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The Sogorea Te Land Trust

The Sogorea Te Land Trust

An urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people

  • About
    • Purpose and Vision
    • Our History
    • Staff & Board
    • Partnerships & Alliances
    • Contact Us
  • Lisjan (Ohlone)
    • Lisjan History & Territory
    • Mak Noono Tiirinikma
  • Programs
    • Cultural Revitalization
    • Himmetka: In One Place, Together
    • Mitiini Numma Youth Program
  • Rematriation
    • Land Sites
      • Lisjan, East Oakland
      • ‘Ookwe, Richmond
      • Rammay, West Oakland
      • Rinihmu Pulte’irekne, Oakland Hills
      • ‘Ištune, Oakland
      • Mugworts Cabin
      • Pinnantak
    • Return Land / Land Return
    • Rematriate the Land Fund
  • Media
    • Updates
    • Resources
    • Creative Collaborations
  • Engage
    • $ Donate!
    • Make a Request
    • Get E-mail Updates
    • Land Acknowledgements
    • Other Ways to Engage
  • Shuumi Land Tax
    • Institutional Shuumi Land Tax
    • Shuumi Land Tax FAQs
      • Testimonials

Staff & Board

Directors


Corrina Gould

(Ohlone) Corrina Gould is the tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan. Born and raised in her ancestral homeland, the territory of Huchiun, she is the mother of three and grandmother of four. Corrina has worked on preserving and protecting the sacred burial sites of her ancestors throughout the Bay Area for decades.

Johnella LaRose

(Shoshone Bannock/Carrizo) Johnella LaRose is a lifelong activist. She is the Co-Founder of Indian People Organizing for Change, a grassroots organization that advocates for the Indigenous community. Johnella is a graduate of  Mills College with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology.

Staff


Deja Gould

Land Team Member

Born and raised in her ancestral village of Huchiun, Deja is a core member of the administrative and office team. She goes out on the land along with her two children to lead seed saving, transplanting, and language revitalization.

Victoria Montaño

Land Team Member

Born and raised in the village of Huchiun, “so called” Oakland. Victoria, Yaqui/Mexikah, is a two-spirit visual/digital artist, Po scholar, and creator behind “Land Acknowledgements are not Reparations” graphic. They are out on the land cultivating traditional medicines.

Inés Ixierda

Art and Media

Inés is an interdisciplinary Mestizx artist and media maker with a background in youth work, decolonial nonprofit administration, and community organizing. She leads STLT’s art and media, coordinates projects, organizes events, and works on the land with plant medicines.

Robert Williamson

Land Team Member

Robert was born and raised in the village of Huchiun and is of Diné and Yurok ancestry. They tend to projects out on the land and in the community, including food distribution, bed prepping, and construction.

Nazshonnii B.- A.

Land Team Member

Nazshonnii is a STEM educator and mechanical design engineer working on both land and office projects. She is passionate about STEAM education and advocates for exposure and opportunities for underrepresented groups, especially Black and Native young women.

Niko Niumeitolu

Land Team Member

Niko is a scholar and professional photographer. He works primarily on the land documenting projects and leading water catchment and construction.

Kinłichii’nii Poncho

Land Team Member

Kinłichii’nii is a member of the Navajo Nation and Acoma Pueblo tribes. He is out on the land leading construction, water catchment, and solar power projects. In addition to this work, Kinłichii’nii has been a community organizer in the Bay Area since 1998.

Cha-tah Ellem

Land Team Member

Born and raised in his ancestral village of Huchiun, Cha-Tah is an actor and filmmaker working on increasing Ohlone and Native representation within film and media. He assists with tribal work.

Bernadette “BZ”

Seed Rematriator and Land Team Member

At Lisjan, Bernadette leads our seed saving and processing. She moved to California from Colorado because she was drawn to plants and wildlife and is now passing on her experiences and knowledge to the rest of the land team.

