A Never-Before-Seen Map of Alameda’s Indigenous History
Can you imagine elk running down Park Street?
Cotton Tail Rabbits hopping among giant Live Oak trees on Grand?
Gathering blackberries at Chochenyo Park? Oysters on Regent? Making tule boats at Alameda Point?
This map combines historic elements to tell the story of Alameda before.
Developed for elementary and middle-school students to learn about local indigenous history: this map shows Alameda–before it became an island–with selected plants and animals that lived and thrived here.
These plants and animals include: Wildcats, Ducks, Blackberries, Deer, Flamingoes, and more!
This map includes the historic wetlands of the Bay Area; and the Oyster Reef zones in Alameda, two never-before-seen layers of local history (until now.)
This map is a tool that can help people imagine the ecosystems organizations like the Wild Oyster Project, and Save The Bay are working towards saving and restoring.
Imagination is one of the strongest tools in the decolonization toolbox.
One of the ways the Alameda Native History Project “Decolonizes History” is by developing, producing, and distributing accurate, relevant, and interesting educational materials for Classrooms, Community Centers, and Institutions.
The Alameda Native History Project offers updated, often novel, and never-before-seen images, maps, and infographs about the Indigenous History of this place we call the “San Francisco Bay Area”.
Our continued impact will be measured by the number of classrooms we connect with the maps and information educators want and need to fill the gaps in existing curriculum regarding local indigenous history.
This will result in students who can finally receive the answer to the basic questions about Native American History. Questions, which–until now–have simply been glossed over or ignored in mainstream, sanitized, Social Science, History, and Arts & Humanities curriculums.
The proceeds of this fundraiser will go towards putting one of these maps in every core/history class and school library in Alameda.
If you make a minimum donation of $25, and include your mailing address in the comment on this donation form (your comment is private), you will receive a Historic Alameda Ecology Map.
5% of the cost of printing will go back to local Alameda schools.*
You can have a direct impact on Decolonizing History, too!
By providing tangible support for our mission, you can be the reason why people know this is Ohlone Land; why that makes it our responsibility to be good stewards to the land; and how important it is for us to respect Indigenous knowledge and lived experiences, and advocate for the return of sacred places, tribal objects, and ancestral remains.
Alameda Native History Project is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499).
*5% of total cost goes back to school via printer’s giveback program on a per transaction basis. We choose the Alameda school recipient.
By now there should be no doubt that most museums, which display or hold Native American artifacts, directly benefit from grave robbing, or the often racist, prejudiced language and ignorant beliefs regarding Native Americans first uttered by now dead anthropologists [like Alfred Kroeber], and perpetuated by the ailing volunteers and aging septuagenarians responsible for interpreting and curating these artifacts today.
Many of these museums do no care to get the information or facts straight, and continue to present California Native Americans as “extinct”, “disappeared”, and brush off or dismiss any mention of actual living Native people as someone trying to raise trouble.
Advocates for the truthful portrayal, accurate naming, and return of tribal objects and remains are often called “hostile”, dismissed as rabble rousers, and subjected to projection by the very people who should have read White Fragility.
Even more infuriating is the belief consulting with any Native American individual on any subject–whether or not it’s related to the stolen Tribal Grave Goods or Ceremonial Objects in these Museum’s possession–is used as cover for the Museum to continue to disregard the wishes of the very real, and still living Native American people who have a lawful claim, and a legal right to demand the return and repatriation of these Native American Tribal Resources and Cultural Objects.
In fact, many of the people museums choose to consult with regarding Native American artifacts are not Native Americans at all.
Truthfully, Native American people are consistently shut out of events, exhibitions and lectures about their own culture and identity.
A lot of apologists will say “it’s not like this anymore”; or dismiss the Standard Operating Procedures museums as a thing of the past…. But these conditions till persist.
Native American People continue to be discounted, ignored; and their history, culture and contributions continue to be minimized and ignored.
But the truth remains: The artifacts and objects on display in most museums have been stolen from Native American People, their graves, and do not belong to the museums who refuse to return them.
There are three main reasons why Museums refuse to return Tribal Cultural Objects.
The first is that there is no Federally Recognized Tribe which claims these objects to return them to. This is especially true for the Repatriation of Native American Remains.
It’s a shame that these institutions are unwilling to do the research and work necessary to properly identify Tribal Cultural Objects and Native American Remains to repatriate the same way they did the research to identify and prepare the same goods and burials for exhibition.
It’s despicable the way Museums claim such helplessness and ignorance when it comes time to give stolen objects back, even though the exact same objects are the she subjects of fundraising events and lectures proudly given by white anthropologists, and non-native experts, even today.
