Alameda Native History Project

Tag: shuumi land tax

  • Save Shellmounds (Not Parking Lots)

    Shellmounds are ancient structures created by thousands of years of indigenous occupation.

    Shellmounds are cemeteries, or mortuary complexes. The final resting places of the first people to live in this place we call the San Francisco Bay Area.

    There were once over 425 shellmounds in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. In fact, there were many more shellmounds than that.

    If you look closely at the distribution of shellmounds in Marin and Sonoma Counties, and apply that density to the rest of the Bay Area, you will very easily top 600 shellmounds.

    Despite the fact that shellmounds are cemeteries, hundreds were still destroyed all around the Bay Area.

    And–to make matters unimaginably worse–the bodies inside were ground up, and used as overspread to level out train tracks, and build massive infrastructure (like the Angel Island Immigration complex.)

    “How was this possible?” (You may ask yourself.)

    Wouldn’t someone be able to tell there were bodies inside of these mounds?

    Yes. People could tell there were bodies in the mounds.

    Even though some news stories feature witnesses who described bones disintegrating, or “turning to dust” as soon as they were handled…. People are still finding skeletons in places like Alameda, California, whenever they dig somewhere for the first time in a hundred years–which isn’t hard to do when many houses in Alameda are 100 years old.

    In spite of the desecration, and destruction visited on hundreds of shellmounds here in the San Francisco Bay Area, many still survive. And a surprising amount shellmounds survive intact.

    The most well known, “intact” shellmounds in the Bay Area reside in the Coyote Hills Regional Park. They are known as the “Ryan” and “Patterson” Mounds.

    They join a long list of shellmounds which have been reported upon and studied over the past 100 years or more.

    This list includes (but is not limited to):

    • Ellis Landing (Contra Costa)
    • Emeryville (Alameda)
    • West Berkeley (Alameda)
    • San Bruno Mound (San Mateo)
    • Miller Mound (Colusa)
    • Alameda Shellmound (Alameda)
    • Ryan Mound, and Patterson Mound (Alameda)
    • Burton Mound (Santa Barbara)
    • Herzog Mound (Sacramento)

    … Just to name a few.

    Excerpts of Illustrations from “Shell midden” surveys in SoCal showing shellmounds in situ:

    Many of the ancestors and artifacts exhumed and stolen from these mounds reside in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, on the University of California, Berkeley Campus.

    These objects and human remains were taken during a period of “salvage archaeology“. Which was a period of intense extractive and exploitive research into Native American Language, Arts, Culture and Religion under the premise that the “Aboriginal Indians of North America” would soon become “extinct”.

    Obviously, much of this work was made easier by the dispossession, missionization, forced internment (on reservations), and annihilation, that Indigenous People endured since First Contact with Europeans.

    Just as Indigenx, Native American, First Nation and all First People of this place survived colonization: so did their shellmounds.

    It’s up to us to break the cycle of destruction. The cycle of purposely disconnecting people from the places they come from. And then destroying those places (literally) for no other reason than the speculative amount of value or resources the land is worth.

    One of the ways we can put the earth back into balance is by letting those who are from this earth gain access to their ancestors; and traditional places (like hunting camps) and resources (like a river) which provide a tribal cultural benefit.

    Traditional tribal hunting grounds provide a tribal cultural benefit as source of traditional sustenance…. A river (or certain parts of it) where fish are caught, or plants or other things are gathered, is a natural resource which provides a tribal cultural benefit.

    There is an air gap between the idea of land stewardship as a Native American landscaping service; and land stewardship through traditional cultural practices which have shaped much of the natural ecosystems of the Bay Area for over 10,000 years.

    Render of a shellmound on the shore of the Carquinez Strait.

    The mounds which still exist are not flat; have not been dug out; and are certainly not parking lots, transit stations, or shopping malls.

    Parking lots are not “undeveloped” space.

    Parking lots are not “open space”.

    Parking lots have been levelled, packed, and paved.

    …Just because parking lots are flat does not mean the land “isn’t developed”.

    You need to know this:

    When we talk about saving sacred sites. We’re talking about real sacred sites. Places which have been spared from development, either by ignorance, or by luck.

    Render of a shellmound across the bay from San Francisco. Possibly in Albany, or El Cerrito.

    Shellmounds are a part of the natural environment.

    Shellmounds support the ecosystems they reside in.

