After years of prayers and protests, legal battles, Indigenous women led activism and organizing, education campaigns, countless outreach efforts, and with the help of thousands of supporters, the struggle to protect this Ohlone Sacred Site has prevailed!
“The City of Berkeley and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation joined together to right a historic wrong, resulting in the rematriation of our oldest Shellmound and Village site to its original people,” said Corrina Gould, Tribal Chair of the Lisjan Nation. “This is not only the largest urban sacred site victory in California’s history, it’s also among the most culturally significant for the Lisjan people.”
Visit shellmound.org to learn more about the history of the site.
“The city of Berkeley has reached a landmark agreement with the developer who owns a parking lot atop a sacred Ohlone site to transfer the land permanently back to Indigenous peoples after years of litigation and community outcry.”
“It’s rare for a city to fight as long and hard as we did to return land to its original people, but fighting for this site was a moral imperative I could never turn away from. The principled actions our city has taken give new life to Berkeley’s values of equity, respect and redress,” said Berkeley Councilmember Sophie Hahn in the press release.
“Ohlone people and others rejoiced Wednesday over the return of sacred Native land dating back thousands of years, saying the move rights a historic wrong and restores the people who were first on land now called Berkeley to their rightful place in history.”
“The site will be home to education, prayer and preservation, and will outlast every one of us today to continue telling the story of the Ohlone people,” said Mayor Jesse Arreguín at a celebratory press conference on Fourth Street in Berkeley Wednesday. He said their history is “marked not by adversity, but more importantly, by their unwavering resilience as a community.”
For more information about the history of the site and the community led fight to preserve it go to www.shellmound.org.
Support Indigenous led land return
The Rematriate the Land Fund is dedicated to expenses associated with bringing land back into Indigenous stewardship including purchase and care of land, permits and fees, studies, surveys, remediations, restoration, and related needs.
For contributions over $1000, checks can be made to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and sent to
Po Box 6758 Oakland CA 94603. Please write “Rematriate the Land Fund” in the Memo. If you encounter issues with or need to change your contribution, please contact rosa (at) rematriatetheland (dot) org. If you would like to discuss a significant contribution, please contact ariel (at) rematriatetheland (dot) org.
![Rematriar la Tierra
Devolver la Tierra
Regresar a Tierra
Rematriate the Land
Return the Land
Return to Land
We are excited to be translating some of our materials into Spanish with the support of our team member Sharon.
As we look at some of the language we use, we are discovering not everything always translates.
What words have you seen being used for Rematriation,
Land Back and Indigenous Land Return work in other languages?
[ID: A set of slides with a turquoise textured background with curved bold yellow text that read Rematriate la Tierra, Devolver la Tierra, Regresar a Tierra, Rematriate the Land, Return the Land and Return to Land]
#Rematriate #Rematriar #SogoreaTeLandTrust #UrbanIndigenous #WomenLed #LandReturn #LandBack #Rematriation #aroundtheworld](https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)