Charlene Nijmeh, the Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, talks about how the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was removed from the rolls of Native American Tribes simply for the purpose of denying Ohlone people in the San Francisco Bay Area their right to a tribal land base; because land in the Bay Area is so valuable.
In this same way, institutions like the University of California Berkeley (which holds the remains of thousands of Native Americans) are incentivized to claim an inability to identify which tribes the bodies in their crypt belong to.
So, too, are Museums incentivized to weaponize their incompetence in order to keep their pilfered goods.
This is a completely reprehensible argument that bears no merit, as far as I’m concerned. Simply because these same people would not agree that their family members are more valuable being dug up, defiled in the name of science, and put on display without so much of a whisper of their name or life’s story.
It’s worth saying, “If you’re not okay with your grandma being dug up and put on display, why are you doing it to mine?”
The blatant disrespect of Native American Graves as things which can be dug up, broken, moved to a landfill, reburied, and used as overspread is something which has been enabled by the statements of people like Alfred Kroeber, who explicitly declared entire tribes of Native Americans (like Ohlone people) “extinct”.
It s because these remains are considered “ancient”, or attributed to a time before our modern history where no living descendants exist–“pre-historic” for all intents and purposes–that oil companies, city, state and federal governments have dug up the bodies of our ancestors with impunity. And why money is still being given to universities to study our ancestors’ remains, even today.
But this is a fallacy, because Native American people are not extinct; they have not disappeared. We are still here, today. And we do not want anyone digging up our relatives to build pipelines, parking lots… or “for science”. Period!
(How come laws against the abuse of a corpse apply to every body except for Native American bodies?)
The third, and final, reason why institutions refuse to even consider returning stolen Native American artifacts to tribes is an extension of the preceding “more valuable for science” reasoning.
However, the very basis of some museums’ refusal to return tribal objects is clearly rooted in the scarcity mindset.
Museum Fallacy #3:
“If we give away all of our artifacts, we won’t have any left!”
“If we give away all of our artifacts, we won’t have any left!” This was actually said to me by a volunteer at the Alameda Museum.
This is dissonant because many museum’s holdings are made of stolen property. Repatriation is the only correct course of action; anything less is a travesty.
This standing also presumes the only thing of value the museum has to offer is the exhibition of original artifacts, no matter how broken or uninteresting those artifacts are; and, in spite of the fact that curators and museum staff and volunteers have no […] clue how those objects are used, where they actually came, or what the history of their use and development is.
In all of this, there is not even a hint of concern about whether or not the museum has a duty to investigate/research, find, and try to contact the tribe associated with the Native American objects and artifacts in their possession.
Consideration of actual Native American People is so far removed from the discussion, it’s a little ridiculous.
Representation of average museum volunteer docents. (AI-generated.)
The idea that there aren’t enough artifacts is a fallacy based upon a false sense of ownership and authority magically imbued by the mere possession of these stolen grave goods.
The implied scarcity mindsight that the only thing which gives museums like the Alameda Museum any value is a handful of broken pieces of bones and tools–which no one knows the use for (or even the names of)–is laughable in its appeal to ignorance.
The fact that Alameda Museum is not, and has never been, the place to see Native American artifacts belies this mindset as a straw man argument for the lack of interest or determination of the museum to change or do any better. But, in the end, it’s the museum which must do the work.
So let’s get down to brass tax here:
Museums need to get real about the fact that no one cares whether or not they exhibit real artifacts if their exhibits are trash and don’t actually provide any education value; especially if Museum Staff & Volunteers don’t know anything about them. [There’s no value here.]
Returning Native American Grave Goods is the right thing to do. (It’s probably illegal for museums to possess them.) And Museums owe money, and other restitution, to Tribes for their illegal conversion of Tribal Property.
Contacting Tribes to begin the repatriation process is necessary.
Museums need to seriously consider purchasing replicas made by Native American artisans in exchanging for the return of Grave Good and Ceremonial Objects.
Museums are required to pay Indigenous People for their time and consultation at a rate commensurate with like professionals in the same or similar industries–regardless of whether or not those Indigenous Consultants have any academic credentials.
Indigenous Peoples’ lived experiences and actual subject matter expertise are more valuable than any degree.
Indigenous science is valid.
Indigenous science is a distinct, time-tested, and methodological knowledge system that can enhance and complement western science. Indigenous science is about the knowledge of the environment and knowledge of the ecosystem that Indigenous Peoples have. It is the knowledge of survival since time immemorial and includes multiple systems of knowledge(s) such as the knowledge of plants, the weather, animal behavior and patterns, birds, and water among others.