Ariel Luckey

Development Director

Born and raised in Huchiun/Oakland, Ariel is an interdisciplinary artist and activist. His people are Ashkenazi Jewish and white settlers and he organizes with Jews on Ohlone Land. He was part of the team that created the Shuumi Land Tax and works to support pathways of redistribution and Rematriation.

Viola LeBeau

Administrative Coordinator & Media Meme Queen

Viola LeBeau is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, advocate of traditional knowledge, and member of the Pit River Nation. She leads the design and editing of our seasonal Ya Nuunukne Newsletter, and supports community outreach, rematriation processes , event coordination, cultural programming, media/website production, and more!

Cheyenne Zepeda

Volunteer Coordinator & Land Team Member

Born and raised in her ancestral village of Huchiun. Cheyenne has been working in the native community all her life. She has worked with the youth, helped with organizing events, protesting for native/human rights, and advocated for native families in the east bay. As she works on the land she brings along her two children to work primarily on planting, leading food distribution, transplanting and harvesting.

Windsor Taro

Land Team Member

Windsor is a Pacific Islander and Army veteran who grew up in Tohono O’odham territory (now called Arizona ). They are passionate about growing food and education. They support food distribution, land care, and Himmteka (Water Catchment System) projects.

Eliana Hernandez

Youth Program Coordinator

Born and raised in Concord CA, Eliana (Yaqui, Chicano, and Salvadorian) was involved in the native community growing up, from doing peace walks alongside her family to protests and community events. Eliana is a graduate of SFSU where she received degrees in both Criminal Justice and Race and Resistance along with a minor in Queer Ethnic Studies. She is passionate about empowering and helping the community, spending time with loved ones, and standing up for what’s right!

Rosa Domenech

Info Coming Soon!

Advisors


Darcie Houck

(Mohawk and Ottowa) — Darcie is an attorney specializing in environment, water, and Indigenous land use and is the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) chief counsel. She served as an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), presiding over proceedings concerning nuclear decommissioning, affordable energy for low-income customers in the San Joaquin Valley, and utility maintenance/wildfires. Before joining the CPUC, she represented Native American tribes throughout the country on matters involving energy, natural resources, land claims, taxation, water rights, international human rights, and self-determination matters. She also worked at the CEC as a staff counsel and as an advisor to Vice Chair James Boyd. She graduated from the University of California, Davis, School of Law and holds a Master of Science in community development. 

Board of Directors 


Dr. Beth Rose Middleton Manning

(Afro-Caribbean, Eastern European) — Beth Rose is an Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Beth Rose is of Afro-Caribbean (Belizean, Jamaican, and Honduran) and Eastern European (Russian, Lithuanian) heritage, and was born and raised in rural northern California, specifically the Mokulumne watershed of the central Sierra Nevada foothills, Miwok country. Beth Rose’s research centers on Native environmental policy and Native activism for site protection using conservation tools. She is also the author of Trust in the Land, an analysis of Indigenous land trusts. She is engaged in participatory action research on Maidu land rights history and contemporary land claims in northeastern California. Beth Rose applies theories from coloniality of power, indigeneity, community development, political ecology, participatory methodologies, and geography. She has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender, the UC Office of the President, and the Community Forestry and Environmental Research Partnerships program. Beth Rose’s ongoing and future research directions include California Native green entrepreneurship, using environmental statutes for cultural preservation, qualitative GIS mapping of Indian allotment lands, Afro-indigenous populations, the effects of hydropower development on Native lands, tribal resource conservation districts, and indigenizing natural resource policy and planning.

Dr. Joanne Barker

(Lenape/Delaware Tribe of Indians) — Joanne is a professor and chair of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University where she has worked since 2003. She is the author of numerous books including  Native Acts: Law, Recognition, and Cultural Authenticity, published by Duke University Press, and the editor of Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination, published by University of Nebraska Press. She is currently serving on The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Board and The Critical Ethnic Studies Journal Board. 

