defiled.
In 2015, the East Bay Regional Park District published their second edition of the “Ohlone Curriculum with Bay Miwok Content and Introduction to Delta Yokuts”. This was meant to be third-grade curriculum about the indigenous people of the Bay Area, created by (then) District Cultural Services Coordinator, Beverley R. Ortiz.
This curriculum came with several resources, including: student resources on Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Delta Yokut people; Native Peoples Map and Brochure; and the 106-page Ohlone Curriculum, itself. The curriculum is primarily directed at the Grade 3 “Core” and History-Social Science standards; as well as Grade 4 & 5 History-Social Science Content Standards.
But, the reason it’s remarkable, is because the student’s resources are made mostly of stories and history told by indigenous people, themselves. In fact, it looks like a big family photo album. Which is pretty cool, very personal. And teacher resources and supplements are super helpful.
Native Peoples of the Region Now Known as the East Bay
Ohlone Curriculum Map; East Bay Regional Park District; March 24, 2020
It feels kinda dumb to even point this out.
The map itself is an extension of all the great energy and intention and wonderful work and the personal, lived experiences of indigenous people.
Distributed to school districts where East Bay Regional Park District operates;
But it contains some really obvious catographic, and typographic errors.
These seemingly “small errors”, or “minor mistakes” have the profound effect of being repeated in classrooms, and by park interpreters, and educators for almost an entire decade.
And it’s comically contrary to one of the main intents of the curriculum: to dispel stereotypes and clarify misperceptions about the First Peoples of the East Bay.
Ohlone Curriculum Map, with Markup
So what’s wrong with this map?
Huchiun Is Listed Twice. Huchiun appears in two different areas; the northern-most is actually supposed to be Huchiun-Aguasto.
Huchiun Aguasto is Not Where Vallejo and Mare Island Are. Huchiun Aguasto is actually in the Richmond area; where the northern-most Huchiun label occupies.
Jalquin/Irgin Yrgin and Jalquin are two seperate places/areas. Yrgin is spelled incorrectly.
Inconsistent Capitalization There’s no reasoning or explanation for why any of these areas/places are spelled with upper-case or lower-case letters.
The effect is a false sense of understanding; the continuation of misconceptions and proliferation of “educational materials” which are wrong/inconsistent with the sources cited in the Ohlone Curriculum, itself. [Like Randall Milliken’s maps.]
Alameda Native History Project tried to tell ’em….
It’s been almost 3 years since we first notified the East Bay Regional Park District of problems with the map they have so widely distributed and prominently displayed, we have yet to hear from the Park District.
The East Bay Regional Park District has neither acknowledged their mistake, not made any move to correct it.
So, we fixed the Ohlone Curriculum Map for them.
East Bay Tribal Groups Map, made by Gabriel Duncan, for the Alameda Native History Project (2023). Map services and data available from U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Program.
lol, the invoice is in the mail.
For information on how to get copies of this map, contact Merch.
If you are an institution which would like large-format, or data designed to meet your cartographic and display needs, contact Collab.
You told them this was Native Land, Indigenous Territory, A Sacred Site, or even the place where your great-grandparents are buried. But they laughed in your face, and hid behind a wall of lawyers. And a wall of militarized police.
And, then, they shook hands with the very politicians who promised to protect your tribal homeland, and your great-grandmother’s grave, as they broke ground right on top of her.
This is not figurative, or metaphorical, in any sense at all. You literally watched the shovel break the ground above her resting body. Desecrating forever the sanctity of this place, and guaranteeing an afterlife without rest, or peace.
It made you feel ridiculous; a welling of impotent anger, aggrieved frustration, and justified indignation at this betrayal; at the destruction of the most precious and pristine place you were proud to call your home.
Now, it’s become the site of a lithium mine; host to a four foot wide petroleum pipeline; or worse, a dumping site for nuclear waste that won’t be safe for hundreds of thousands of years (if ever.)
Meanwhile, your ancestors are pulled out of the ground like empty corn husks. The prairies and forests you used to visit, pray and play in have been flattened and become a parking lot for heavy equipment, modular offices.