Indigenous people are experts.
Museums will do well to remember these facts when treating Indigenous People with the reverence and respect they deserve.
This article will introduce you to where Lisjan is; who “Lisjan Ohlone” are, what what “Viva Lisjanes” means.
Where is Lisjan?
Lisjan is the big valley that spans the area from Pleasanton, to the Altamont Range (Amador and Livermore Valleys) which were also rancherias Alisal, Bernal, Del Mocho, and more.
Lisjan homeland of Jose Guzman, who is a Muwekma Ohlone Ancestor and Captain of the Verona Band of Indians of Alameda County.
Lisjan is a Nisenan (Maidu) name for the area now known as Pleasanton, California.
Why does it seem like Ohlone people are only in the South Bay?
Because the Spanish Missions in the Bay Area were in San Francisco and the South Bay.
Mission San Jose is in Fremont
Mission Santa Clara is in San Jose
Mission Delores is in San Francisco
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.
Secularization and Mission Abandonment
When the Missions were abandoned, secularized (in 1833), or destroyed, indigenous people continued to live on Mission Land, in what was most definitely their tribal homeland.
They were simply continuing to live and survive on their land, through the rise and fall of the California Mission System—which only lasted 64 year, yet had a profound and cataclysmic effect on all Indigenous people within their spheres of influence.
Many indigenous people stayed in this area, and blended in with Spanish, and Mexican work forces to avoid the American treatment of Indigenous People–which was well-known by the mid-1850’s to be sadistic and unpredictable. It was in the interest of survival that people blended in, and kept a low profile.
Verona Band of Alameda County
The “Verona Band” was an administrative name used to refer to a group of indigenous people who lived around the area where a train station named “Verona” was built by William Hearst in 1901. This is the Niles Canyon/Sunol Region of the Bay Area. Relatively close to the Mission San Jose.
Yo Soy Lisjanes
In 1921, a linguist interviewed a member of the Verona Band known as Jose Guzman. Guzman was considered an “Indian captain” and shared much of his language and life stories with John P. Harrington—the linguist. (Jose Guzman was not the only person Harrington interviewed.)
So where/who is Lisjan?
One of the things Jose Guzman said was, “Yo soy Lisjanes.”
As in: I’m Lisjanes, I am from Lisjan.
He was saying he’s from the area North of Verona: valleys now known as Amador and Livermore–but which had been split into many different rancherias by Spanish and Mexican colonizers, including Alisal, Bernal, and Del Mocho, among others.
One of the reasons that Guzman may have referred to the area around present-day Pleasanton by its Nisenan name could be that Jose Guzman’s parents were both from Maidu Territory, farther north, in a region where people spoke Nisenan.
Indigenous people are polyglottal by nature.
What does Chochenyo Mean?
Jose Guzman was the last fluent Chochenyo Speaker. Chochenyo is an Ohlone Language spoken in the East Bay.
There’s a new map showing the Shellmounds of Alameda.
It transposes the historic alameda shoreline onto the modern-day silohuette of the city. The map shows historic wetlands and tidal marshes, and the four Alameda Shellmounds.
Map of the Shellmounds of Huchiun, ~Muwekma Ohlone Territory~ Showing the Area Now Known As The “City of Alameda”
By: Gabriel Duncan
Description of The Map:
The base map is comprised of the present-day shoreline of the Alameda and Bay Farm area, indicated by a gray-hashed outline; with the land-mass filled in white. The overlay to this map shows the pre-1900 shoreline of Alameda as a solid black outline.
The Areas shaded in green comprise historical wetlands in the Alameda and Oakland Area. Alameda and Oakland were once connected. Alameda used to be a lush oak tree forest (Coast Live Oak), with verdant wetlands, and a thriving ecosystem. Alameda was also called la Bolsa de Encinal, or Encinal de San Antonio (a land grant reference.) First Peoples called this place Huchiun.
The green dots (or markers) indicate the approximate positions of historic Ohlone shellmounds present around 1908, and before. The shellmound locations indicated in this map were compiled from three different sources:
N.C. Nelson’s “Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region” [1909, University Press.]
Imelda Merlin’s “Alameda: a Geological History”, [1977, Friends of the Alameda Free Library]
Shellmounds are the resting place of the First Peoples of this area, Ohlone people. Ohlone people built these ancient structures over thousands of years. There are so many mussel shells in a shellmound they have a bluish tinge. Shells were deposited on land by birds, as well as humans, and the natural course of the circle of coastal life.