Kim DeOcampo

(Tuolumne Mewuk, Houma-Choctaw) — Kim is Tuolumne Miwok and grew up in the Vallejo area and has worked extensively with the American Indian Bay Area community for over 30 years. She currently is the Director for the Sacred Sites Protection & Rights of Indigenous Tribes, SSP&RIT and is leading the fight for the erasure of Indian Mascots in local schools. Kim has worked for many years supporting the protection of sacred sites and Shellmounds in the Bay Area with Indian People Organizing for Change. She currently works for the local Scotts Valley TANF program, providing resources and training programs for Native people.  

Dr. Melissa Nelson

(Anishinaabe/Métis [Turtle Mountain Chippewa]) Melissa K. Nelson, PhD, is an ecologist, writer, editor, media-maker and indigenous scholar-activist. She has served as a Professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University since 2002 and as President of The Cultural Conservancy since 1993. Her work is dedicated to indigenous rights and revitalization, biocultural heritage protection and environmental justice, intercultural solidarity, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts.  She actively advocates for Indigenous Peoples rights and sustainable lifeways in higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy and is particularly passionate about Indigenous food sovereignty at local, regional and global levels. She is the editor of and a contributor to Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008), and co-editor of and contributor to Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning From the Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability (2018).  Melissa is also the writer and host of the Native Seed Pod, a podcast dedicated to Indigenous science and Native foods. Melissa serves on the boards of directors of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and Slow Food Indigenous Terra Madre. 

Julia Hernandez: In Memoriam

(Lumbee/French Canadian) — Julia is a long-time activist on issues of social justice, environmental justice, defending the rights of our youth, and honoring and preserving our Native cultures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology as well as a BA degree in Criminology with a minor in Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Hayward and an advanced degree in Education Administration. Julia established Nueva Vista High School in the Mount Diablo Unified School District for students at risk of not graduating. She has been involved in Shellmound issues, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, AIM, IPOC, INMSF, Silver Buffalo Consortium, as well as working with significant others of Combat veterans with PTSD over many years. Julia is happily a great-grandmother of five.

STLT board member Julie Hernandez at the Raising of the Lisjan Ceremonial Arbor, 2019.

Footer

sogoreatelandtrust

Rematriar la Tierra Devolver la Tierra Regresar a 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
Meet the Crew: Jelly! From the streets of Huchiun Meet the Crew: Jelly!

From the streets of Huchiun to rematriated land. Even the littlest one is doing their part. Welcoming Jelly to our team! 

[ID: a tiny fluffy dog in a big truck with a Sogorea Te Land logo that reads Rematriate the Land].

#TheCrewIsCute #SogoreaTeLandTrust
Reawakening the land by sowing our energy into it. Reawakening the land by sowing our energy into it. How it started and How it’s going 🌱
We are grateful to witness Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color connect to the earth 🌳

Mitiini Numma youth program is growing the truth by weekly tending to a little garden space. Bringing in native plants to grow made the garden very happy and it has gifted us with a lush and lively space 🪱🌼🌿

#youthprogram #howitstarted #howitsgoing #nativeplants #sogoreatelandtrust #youthgarden #mitiininumma #growthetruth #stickymonkeyflower
Meet the Crew: Araceli! Araceli or Ara is a non- Meet the Crew: Araceli! 

Araceli or Ara is a non-binary, undocumented artist and community organizer born in so called Mexico City and raised in the Bay Area. Araceli has been part of Bay Area organizing efforts for youth, students, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and working class communities of color.

As a life-long student, Araceli continues to expand their knowledge in ethnic studies, art history, visual arts, and communications. In their volunteering capacity, Araceli has led labor unionizing efforts, campaigns against deportations, and grassroots fundraising for community-led causes.

Ara joined the team as one of our Mitiini Numma youth program coordinators.  Thank you Ara! 