The water flowing from the springs smell bad now, and none of the animals will drink it, anymore because they will get sick, and die—just like the trees and plants that used to grow around this place.
You tried to tell them they were destroying the place you held close to your heart. Tried to tell them that the well-being of this land wasn’t just important to your people, but that it was integral to the survival of all life on earth.
Other people agreed. They said deforestation, not only led to loss of habitat for the animals you depend on, and who depend on you; but that the earth would never be able to recover from critical damage to its carbon reducing, oxygen producing, infrastructure.
Your new friends got lawyers, and held protests, made t-shirt slogans, eye-catching signs, and raised awareness on social media. But it didn’t mean anything to the people who only saw profit in loss and exploitation. And your new friends left as soon as their GoFundMe’s reached their goals—never giving you the help they promised, or the money they raised in your name.
Now your ancestor’s resting place has a metal fence around it with big signs saying “KEEP OUT”, “PRIVATE PROPERTY”. But you know the signs should be for them, instead of you, and your people.
“A Land Defender’s Guide to: Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Corporate Colonizers” has just dropped–published by guerilla printer Lonely Ocean Press.
The 36 page booklet “Volume I: Work-Site Blues” offers a plethora of information about the heavy equipment used to desecrate sacred land, as well as a selection of basic tools which can be used to access, operate, and “service” most heavy equipment.
The Land Defender’s Guide has been referred to as, “revolution on a budget of $200 or less”–because the tools required are fairly common, cheap, and can sometimes be found on the work-site itself.
Included in the Appendix are 31 extremely detailed illustrations of the mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical workings of:
Skid-Loaders
Dozers
Mining Trucks
Backhoe Loaders
Mini Loaders
Excavators
And more…
Excerpt from the Guide:
Introduction:
This is written in the spirit of such other publications as Steal This Book, Steal This Computer Book, The Anarchist Cookbook, and other such banned and questionable literature provided to, by, and for, The Resistance.
While this booklet may present the principles of hydraulics, electrical engineering, thermodynamics, and other physical considerations for the efficiency of the methods of colonization, and the development of stolen land….
One should take note that violence against individuals, or even groups of individuals is absolutely unacceptable.
While this text can be seen as a collection of techniques to respond to the violence of colonization, and the brutalization of those who stand against the exploitation of stolen land. Injury or death to another person or living creature is neither encouraged, condoned, nor inferred, as an acceptable means to decolonization.
This volume is a thought experiment to imagine the costs associated with work stoppages, and prolonged periods of repair to the expensive, and sometimes complex, equipment associated with all aspects of construction, pipe-laying, excavation, and mining.
Disclaimers: These images are for illustration, only. Each year, make, and model of the type of equipment illustrated can vary widely over each model, and even within variations of the same model. No one’s saying you should actually do any of the things mentioned in this work.
Emphasis Added; from: A Land Defender’s Guide to: Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Corporate Colonizers, Volume I: Work-Site Blues
The Guide is offered for free; and has also been made available as a PDF.
For information about ordering copies of the booklet by mail, send an email to defendersguide [at] proton (dot) me.
Otherwise, the PDF file can be downloaded from a Proton Drive here.
Please note: The Land Defender’s Guide is only offered through Proton Mail and Drive, to preserve the privacy of everyone involved with the Defender’s Guides [a series]. To learn more about the privacy and security offered by Proton, check out their About Us page.
When the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Federal Acknowledgment, formally recognizes a group (“tribal entity”) as being a separate sovereign government from the United States.
This recognition “establishes” a government-to-government relationship with the U.S., and imbues this “Federally Recognized Tribe” with certain rights–like the ability to make and enforce their own laws, decide who they want to lead them, but also receive federal benefits (like HUD services), and must follow certain B.I.A. Federal laws, rules and regulations.
At last check, California has 109 Federally Recognized Tribes, with nearly 100 separate reservations or Rancherias. [California Courts, California Tribal Communities FAQ’s]
Provides the same acknowledgment of sovereignty; however, it does not necessarily come with the kind of funding (reparations), or even “Trust Responsibility” that the Supreme Court ruled the Federal Government has to Tribes.
