A couple months back, amid the tail end of their “Trail of Truth” cross-country horseback ride to Washington, D.C., we introduced you to our partnership with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. For decades, these relatives — some of the original peoples of California — have been denied their rightful status as a federally recognized tribe. That’s unacceptable, and so through a partnership that involves our assistance with media creation and outreach, we aim to help them right this grievous wrong.
Today I remind you that your voice is critical in helping the Muwekma restore their federal recognition. If you have not done so, please send a message to your congressional reps demanding justice for the Muwekma. While you’re at the page, please also watch the new video we produced with their cooperation and on their behalf, then share the action on your preferred social media channels.
Watch, take action, and share! It’s long past time some of California’s original peoples had their federal recognition rightfully restored.
As Muwekma Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh makes clear in the video, this is “about standing up and demanding justice for the Muwekma Ohlone.” It’s about creating a future for her people that appropriately recognizes their history — more than 10,000 years living in one of the world’s most beautiful, powerful, and wealthy places. San Francisco, the Silicon Valley, Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, and I could go on and on: all of these places occupy land stolen from Ohlone ancestors.
Restoration of federal recognition is the very least the Muwekma deserve. The tribe previously held federally recognized status under its former name — the Verona Band of Mission Indians. Though this status was never officially terminated, the Muwekma were eventually, inexplicably, left off the government’s official rolls.
Federal recognition is tremendously important to Native People for a number of reasons. Those include access to key government funds that can provide educational opportunities for youth and elevate living conditions for entire communities, not to mention the abilities to establish new paths toward self-determination and repatriate artifacts and ancestral remains that should come home to Native care.
As Indigenous People, we understand how big a difference these things make. As I mentioned to you in our last message about the Muwekma, the horses Chairwoman Nijmeh and her companions rode those many miles came from Percy White Plume of the Horse Nation on the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Pine Ridge Reservation. On the rez, we know we have to stand together, now more than ever.
That’s why, under Sacred Defense Fund, Lakota Law will continue to expand its mission to create and foster partnerships that elevate voices and address concerns far beyond Lakota Country. We support sovereignty efforts across Turtle Island and justice movements worldwide. We stand for equity, and we fight for fairness. And we remain extremely grateful to you for being there with us, every step of the way.
Wopila tanka — thank you for your friendship, courage, and activism.
Chase Iron Eyes
Executive Director
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund
P.S. Please write your reps and demand federal recognition for the Muwekma Ohlone. Let’s show solidarity with our California relatives and keep fighting, every day, for tribal sovereignty and respect.
Lakota People’s Law Project
c/o Sacred Defense Fund
PO Box 27
Santa Fe, NM 87504
Water is Life 