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IN CELEBRATION OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, THIS TALK WAS GIVEN BY NANCY MAYO FOR BANAP DURING THE FCCPA SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE, NOVEMBER 9, 2025
Hersha Tuhe. Good morning. As we continue to celebrate our wonderfully vibrant church being here in Palo Alto for 125 years, I think we can also celebrate the communities of people who were here before us and cared for this land for over 10 thousand years. Yes, right near here lived the Puichon communities, most likely with villages along the nearby creeks. Up near Filoli lived the Lamchin people. There was probably a village in the Jasper Ridge area of Stanford. The Ramaytush language was spoken by people all along the peninsula, from San Francisco down to the Palo Alto area. Today they are thought of as belonging to the broad group of people known as the Ohlone, with hundreds of villages dotted along and near the San Francisco Bay. We know the people had a wide variety of food and material resources, and they had the knowledge to steward the land to sustain that abundance. November is Native American Heritage Month. The Bay Area Native Allies Project, known as BANAP within our church, has learned so much about our local Indigenous people during the last few years, and we are fortunate to have connected with current leaders of the Ramaytush Ohlone. Their history of the last 250 years, beginning with the Mission Era, is both difficult and complex. The lingering trauma is being acknowledged. But, the Ramaytush trace their lineages back even further, before all the waves of colonists arrived. Shell mounds are being located; ancient village sites are being recorded; documents of early explorers acknowledge their presence. Unlike some tribes, they are not Federally Recognized. By being forcefully removed from their homeland, they lost that statute. By not being allowed to speak their own language at the Missions or to tend to their food sources or to keep their sacred ceremonies alive, they lost much of their culture. They struggle to have their historical sovereign rights as a tribe in California affirmed and restored. BANAP has been working with Dr. Jonathan Cordero, the Metush (or Chairperson) of the Ramaytush Tribe, who has helped us learn so much about our local Indigenous people. We asked him how our church might be of help to the Ramaytush. Among so many other endeavors, he is working with the University of California Law School in San Francisco, as a co-director of Indigenous Studies. He suggests funding a Summer Intern to work with him in researching California Indian law as it relates to ALL California tribes, both Federally- and non-Federally-recognized tribes. The BANAP group will be looking into ways of fundraising for this in the near future. Meanwhile, great strides that benefit us all are being made by groups of California Indians and their allies. For the first time in a century, salmon are returning to spawn in the headwaters of the Klamath River. Firefighters are incorporating Native fire-based land management practices that maintain healthy forests and grasslands of diverse vegetation. Homeowners are discovering that Native plants not only provide nutritious food and material for baskets and other useful tools, but they also make for beautiful home gardens that consume less of our precious water. Thanksgiving Day is soon upon us; we have so much to be thankful for. And, I am thankful for our Ohlone neighbors. If you would like to learn more and even join in BANAP activities, please talk with Maria Daehler or Marty Dreher or me in Sacred Grounds after church today and visit the informational pages within the Serves section of our church website. Thanks so much, and Happy Native American Heritage Month. (sovereignty= autonomy, independence, self-governing. antonym=colonialism) https://www.ramaytushtribe.org/tribal-council. html https://www.ramaytush.org/ |
De Young/ Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums of SF: The De Young Museum has a new presentation of Native American art that opened Aug. 26 “celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of Indigenous arts of the Americas. Visitors will experience works spanning over a thousand years of history and incorporating many diverse types of media, challenging expectations about what Native art is and can be.”
There was a free, day-long Opening Celebration on Sept. 13, with “a symposium, talks, performances, and music from contemporary Indigenous artists.” Note: Jonathan Cordero, PhD is an advisor for this exhibit. Bay Nature: A Land Back Success for the Amah Mutsun Within Its Historical Territory; The tribe has been without a land base for more than 200 years. The Amah Mutsun have acquired 50 acres of land within their historical territory from before colonists came. “The property is within the greater Juristac landscape, which is a very sacred site,” said tribal chairman Valentin Lopez… and said that the parcel will be preserved as open space where tribal members can practice land stewardship. “It’s our responsibility to take care of Mother Earth and all living things,” he said. “So taking care of this area as a wildlife corridor is right in line with our cultural values and our directive from Creator.” 9-20-25 Go to the Amah Mutsun Land Trust website for more information. Please note BANAP recognizes that other Ohlone groups may dispute homeland boundaries. "New community garden plants roots in East Palo Alto" from Palo Alto online: "Nonprofits anticipate growth beyond greenery in city’s new gathering space... Catalina Gomes, an indigenous elder in the Ramaytush Ohlone tribe that occupied San Francisco Peninsula Region, cleansed attendees with sage and allowed them to bless different sections of the land that is anticipated to become a bustling community hub." (June 2025) |
San Jose Spotlight: “Santa Clara County courthouse mural is racist, advocates say,” by Joyce Chu Feb. 14, 2025; Read about a controversial "mural at the Palo Alto branch of the Santa Clara County Superior Court that depicts Native Americans kneeling before priests. Native Americans and the NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley are asking for it to be removed.” Another POV: “There is no erasing that part of history… We can look back and regret the past, but without knowing and recognizing the past, we might forget that these things happened and find ourselves in the same place — wanting to destroy a foreign culture, people or religion, as it is scary to us. What we can do is educate, to use this as a teaching moment.”
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