States with a Tribal Recognition Process:
Alabama
Connecticut
Georgia
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
New York
North Carolina
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Still, each of the (currently) 11 states with a tribal recognition process imbue Recognized Tribes with their own mix of duties, rights, and responsibilities.
California State Recognized Tribes
The State of California does not have a recognition authority or process for Tribes, therefore, there are no State-recognized Tribes.
In California, there are Federally recognized Tribal governments,non-Federally recognized tribal governments, and Tribal communities.
California Native American Heritage Commission and NAGPRA
What California does have, is the California Native American Heritage Commission (Cal NAHC, or NAHC), and a robust, and codified set of laws protecting Tribal Cultural Resources (like Rivers, Forests, Plants, and Animals); and Places (like Shellmounds, Caves with Petroglyphs, Sacred Places like Ceremony and Village Sites); and Things (like mortar & pestles, funerary objects, jewelry,); and more.
NAGPRA Notification Lists are made up of NAHC Contact Lists.
Part of NAHC’s solemn duty as the NAGPRA Administrator for the Great State of California is to develop and maintain a contact list of federally recognized California Native American tribes, non-federally recognized tribes, and coalitions of tribes.
This contact list informs the Most Likely Descendant List (CalNAGPRA List).
The Most Likely Descendants list is a registry of tribes, coalitions, and Individual Native Americans who trace their ancestry to a particular village site or traditional tribal territory. Tribes and Coalitions appoint their own MLD Representative; Individuals appear for themselves.
If discovered human remains are determined to be Native American by the County Coroner, the Coroner is required to send notification of that discovery to NAHC. (The Native American Heritage Commission.)
NAHC immediately notifies the appropriate Most Likely Descendant(s) via phone. This is the process commonly referred to as “Tribal Notification“
Public Agencies are required to perform Environment Impact Assessments and Reviews. The California Environmental Quality Act mandates Tribal Consultation for public projects [with some very important exemptions; I digress.]
Tribal Consultation is the process of working collaboratively with a Tribal Consultant(s), and/or Most Likely Descendant(s) before development begins to mitigate the harm to Tribal Cultural Resources, and/or Native American Remains.
What is a descendant?
Anyone can claim descendancy, sure. Some people bet the farm on a family rumor of “Chief Apache” blood. But claiming descendancy is different than being an actual descendant of a tribe. It’s not something you can claim from a generalized mouth-swab, or even a fully sequenced finger prick; unless you can tie your DNA to a specific place, or band/tribe, that ancestry test means nothing. [For a number of reasons].
Being a descendant means knowing your family history. Being able to state who you are related to, and where you come from. True tribal descendants will be Recognized By Their Tribe (“Recognized Descendant“), or be Enrolled As a Tribal Member. When someone claims Native American/Indigenous/American Indian Ancestry, we expect them to be able to back that up by telling us who they are.
One who Is descended from another; a person who proceeds from the body of another, such as a child, grandchild, etc., to the remotest degree.
The two easiest ways to tell if someone is lying about their Native American ancestry, are: (1) they claim to belong to a California “State-Recognized Tribe“, or (2) when they are not a Recognized Descendant of the tribe they claim to be a descendant of.
Both are fronted by Corrina Gould, an Ohlone woman, who has managed to command the attention and monies from thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond.
Corrina Gould has been lauded for her fundraising to establish urban gardens; create ad-hoc Ohlone language programs; and even negotiate for a cultural easement at a well-known park, in the City of Oakland, California.
But Corrina Gould’s work has been done without the inclusion, consultation, or participation of her own tribe.
And the victories that Gould has managed to score, however shallow—and in the name of “all Ohlone people”—do not actually benefit all Ohlone people. In fact, Corrina Gould is actively diverting money and support away from her own tribe.
Shuumi Land Tax, (fundraising donations) collected by the Sogorea Te Land Trust, does not go to all Ohlone People.
