Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco sit in the territory of Huichin, part of the stolen land of the Chochenyo Muwekma Ohlone, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. Ohlone people are not federally recognized as indigenous nations in the San Francisco Bay Area by the federal colonial government. California Native Americans suffered a brutal history of colonization, diseases and heinous violence and servitude during the Gold Rush and California Missions era. In 1854 alone, the government spent 1.4 million – $5 a head, 50 cents a scalp for people who turned their professional careers into killing Native Californias.
We acknowledge the land, labor and continued fight of the Ohlone people. We recognize their continued fight to reclaimed their ancestral lands and culture, to assert their sovereignty, and to be recognized. We honor the Ohlone’s connect to this land and whose presence—past, present, and future—we respect. As the Village In Oakland fights for the rights of unhoused people to exists – including safe, adequate and dignifies housing on this stolen land, we acknowledge that the land we are working on today is the original homeland of Ohlone people. We acknowledge all Bay Area Indigenous peoples, and we understand that for the United States to exist, the settler colonizers created homelessness by stealing the lands of aboriginal peoples of Turtle Island.
Check out this short video about the Muwekma Ohlone tribes current fight for federal recognition and sovereignty https://www.facebook.com/reel/694319719737418
Before we set off on this work in 2016, we asked for the blessing of Ohlone Elder Ann Marie Sayers, a Mutton/Ohlone, who was determined in August of 2011 by the California Native American Heritage Commission to be the “Most Likely Decendant” of the 6000 year old remains of an Ohlone child that were unearthed during the construction by KB Homeon the knoll just above Market Street Field.
Sayers lives at Indian Canyon, which is an area near Hollister her family originally lived at during the Mission era. Indian Canyon is the only recognized Californian Indian Country, which is a designation that entitles an area to be governed by tribal or federal law, as opposed to state law. At the time of the missions, Indian Canyon was safe from those who rounded up Native Americans to be put to work. As the attempted genocide of California Natives massively shrunk the populations during the Gold Rush, Indian Canyon served as a safe haven for those who were able to find it after passing through a swamp. Sayers, with the help of friends, reclaimed some of the original Indian Canyon property in 1988, which is now a sanctuary to many indigenous peoples world-wide who don’t have traditional lands for ceremonies.
“Land of my Ancestors” is a documentary short that celebrates the living legacy of Ann Marie Sayers. You can check out the documentary here
WHY LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARE IMPORTANT
“We need truth in history. It’s so important. The foundation of this country was built on the lives and death of Indians.”
– Ann Marie Sayers
These acknowledgements can easily be a token gesture rather than a meaningful practice. All settlers, including those who recently arrived, have a responsibility to consider what it means to acknowledge the history and legacy of colonialism. We have a responsibility to understand that we have inherited particular privileges as settlers today because of colonialism. And if we truly stand for justice, we have the responsibility to understand how the work we do around homelessness and the unhoused relates to acknowledging stolen Ohlone land and all indigenous lands, and to be mindful about our intentions to disrupt and dismantle colonialism beyond this territory acknowledgement
SUPPORTING BEYOND THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
One very direct and material way to support beyond land acknowledgements is to contribute financial to any of these efforts working towards re-matriating the land and water to their rightful Indigenous stewards of what is known now as the Bay Area, and protecting Native American culture, which is intrinsically connected to the land.
1. HELP Restore Sovereignty to The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe https://www.muwekma.org
2. A prayerful journey to restore salmon runs, protect waters, and indigenous life ways of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe http://run4salmon.org
3. Indian Canyon is the only land continuously held by the Ohlone people, and currently the only federally recognized “Indian Country” along coastal Northern California From Santa Barbara to Sonoma.: http://www.indiancanyonlife.org
4. The NEST Community Arts Center is the only indigenous led community arts space in California. It is a space for healing, good vibes, and creation of arts located in Pomo territory, in the Makamo Mahilikawna watershed at Ashokawna, East River or Eesi Bidapte, or Big River also know as the Russian River in Sonoma County, to learn more or donate, visit https://nestbuildcreate.com
5. The Intertribal Friendship House of Oakland is one of the oldest Native American-focused urban resource and community organizations in the United States. Founded in 1955, IFH was created by local residents. Oakland, California has the largest number of native American’s from across the United States due to relocation acts from the 1940s and 50s that forced Indigenous people’s East of the Mississippi to relocate to East Oakland; and due to the Great Migration of the 1930s, when many “Black” presenting Natives including Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, Yamasee, and Chickasaw were mislabeled “Black” or “Negro”. To learn more or donate, visit https://www.ifhurbanrez.org
6. The Indigenous People Power Project (IP3) was founded in 2004 in Oakland, California to answer the urgent need for Nonviolent Direct Action strategies as a response to the challenges many Indigenous communities on turtle island and worldwide experience and a tactic to protect Indigenous land, water, air, and their inherent right to self-determination. To learn more and donate, visit https://www.ip3action.org/who-we-are/
The Village created this Land Acknowledgement to not only pay respect to the rightful stewards, but also in the hopes of inspiring others to take action to support Indigenous communities, and to actively learn about the Indigenous people on whose land you currently live on, the history of this land, and for you to make a mindful commitment to be an ally to Native Americans in their fight for preserving culture, life and sovereignty.
The Village is a fiscally sponsored project of Holistic Underground.