    Shellmounds are not parking lots!

    Aside from the spiritual impact of shellmounds to their surrounding areas: shellmounds today provide habitat for plants and wildlife where that habitat is endangered–and, under constant threat of development.

    You can help protect sacred land by protecting the environment around it.

    You can help protect sacred land by advocating for its conservation, and return to the San Francisco Bay Area Ohlone Tribe: the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.

    While support for land trusts,
    and ideas like “rematriation” are wonderful….

    Fundraising campaigns like “Shuumi Land Tax” take away from the real causes of Ohlone Tribal Recognition, Ohlone Tribal Sovereignty, and Ohlone Ancestral Land Back.

    Ohlone people deserve respect and deference. When you give your land acknowledgment or money, do your research first. Don’t confuse non-profit corporations with actual tribes.

    *The Shellmounds section of this website has more links to information.

  • Shuumi Does Not Benefit Ohlone Tribe

    Most people are familiar with the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.;

    and their fundraising (“trust”) corporation known as Sogorea Te Land Trust, INC.

    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.

    [Link to Federal Bar PDF document, “Introduction to Tribal Election Law“.]

    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 Gould and “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 confederation signed by representatives of all the villages in the confederation.

    So, how come Corrina Gould is only pictured with her daughter and grand-children in most “official tribal portraits”?

    You may be blinded by the white faces surrounding Corrina Gould; and Indigenous supporters who are neither Ohlone, nor even from the San Francisco Bay Area.

    But those people are not tribal members. And they are not eligible to be tribal members because they’re not even Ohlone.

    This begs the question:

    • Who are the other villages in the confederacy?
    • Where are the members of those other villages?
    • Why aren’t other members of the confederacy represented in these official pictures and at official events with Corrina Gould?
    • Why are the PR photos only showing Corrina Gould’s immediate family, and a slew of non-indigenous supporters?
    Why hasn’t anyone asked these very basic questions?

    People are less familiar with the real, bona fide, Ohlone tribe Corrina Gould is a recognized descendant of: The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.

    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, documented contiguous history of living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years.

    In fact, the genetic ties between Muwekma and the San Francisco Bay Area fossil record are only being strengthened with each archaeological “discovery”, and subsequent “ancient DNA” analysis.

    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.]

    This is completely different than the name “Lisjan”; which is an obscure reference to the Muwekma homeland, which included (among other locales): Alisal Rancheria (around Pleasanton, California), the Area Around Sunol (California), and the historical Hacienda Del Pozo Verona, built by the Hearst family—which had a train station named for it: the Verona Station.

    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:

    1. “Lisjan” is a Chochenyo and Nisenan name for Pleasanton, California; that,
    2. Corrina Gould’s corporation is not a confederation of Ohlone villages, or a Tribal Government; and that,
    3. 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 protect the 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.

    Right now is a crucial time for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe; as they struggle to receive re-affirmation of Muwekma’s status as a Federally Recognized Tribe; and restore a Muwekma tribal homeland.

    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.

    You can help Muwekma, too.

    One of the ways Muwekma can receive reaffirmation of their Federal Recognition Status is by an act of Congress.

    Call/Email your local representative.

    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.

    Check out the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area’s website for more ways to help the tribe restore their sovereignty, and provide an Ohlone homeland for generations to come.

    “The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe knows who they are, they don’t have to prove it.”

    Lee Panich, Ph.d.

  • Save Shellmounds Not Parking Lots

    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.

    Cultural Easements—like the one proposed at Joaquin Miller Park, in Oakland, California—are not actually land back, and do not benefit the cause Corrina Gould (under the auspices of Sogorea Te Land Trust) purports to advocate for (all the while pretending to be the “tribal chairwoman” of a non-profit corporation posing as a bona fide tribal government.)

    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.

    All of this only confuses the well-meaning public; and takes attention and purpose away from the legitimate means of land back, and the mechanisms which exist to attain justice, land, and equity for Ohlone people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    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

  • Sogorea Te: Unaccredited Land Trust Facing California Tax Liens

    This might seem like a repeat of the circumstances which led to the hostile take-over of the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan, INC.: A well-known non-profit organization with dubious claims of tribal sovereignty, and a lack of transparency which was suspended as a corporation by the California Franchise Tax Board for failure to pay taxes and/or file required financial documents.