“Shuumi” stays within the Sogorea Te Land Trust, and is only disbursed to Corrina Gould’s personal corporation: the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.–which, in turn, only benefits Gould’s immediate family.
[For reference, Corrina Gould’s immediate family are:
(1) herself, (2) Cheyenne Gould, (3) Deja Gould, and (4) Chatah Gould.
For all intents and purposes, these are the only members of what Corrina Gould alleges is a “confederation of villages”.]
And…. While Corrina Gould claims that her non-profit corporation is a Tribal Government, it is not. And, despite Corrina Gould’s claims that she is a Tribal Chairwoman, she is not.
Tribal Chairpersons are voted for by the enrolled members of a tribe, in a democratic process which all legitimate Native American tribes are required to employ, per the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Not only do enrolled tribal members vote for the Tribal Chairpersons; they vote for Tribal Council Members; and vote for or against the laws, regulations and actions taken by their Tribe.
At most, Gould was “elected” as CEO by the Board of Directors of her corporation.
But, in reality, Corrina Gould is the self-appointed Chief Executive Officer of a corporation she formed to affect the illusion of legitimacy; a shell corporation she could use not just for her own personal monetary gain, but also satisfy her narcissistic need to be the only indian in the room—the end-all, be-all expert on Ohlone “indianness”.
Gabriel Duncan
The fact that the three officers of the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.are:Corrina Gould, Deja Gouldand “Chayenne Zepeda” (AKA, “Cheyenne Gould”), should be a red flag regarding the legitimacy of the corporation as a “tribal government”, and “confederation of villages”.
The name of Gould’s corporation itself; a so-called “confederation of villages” forming a “nation” would imply the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC. is a large group of people—presumably, Ohlone people—who represent a number of different Ohlone villages in the San Francisco Bay Area.
If this were true: one would expect to see a roll or roster of villages; articles of confederationsigned by representatives of all the villages in the confederation.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is composed of all surviving lineages of Missions San Jose, Delores, and Santa Clara.
Muwekma boasts over 700 enrolled tribal members; and a proven, documentedcontiguous history of living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years.
Muwekma is a Chochenyo word which means la gente (“the people”.) This is a commonality, for tribes’ names to literally mean “us”, or “the people”. The reason why is mostly philosophical, and only a teensy bit linguistic; but this is true for the majority of groups of people when asked “what do you call yourselves?” [Indigenous People have the right to name themselves, and be referred to by the name they choose. UN Resolution 61/295; adopted Sept-13-2007.]
Alisal was the Land Grant Rancheria Muwekma people lived and worked on after the secularization of the missions, as vaqueros.
Much of this land was later bought by the Bernal family (which became Pleasanton), and a southern portion was purchased by Randolph Hearst.
Muwekma people have called themselves by a few names: Lisjannes, Muwekma, the Mission San Jose Band of Indians, and Ohlone.
However, Ohlone people have never called themselves “Chochenyo”, or “The Chochenyo”, because Chochenyo is an Ohlone Language, not a tribal group.
And Muwekma people have never referred to themselves as the “Verona Band of Alameda County”; this was a name used to identify Muwekma people by the U.S. Government, used in their own internal BIA/Department of Interior documents.
Aside from the fact that:
“Lisjan” is a Chochenyo and Nisenan name for Pleasanton, California; that,
Corrina Gould’s corporation is not a confederation of Ohlone villages, or a Tribal Government; and that,
Shuumi Land Tax doesn’t actually go to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area…
There is the very real and (largely) unreported pattern of hostility and contempt that Corrina Gould harbors for any person who tries to advocate for, or even dares to mention the name “Muwekma”.
In the four years the Alameda Native History Project has been operating, I have come into contact with countless indigenous people who have (tried to) work with Corrina Gould in various professional and academic capacities. These credible people, experts in their fields, sought me out, to tell me about their experiences with Corrina Gould, after I publicly withdrew my support, and admitted my own mistake in ever co-signing the narrative that Gould had appropriated (almost word-for-word) from the history of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
This project completely, and uncompromisingly protects, and will continue to protectthe anonymity of our sources; because, some of these sources are afraid of being subjected to even more harassment and possibly violence from Corrina Gould’s supporters than they have already experienced. [However, we are not afraid. And, this topic–and the subjects within this essay–need to be discussed and brought to the general public; because they are newsworthy and important.]