In the 1800’s until around 1980, Archaeologists and Historians thought that Ohlone people were extinct; and that these shellmounds were “trash heaps”. And they treated the mounds accordingly.
Americans used the shells and bones inside the mounds to make aggregate for concrete; landfill for levees; overspread to grade train tracks; and even fertilize plants. Grave robbers stole things from the Ohlone people buried inside the mound, and sold them to museums or collectors. The famous shellmound that Mound Street is named after (the “Sather Mound”) was used to pave Bay Farm Road on multiple occasions.
Shellmounds today are one of the most endangered historical sites in the Bay Area. But they still exist as a sacred resting place of the Ohlone ancestors. Alameda is the tribal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, survivors of the Missions Fremont, Santa Clara, and Delores, and the Verona Band of Alameda County. For at least 10,000 years, Ohlone people have called this place home.
Historic Shoreline (1851-1877) Datasets produced by NOAA National Ocean Service
Present-day Shoreline; City of San Francisco Department of Telecommunications and Information Services
Tribal Regions; A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1810, Randall Milliken, Malki-Ballena Press, 1995
Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region, N.C. Nelson, University Press, 1909
Alameda: A Geographical History, Imelda Merlin, Friends of the Alameda Free Library, 1977
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, Personal Interviews with Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, Vice Chairwoman Monica Arellano, Tribal Member Joey Torres
Muwekma History Presentation to Alameda City Council, Alan Leventhal, Dec. 5 2022
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area Website, http://muwekma.org, Accessed Aug. 10, 2023
“Road Paved with Bones Grewsome [sic] Covering On Bay Island Thoroughfare”, Alameda Daily Argus, Apr. 23, 1901
“Fixing the Streets”, Alameda Daily Star, Aug. 13 1908
“Mayor Has Idea on Roadbuilding: Takes Exception to Old Mound Being Used for Dressing on New Road”, Oakland Tribune, Oct. 9 1908
“Routine Ruled the Meeting”, Alameda Daily Times, Sep. 29 1908
“End Hauling Dirt to Island From Mound”, Oakland Tribune, Nov. 22 1908
About the Cartographer
Gabriel Duncan is the founder and principal researcher of the Alameda Native History Project. He is a recognized descendant of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe. Gabriel was adopted at birth, and born and raised in the city of Alameda, California. ANHP is devoted to researching and documenting the Indigenous History of Alameda, fostering indigenous representation and awareness in Alameda, and educating Alamedans about their local (living) history in a modern, nuanced way.
NOTE: This map was updated on 08/17/2023 to show the “Pre-1900 Shoreline”, Historic Wetlands, and Present-Day Land-mass; which are layers 1-3 on the list of references, above. Subsequently, those references have also been updated to reflect this change.
Voter Choice Alameda is a ballot measure committee that was founded by members of the Alameda League of Women Voters with the purpose of introducing a ballot measure to voters in the 2024 Elections.
Alameda Native History Project fully supports Ranked Choice Voting, and Voter Choice Alameda, and we’re actually really excited to have a nonpartisan way to get involved.
We also want you (the person reading this) to consider donating your time to the crucial signature-gathering period of getting this measure on the 2024 Election Ballot. [Voting’s really the easy part, innit?]
So what’s up with Ranked Choice Voting? Why should anyone even care about this stuff?
Ranked Choice Voting helps to strengthen the guarantee of free and fair elections; and the constitutional promise for government officials who are representative of, and stand for, the majority of voters.
Right now, in Alameda, we have a Plurality Voting System. This means that candidates with the highest amounts of votes win–even if they only garnered a small percentage of the vote.
Read on to learn more about Ranked Choice Voting; and the differences between Plurality and Majority Voting Systems.
Ranked Choice Voting isn’t a new idea.
Several cities in Alameda County already use Ranked Choice Voting to choose elected officials.
Albany
Berkeley
Oakland
San Leandro
Ranked Choice Voting in Alameda will be used to choose elected officials, like the Mayor, Members of City Council, City Auditor, and the City Treasurer.
Ranked Choice Voting means that the elected official chosen in an election will be chosen with a majority of votes.
Right now we have a “plurality” voting system; which means that whoever has the most votes wins.
This makes sense when there are only two choices. But when there are–let’s say–five or more candidates: the fact is that none of the candidates running ever score a majority of the votes. Which leaves the simple fact that, if an elected official wins with only 20% of the vote; there could be 80% of voters who never even wanted the elected official in the first place.
Plurality Voting skews to the rich, and to candidates with name recognition. It leads to a partisan, polarized, all-or-nothing mentality where voting for someone who isn’t “guaranteed to win” is just throwing away your vote.