    This might be par for the course for any organization associated with convicted fraudster, Corrina Gould, but….

    It’s more surprising that Sogorea Te Land Trust, which raked in over $3 Million Dollars in donations [which they call “Shuumi”] in 2020 alone, would have any problems paying their taxes.

    The fact that Sogorea Te Land Trust is subject to a California Franchise Tax Board Tax Lien was discovered by a Lien Notice filed in Alameda County, on 8/23/2022, as Instrument #2022146941.

    It’s unclear if Sogorea Te Land Trust’s Tax Exempt Status will be Revoked, or if the corporation itself will be Suspended by the California Secretary of State (like the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan, INC. was;) but we will continue to provide you with updates as this situation evolves.

    In the meantime–if you actually care about whether or not the Land Trust you support (like Sogorea Te Land Trust) adhere to ethical standards, and sound fiduciary conduct, we recommend checking the Land Trust Accreditation Commission’s Website, and searching for the land trust you support.

    [Spoiler alert: Sogorea Te Land Trust is not an accredited land trust.]

  • Corrina Gould Convicted of Defrauding Alameda County, in 1997, Ordered to Pay $5,275

    On April 17, 1997, Corrina Gould was convicted in Alameda County Criminal Court, for:

    willfully and knowingly, with the intent to deceive, by means of false statement or representation, or by failing to disclose a material fact, or by impersonation or other fraudulent device, obtained or retained [more than $950] aid under the provisions of this division for himself or herself or for a child not in fact entitled thereto.”

    California Welfare & Institutions Code Sec. 10980(C)2

    Gould was sentenced to jail time, and fined.

    There was also a civil judgment against Corrina Gould for the amount of $5,275 dollars, which was entered by her own confession:

    I hereby confess… [d]efendant fraudulently received public assistance benefits from Alameda County that [she] was not entitled to by submitting false written statements under penalty of perjury.”

    Corrina Gould, “Statement and Declaration for Confession of Judgment”, Alameda County Civil Case Number 1997002685

    It is unclear how long Gould spent in jail.

    The case file was destroyed pursuant to the law which governs case file retention. (Information about the offense, and Gould’s subsequent conviction is still available in the Alameda County Superior Court Criminal Index.)

    Alameda County Superior Court Criminal Records Search (SEP-21-2021) for “Corrina Gould”

    But the Welfare & Institutions Code statute Corrina was sentenced by enumerates terms of imprisonment as 16 months, 2 years, and 3 years, or “a fine of not more than $5,000,” or both. The Criminal Index indicated Corrina Gould’s sentence as “Sentence: 001 jail and fined.”

    Corrina Gould was also sentenced to 36 months of probation for defrauding Alameda County Social Services. The exact dollar amount Gould illegally obtained is unknown.

    At the time of Corrina Gould’s conviction for Welfare Fraud, she was working at the American Indian Family Healing Center, in Oakland, California. She would later work for the American Indian Child Resource Center, as a Title VII Coordinator. It’s unclear if either organization knew of Corrina Gould’s conviction for this type of fraud; or, whether or not Gould was involved in filing claims, and/or applying for benefits on behalf their clients.

    Today, Corrina Gould is the spokesperson for Sogorea Te Land Trust, and Confederated Villages of the Lisjan, INC. She was also a co-founder of Indian People Organizing for Change.

    Sources and Links:

    County of Alameda V. Corrina Gould

    Alameda County Superior Court, Civil Case #1997002685
    County of Alameda V Gould
    County of Alameda V Gould Judgment Pursuant to Confession
    County of Alameda V Corrina Gould #1997002685
    Corrina Gould Confession of Judgment
    Corrina Gould Signed Confession (SSN Redacted)
    Attorney Certification

    Use DomainWeb to view Alameda County Superior Court Documents online.

    Alameda County Superior Court

    re: Corrina Gould, Alameda County Criminal Case #403554

    Alameda County Courts website is at Https://alameda.courts.ca.gov

  • Alternatives to Paying Shuumi (Sogorea Te’s “Land Tax”)

    Acknowledging our occupation of Native Land; and the way we benefit from Mission Enslavement of Native Americans, the enslavement of people we know as African-American, and the California Genocide is not this easy.

    The Sins of Colonialism can not be washed away with more blood money.

    Direct investment in the community is what’s needed, instead.

    Why this sudden change of heart?

    (more…)