This public mis-understanding is especially problematic because it means that Corrina Gould is diverting money and support away from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Franciso Bay Area; the tribe from which Corrina Gould is a recognized descendant. [Alameda City Council, “Listening Session and Partnership Opportunities with Local Indigenous People and Ohlone Tribes“, Dec-6-2022]
So, while people generously donate to a corporation, which they believe will help all Ohlone people….
While the Sogorea Te Land Trust, and Corrina Gould, continue to profit from the public’s belief their donations fund programs which benefit a much larger group of Ohlone people than they actually do….
Ohlone people will continue to suffer harms from colonization and political erasure–not just from the United States, and Spanish Governments’ policies of eradication and assimilation–but also, from misinformation and diversion by someone who would rather exploit their own indigenous identity (, and the public’s genuine good will and support for Ohlone people) for personal gain.
These are the top two priorities of the indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay Area. Once known as “Costanoans” because they, Muwekma Ohlone people, are among the First Peoples of the California Coast.
Let them know that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area has been in the Bay Area for over 10,000 years; and they deserve a land base on their own tribal homeland.
Muwekma deserves reaffirmation of their status as a Federally Recognized Tribe. Muwekma has the right to have a land base on their ancestral homeland, in a region where they are in danger of being gentrified and priced out of.
Save Shellmounds Not Parking Lots campaign image of archaeologists sifting through soil in a cemetery. Title reads: “You wouldn’t let them dig up your grandma. Why would you let them dig up ours?”
The San Francisco Bay Area had well over 425 shellmounds.
Gabriel Duncan, from the Alameda Native History Project, estimates the true number of shellmounds around the S.F. Bay Area’s shoreline is closer to seven or eight-hundred shellmounds, which existed before European invasion and colonization.
Shellmounds are ancient burial grounds used by the First People of the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years. Shellmounds form ancient mortuary complexes created by Ohlone, Miwok, and Karkin people. Shellmounds were not village sites; but they were places where ceremonies dedicated to indigenous ancestors were performed; and large seasonal gatherings were held nearby to celebrate the unity, harmony, and balance indigenous people share with the earth, each other, our ancestors, and all creation.
Grave robbing by universities and treasure hunters; as well as desecration by railroad companies, oil refineries, and quarry operators, has made the remaining San Francisco Bay Area Shellmounds one of the most endangered cultural resources in the world.
One of the chief defilers of shellmounds are quarry companies. These companies are still operating today, at places like the San Rafael Rock Quarry–which is home to no less than five shellmounds; and Dutra Materials Quarry, in Richmond, California–an area dotted with the highest concentration of shellmounds in the East Bay.
But not much is being said about the historical and ongoing desecration and defiling of indigenous bodies to build the infrastructure and institutions all around us.
This is surprising, considering the amount of time, effort, and fundraising which has gone into “preserving” a parking lot in West Berkeley, and protesting a thriving and established shopping mall in Emeryville, California.
While other cities and corporations used shellmounds to level their train tracks, and pack for roadways: the Angel Island Immigration Station is one of the best surviving answers to the question of “What Happened to the Shellmounds?”
Angel Island was home to about four shellmounds. All of which were quarried and used as a base for the concrete to construct the immigration buildings now standing as Angel Island State Park. However, there is no mention of this fact in the park brochure, or uttered by any tour guide on the island.
The historical and continuing desecration goes unspoken, and right before our very eyes; all over the San Francisco Bay Area.
Instead of directly addressing and challenging the corporations and cities responsible for the desecration of Ohlone, Miwok, and Karkin burial grounds, and sacred sites: advocates and allies are being fooled into believing these parking lots (in West Berkeley), and post-industrial waste sites (in East Oakland) are the priority for the fight against desecration of indigenous land. This is not true.