It reinforces the idea of a “Two-Party System” and effectively shuts out other candidates, regardless of merit, because they can’t spend the money to game the system the same way career politicians do. It also disenfranchises voters who begin to believe that their vote doesn’t count, or that the voting system just doesn’t work.
Ranked Choice Voting seeks to find the candidates voted by the majority of people who cast ballots. And, that–in and of itself–helps to create a democratic government which is representative of its citizens.
Ranked Choice Voting also saves the overall cost of holding elections. Most of the savings comes in eliminating the costs of run-off elections, by using 2nd and 3rd choice candidates to find the majority consensus among voters. Since this is a Majority Voting method, the “run-offs” are held during the tabulation of votes; where the candidate with the least votes is eliminated in each round of tabulation to determine the majority vote-getter.
This video produced by PrimerLearning helps explain Majority Voting, Ranked Choice Voting, and Approval Voting; and compares all three voting schemes with each other.
Ranked Choice Voting also removes the “Spoiler Effect” that third-party candidates can have in “Splitting The Vote”. It also disincentivizes voting as if we really do only have a Two-Party system (ignoring all other candidates than the two major party candidates.)
Most importantly, Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to vote honestly for their first choice, and then “strategically” for their second and third choices, without being worried about “splitting the vote” and changing the outcome of the election to something a majority of voters neither wanted, nor intended.
A Note About The 2022 Oakland School Board Election
Some folks might point to the error in the Oakland District 4 School Board Tally System, which resulted in an incorrect count of votes.
That error was not the result of a flaw with Ranked Choice Voting, rather Human-Error in the configuration of the scanning and tallying at the County-Level. Specifically, the error meant that First Choices Left Blank were not counted correctly.
Because of regular auditing of elections, this error was caught and corrected by FairVote.
Therefore vague objections to Ranked Choice Voting like, “Ranked Choice Voting doesn’t work, look at what happened in Oakland” are facetious and made in ignorance to the true nature of the error. [Sorry, not sorry.]
Read More:
CalRCV Website – Has tons more information, videos, and even answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Ranked Choice Voting in California.
New Tonarigumi: Alameda Historic Japantown Markers
Alameda Historic Japantown Plaque and Marker at the Buddhist Temple of Alameda (2325 Pacific Ave, Alameda, CA 94501)
First picture at the Alameda Buddhist Temple; second picture at the Alameda Marketplace.
Alameda Historic Japantown Plaque and Marker at Alameda Marketplace (1650 Park St, Alameda, CA 94501)
These historical markers and plaques are dedicated to the Japanese, and Japanese-American, residents of the City of Alameda, who endured dispossession, displacement, and internment, during World War 2…. Only after enduring the intense racism and discrimination of White Alameda for decades before.
Note: I cannot share the images, or words used in Historic Alameda Newspapers to show you how strong White Alameda’s racist and hateful vitriol of Japanese (and Chinese) immigrants was; because these images and words are so offending as to be considered harmful material still to this day.
But it’s fair to say that non-white immigrants were never welcomed here, in the City of Alameda–nor were these immigrants ever allowed peace, quiet enjoyment, or credit for the awesome contributions they made to the development and advancement of the City we see today.
We can never forget the injustices the American government has imposed upon every single non-white group of people to ever exist within this country.
While white people love to point out that a very small group of them came forward to protect Japanese land and property from seizure and destruction, it’s the majority of white Americans who wholeheartedly supported the separation and internment of Japanese and Japanese-American people.
So, when we start having a real conversation about land back and honoring the Ohlone people of this place, I want you to include all Ohlone people and not just Sogorea Te Land Trust, and Corrina Gould—organizations which demonstrably only account for a very small fraction of the total Ohlone population living today.
It’s a shame that the Alameda Museum had no part in this project, at all.
But I want to congratulate the City of Alameda, and Downtown Alameda Business Association, for actually including the voices, perspectives, and participation of the the Japanese-Americans who were actually affected by these racists policies and laws.
As we continue forward in healing from the injustices and injuries of America’s racist past, the participation of those people who were actually affected by these shameful periods should be critical, tantamount, and–indeed–inextricable from the memorials, contrition, and reparations still to come.
Map of Alameda Japanese American Businesses of 1940. Map credit to JapantownAtlas.com.
Low-income census tracts with a substantial number or share of residents with low levels of access to retail outlets selling healthy and affordable foods are defined as food deserts.
Ver Ploeg, et al. “Mapping Food Deserts in the United States” USDA, Dec. 1 2019, https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/december/data-feature-mapping-food-deserts-in-the-us/
The reality of Low-Income Households, situated too far from Supermarkets, Grocery Stores, etc. is something that is finally being identified, and studied.
These areas are typically urban, rural, and semi-rural environments, where lack of vehicle access, public transportation, or just the sheer distance to a grocery store, prevents people from being able to purchase and transport healthy, fresh, nutritious food to their dwellings.
In urban areas, the closest and cheapest food sources are often only places like Fast-Food Chains, and Convenience Stores.
Unfortunately, these food sources are trash. And “ultraprocessed foods” like frozen pizza, hot dogs, store-bought cookies, ice cream, microwave dinners, Fast Food Burgers, Chicken Nuggets, and more, have been linked to certain forms of cancer, and help to provide an early death for those who can’t afford or access fresh meat and vegetables.
In rural areas, the impossible-to-travel distance from one’s house to any grocery store can mean that people just don’t eat, at all. Or, the amount of food which can be purchased is severely limited by the actual cost of going to and from the grocery store, and/or the amount of time it takes to make the trip is too long.
Having lived in both types of Food Deserts, it’s easy for me to look around at the City of Alameda and see the abundance of Food Sources, and their Connections via Public Transit, and find a place that is not recognizable as a food desert in any shape or form–at least, not in Bay Farm.
Upon researching this subject, I discovered that Bay Farm actually is considered a “Low Food Access Area”. Which is surprising, because Bay Farm also has the highest concentration of Home Owners Associations in the entire City of Alameda.
When the substantial addition of housing begins in Bay Farm, the Harbor Bay Landing will already have been re-developed with multi-unit housing. And it seems inconceivable that another grocery store won’t pop up, just like the Alameda Marketplace did–if a big store like Whole Foods, or Safeway, don’t beat them to it.
The take away is that Alameda Point really needs some Services.
That’s really what this map says to me.
For an area that used to have its own grocery store, the former Naval Air Station has become a point of embarrassment, specifically because of The City’s neglect of its residents. It’s something no one talks about. Just like the soil and groundwater contamination….
But we need to address these issues if we plan to be here for another 50 years. We can’t just focus on building parks, and leasing buildings to the highest bidders.
On Monday, Amy Wooldridge (Director of Alameda Parks & Recreation Department) replied to our open letter concerning the possibility of Sogorea Te Land Trust being given a portion of Linear Park, in Alameda–at the corner of Main Street and Singleton Avenue.
In our preliminary email, asking whether or not this was true, Wooldridge told us: “The Recreation and Parks Department is working with the Sogorea Té Land Trust and Confederated Villages of Lisjan to develop an agreement regarding a section of tule plants in the Main Street Linear Park between Singleton and Stargell streets…. Sogorea Té Land Trust will take responsibility for maintenance of this area which includes removing weeds and invasive plants…. They will also then have the opportunity to cultivate the tule plants that they use for ceremonial dress, boats, roofing, and baskets.”
Our primary objections were two-fold:
The Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, Inc. is not a tribal government; the City of Alameda is Muwekma Ohlone Territory.
Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area
Less than 5 years old.
Documented existence before 1890. (aka “Time Immemorial”)
Represents 1 family.
Thousands of enrolled tribal members.
Corporation
Federally Recognized as a Tribal Nation*
*The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area is currently fighting to restore their Federal Recognition as a Tribe. Find out how you can help.
The site proposed for management by Sogorea Te Land Trust has been subject to soil and groundwater pollution which was never properly cleaned.
2 x 6,000 gallon gasoline tanks removed in
1 x 550 waste oil tank.
These tanks were leaking gasoline and waste oil into the soil at Main Street, and Singleton Avenue, specifically.
Contaminated soil around tanks were used to back-fill holes made from tank removal.
Contaminated groundwater sprayed on contaminated soil for dust suppression during the entire project.
Existence of Toxic Marsh Crust 4-18 below ground surface.
Water table at 3 feet BGS, drainage ditch at least 4 feet deep.
2021 Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment report finds Benzene, Naphthalene, and other contaminants in ground water at one of the 26 underground storage tanks within 1,000 feet of proposed land management area.
Specific guidance from Alameda County Healthcare Services requiring review of sufficiency of corrective actions before Land Use may be changed.
It was our impression that the City of Alameda had reached out to Sogorea Te Land Trust in another performative display of “restorative justice” to give indigenous people [toxic] land back.
We found out that this was not the case. Sogorea Te Land Trust was not being given land by the City of Alameda.
“This was simply intended as a short, one-year maintenance agreement that also included and allowed for the Sogorea Te Land Trust to cultivate the plants for non-edible purposes.” Amy Wooldridge told us; adding, “They had reached out to me directly with this interest and since this park is in need of more maintenance, it seemed like a good fit.”