“Saving” parking lots is not an indigenous priority over stopping the desecration of indigenous sacred sites today.
Optic-driven, PR events, like urban gardens, and cultural easements to use our own land for free, do not address the fact that shellmounds are being quarried into extinction. That these ancient structures are being erased by shoreline development, and urbanization of the San Francisco Bay Area waterfront.
This situation will not change; the desecration will not stop, until our supporters and allies start to critically assess the information being given to them by non-profit corporations trying to fundraise for their money, and compare that with information provided by scholars, experts, and bona fide tribes like the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Collage art of a shellmound with historic Alameda newspaper articles in the background, with the title words “Save Shellmounds Not Parking Lots”. Artwork by Gabriel Duncan.
While these places may be on our traditional homelands, and within our tribal territories: Brownfields properties and Supferfund sites are neither appropriate, nor respectful gifts of atonement to the Indigenous People the entire Western Hemisphere was stolen from.
It is a waste of resources for indigenous non-profiteers, like Corrina Gould, to focus primarily on post-industrial sites, like the place she alleges is the “West Berkeley Shellmound“.
It is an improper use of our allies’ time, energy–and money–to have them marching around an empty parking lot, and futilely protesting an established and thriving shopping mall (Bay Street Emeryville).
All of this takes away from the reality: Ohlone cultural resources in the San Francisco Bay Area are being destroyed by development at an alarming rate.
Without intervention, Native American cultural resources, like shellmounds, and the fragile ecosystems they inhabit and have supported for over 10,000 years, will be destroyed. Paved over, without a second thought for anything other than their “fair market value”.
Parking Lots and Abandoned Post-Industrial Spaces are not a priority; compared to Federal Recognition, Federal Land Grants, and the establishment of a Tribal Land-base and an official, recognized, Ohlone tribal reservation, and sovereign tribal territory.
Urban Gardens do not address the Land Back movement in a relevant way.
In fact, PR events like the dedication of part of Joaquin Miller Park, in Oakland, and the renaming of a park in Alameda, are completely irrelevant to the actual cause of land back, rematriating the land, and the real priorities of bona fide tribal governments, like the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area–a tribe Corrina Gould would be a member of, if she weren’t so focused on personal gain, instead of advocating for her own tribe, and all Ohlone people.
As long as people realize their time and energy is better spent on an achievable goal, like Federal Re-Recognition & The Establishment of a Muwekma Land-base: Land Back is something we can see happen within our lifetimes.
For more information on how you can help Ohlone people regain Federal Recognition, and get their Land Back, visit the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area’s website at: http://muwekma.org
Just to be clear: eating food grown in contaminated soil may not result in contaminated food…
Even though petrochemical aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are largely unstudied “likely” carcinogens–some of which have been found to move through the soil easily into water; and that contamination can move from soil to food to animals.
Petrochemical Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) include chemicals like Benzene, Naphthalene, Xylene, and other chemicals which are part of a complex and ever-changing family of petroleum-derived products.
While we know that lead, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals can concentrate in root vegetables, causing various ailments. The effects of PAH have not be sufficiently researched or linked to the varying illnesses of those living in and around former brownfields and industrial complexes, or exposed to contaminated soils.
While everyone is so excited to line up for their #landback/#rematriatetheland photo ops, ask yourselves if this is the land that you actually want back.
Proper remediation, decontamination, and detoxification of these places must be done by the city/government and/or corporations “giving” this land back.
It helps no one to turn a blind eye to the real-world challenges behind soil and water contamination.
Exposing us to contaminated soil through dust, accidental ingestion, or to the detritus which accumulates on vegetables and fruit above the ground, is not healing. It’s a slow death.
Furthermore, a substance doesn’t just have to be “carcinogenic” to cause harm. Some mutagenic substances can be carried down through generations.
Part of a proper #landacknowledgement not only mentions the @MuwekmaOhloneTribe; it admits to the harms western society committed against the environment during colonization and industrialization.