However, after being told about the dubious nature of Sogorea Te Land Trust’s intentions to convey trust land to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, and being given credible information regarding the suspected contamination of Linear Park, Amy Wooldridge has told us she intends to “pause” plans for collaboration with Sogorea Te Land Trust, “and will keep the Muwekma [Ohlone] Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area apprised of anything connected with Indigenous People that I’m involved with here in Alameda.”
This news is a victory for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, because the City of Alameda falls within traditional Muwekma Ohlone territory.
An Open Letter to Reverend Michael Yoshii, and Serena Chen, two of the lecturers set to speak in the Alameda Museum’s “Virtual Speakers Series”, for AAPI Heritage Month Lecture Series tomorrow, Monday, May 23, 2022.
Here’s the flyer:
Alameda Museum AAPI History Month Virtual Speak Series Flyer, links to AlamedaMuseum.org
Background: I tried to call Lillian Galedo, but I wasn’t able to reach her for comment. I sent letters to both Reverend Michael Yoshii, and Serena Chen.
Serena Chen responded by giving me a call, and we had a conversation that touched on this subject, as well as much more about Chinese-American History, Japanese-American History, Serena Chen’s work in passing smoking laws in the Bay Area, as well as her advocacy for the preservation of Angel Island Immigration Center.
Reverend Michael Yoshii hasn’t gotten back to me yet, re: the letter. But I know that he’s received it. And I actually asked him a lot of questions.
The reason why I wrote to these people, is because:
I am a researcher in the city of Alameda. And, my primary focus is on the Native American History of Alameda. However, it was impossible for me to research this topic and not notice the lack of representation of any non-white historical Alamedans at the Alameda Museum.
This bothers me, because my interest in history is not bound to my own ethnic group; and I believe that history’s lessons are infinitely more important, and more valuable than hiding the misdeeds of a city. And that, the truth of what happened to us, Alameda’s nonwhite citizens, is better aired out, discussed, and reconciled. I think that hiding these chapters of our history only creates more animus, and sets us up for future conflicts we don’t even know why we fight.
05/18/2022 ANHP Letter to Serena Chen, and Rev. Michael Yoshii
In my letter to the Reverend Yoshii, I asked him specifically:
How does it make you feel that Alameda Museum does not have any permanent exhibits about the Japanese-American experience in Alameda?
Does it bother you that the businesses, homes, wealth, and anything valuable (like family photos, heirlooms, and other precious things), that you, your family, and your compatriots had to abandon, or have taken away, aren’t even mentioned at all in Alameda’s official history?
If the Alameda Museum were to create a permanent exhibit featuring Japanese-American History and Experiences in Alameda, what would you like to see reflected about your own history, heritage, culture, and contributions to the City of Alameda?
In my letter to Serena Chen:
I mention that I found things about the Chinese Pioneers in Alameda that I thought were really cool. And was excited to share with her, and people interested in Alameda History.
But, in both letters, I invited them to consider addressing the lack of representation of their history, heritage, and culture in the Alameda Museum.
After all, Serena Chen, Rev. Michael Yoshii, and Lillian Galedo, will all be lecturing at the Alameda Museum, which has no permanent exhibit to AAPI History.
So, as soon as their voices fade, so will any representation or mention of their histories, heritage, or cultures. Histories which are rich, interesting, and worthy of being shared just as much as the white, victorian-obsessed history that Alameda Museum chooses to share–at the price of excluding all BIPOC people.
I’d like to invite you tune in to watch and learn; support Serena Chen, Lillian Galedo, and Michael Yoshii, as they share their family history, and experiences with us; and advocate for meaningful representation of AAPI heritage, and history in the form of permanent exhibits in the Alameda Museum.
Alameda Museum Virtual Speaker Series AAPI Heritage Month Feat. Serena Chen, Lillian Galedo, Reverend Michael Yoshii Monday, May 23, 2022 7:00 – 8:30 PM Event on Zoom Link to Event Info @ AlamedaMuseum.org Link to Event Registration @ Zoom.us
While being billed and paid for as an “homage to the gentle savages which once roamed the coasts and hills of this area thousands of years ago”:
Many of the images presented to you as “Native American Art”, and installed in places like Parks, Malls, Skate Parks, and other Public Spaces, and “Public Arenas”, are actually the romanticized interpretations by (a) someone who is not Native American and, (b) does not know enough about their subject matter to truly allegorize the sacred dances, symbols, and objects they attempt to vivify.
The result is a vitiated version of true Native American Cultural Representation Through Art. An impoverished image of who we are, and our physical connection to The Earth; The Animals; Our Ancestors; And All Of Us.
These images are created with the “understanding” that Native Americans are gone. That we no longer live in a physical sense.
We take up space in the imaginary place the artist has created. In the place with forests, and mesas; and lakes; and horses; and deer; and the Wolf howling at the Moon; and Iron Eyes Cody.
It’s probably the same place in your head….
The same place where “Indian Blankets” are half off. Where you can buy your own “Native American flute” out of a bucket at the door. Next to the Cigar Store Indian; and the “You Are On Stolen Land” t-shirts.
These images don’t just affect you. They affect us.
One: It Makes Us Forget Who We Are
Aside from beating us down by starvation literally; economically; educationally; culturally; and spiritually: these images help erase our sense of individuality in both Tribal and Personal identities.
We are enshrouding ourselves with the stereotypes they created for us.
We are letting them convince us that this is who we are. That we don’t exist unless we conform to these images. Their idea of “American Indians”, “Gentle Savages”, “Proud Chiefs”, and “Sexy Squaw”. Those are Halloween costumes.
We’re convincing ourselves that, unless we aren’t beading, or praying, or posting performative “Indian” [stuff] on social media that we aren’t Indians. That we don’t exist without the identities they try to place on us.
But we do. And that’s the First Way Public Art Promotes Pan-Indian Confusion: It makes us forget who we are.
Like, who we really are.
Two: Pan-Indian Images, Made By Non-Native Artists, Shut Out Contemporary and Authentic Native American Art and Voices (and create false subject matter experts, who only perpetuate the myths of colonization.)
The artists who rendered these images we see in public become considered subject matter experts, and go on to create more “culturally appropriate” or “culturally inspired” artwork for architects, corporations like tech companies, and more city governments, and municipalities.
These works of art are now cited as “Native American works”; and referred to as historically & culturally accurate representations of people–who are very much real, and alive, today–as though they were no longer here.
They contribute to the myth that we’ve just disappeared, somehow.
This is effectively re-colonizing these places with attenuated versions of us; homogenized stereotypes of the “Indians of California”. Representing the sanitized beginning, middle, and end of an entire civilization that “wasn’t” murdered, buried in mass graves; and pulverized, to be hidden in the very cornerstones of the institutions designed to govern them out of existence…. And yet, still came out fighting like Schrödinger’s Cat
These works of Public Art help to indoctrinate new generations into the Myth of The Colonization of California. The one where we all just simply disappeared; were “killed by the Spanish”; or “became Mexicans.” …That California was open, lush, and willing.
This not only prevents true Native American Artists from being featured, or recognized in their own homelands. But, the popularity, and entrenched nature of Public Art (something that’s usually made of steel, or metal, and set in concrete), literally cements these images in the public eye; helping to gloss over, and tune out the real history, living voices, and work of contemporary Native Americans as people and artisans. In favor of the commercialized, white-washed, Pan-Indian images and stereotypes that stalk us everywhere we go.
We have to stop considering non-native people as the gatekeepers of Native American culture, or the experts on our lives, and lived experiences.
Three: Works of Public Art Do Not Absolve Governments of Their Duty to Recognize and Honor Native American People
Public Artwork concerning Native American People should do the following:
Never be a sculpture of a Native American person, unless it was actually made and designed by a Native American person, or a person of Native American Descent.
Be built/created/assembled by Native American people;
In print: acknowledge the Native American Genocide, California Genocide, or the Mass Murder and Removal of Native Americans for the Exploitation of Their Land and Natural Resources as the reason why the viewer is standing in an outdoor mall, and not a lush field–with rivers, fresh air, salmon, and singing forest animals–today;
Recognize the People Whose Land We Are On by Name, and the name of the Tribal Nation as it may appear in Treaty;
Recognize that Public Art cannot undo the past, but it is a way that we can all remember our history, honor our ancestors, and heal together from the sins of our fathers.
Public Art is a component, and not the whole solution.
These things should be employed in concert with serious policies of Native American Inclusion & Acknowledgment, like:
Native American Representation in City Government, City Events, City Planning
Renaming of Some Parks, Streets, Schools, and Other Public Buildings/Spaces
Establishing Historical Sites and Districts
Rehabilitating, Maintaining, and Protecting the Local Environment
Consider doing these things in a sustainable way, with native plants, non-neonicotinoid pest control, and by eliminating nitrogen (fertilizer) run-off.
Specifically Prohibiting Development in “Restricted Resource Zones”
Actively soliciting local Native American people, artists, and historians, for input and education about their history.