📷 @tooda.fuji 

[Id: A polaroid style picture of a smiling person in white with long dark hair sitting  and looking towards  a cute and small dog on their lap.  The background is white with leaves from a hanging plant trailing down. ] 

#MeetTheCrew #Staff #SogoreaTeLandTrust #Urban #Indigenous #WomenLed #LandTrust #LandReturn #Rematriation
Indigenous women defending land and life from Turt Indigenous women defending land and life from Turtle Island to Abya Yala. 🪶

Offering a thank you to Mapuche elder Lonko Juanita Millal who joined us to share the story of her people and her struggle  fleeing violence and political persecution in Chile to seek political asylum in the U.S. 

Lonko Juanita has dedicated her life to uplift Mapuche culture, protect the land, waters and the people, creating solidarity among marginalized communities and bringing awareness of the Mapuche peoples’ present day fight against colonization, displacement, incarceration and violent repression.

Visit Lonko Juanita @laregiae to learn how to support her political asylum and work.

 [A Mapuche elder in brightly colored clothing and traditional jewelry is holding a blue Mapuche flag in front of a mural with part of a tule boat, mountains and sunrise visible]

#IndigenousWomen #LandDefenders #WaterDefenders #CulturalWorkers #SogoreaTeLandTrust #SolidarityAcrossBorders #RematriateTheLand
“When you create a web of education, it is power “When you create a web of education, it is powerful.” ✊🏽

Hear from the participants in Mitiini Numma about the program and their experiences!✨ 

#mitiininumma #growthetruth #youthleaders #youthprogram #Huchiun #sogoreatelandtrust
Hummingbird Sage harvest! Rammay’s hummingbird Hummingbird Sage harvest! 

Rammay’s hummingbird sage has spread generously through self propagation by sowing its own seeds into the soil and, its pretty healthy rhizome root system. It has bloomed throughout the last winter month providing plenty of nectar for hummingbirds, here is a beautiful harvest of the leaves 🍃.
We’re looking forward to more blooms!
Indigenous People for a Free Palestine. Indigeno Indigenous People for a Free Palestine. 

Indigenous People for a Ceasefire.

Indigenous People for an End of the Occupation. 

Let Gaza Live. 

We demand an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.  We condemn the Israeli siege, we condemn apartheid, we condemn genocide, and we demand an end to U.S military aid and funding of Israeli violence.

From the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust statement in solidarity with Palestine. 

[ID: The above text over a video clip of a group of people holding American Indian Movement and Palestinian flags in the wind at the Shellmound to Shellmound Prayer walk in solidarity with Palestine]

#Ceasefire #FreePalestine #FreetheLand #FreethePeople
May we return to balance. ✨ We call in the ener May we return to balance. ✨

We call in the energy of Spring equinox, growing towards the light, and returning to balance as we think of and pray for justice, safety, and equity for our relatives around the world struggling to survive genocide, violence, inequality and oppression. 

We carry these struggles in our hearts as we plant seeds and tend the soil of dreams we hope will flourish,  as we compost the old, let it transform into something that can nourish and work our gardens to grow the worlds we want to live in.

#SpringEquinox #ReturnToBalance
Ask First. Its always respectful to ask first. Ask First. 
Its always respectful to ask first. 

Ask before fundraising for us. 
Ask before using our photos, writings and images. 
Ask before using Indigenous language, representations, or practices that are not your own.

Before you ask us, ask yourself:

How have you benefited from stolen land? 
What labor are you asking from Indigenous people?
How is this reciprocal? 
What do you bring?
How will this be transformative?
Are you prepared to do the work?

From How to Come Correct;
protocols, guidelines, & invitations

bit.ly/howtocomecorrect, link in bio

[ID: a set of slides with a purple, blue, pink, yellow ombré background and the text in the above caption)
#howtocomecorrect #resources #protocol #guidelines #Iniviations #sogoreatelandtrust 
#urbanindigenous #womenled #landreturn #landback #rematriation
Ancestral arts weaving workshop led by Inès✨ T Ancestral arts weaving workshop led by Inès✨

Thank you @aicrc510 for joining us this week! ❤️🧵

#youthprogram #mitiininumma #rematriate #weaving #ancestralarts
Listening to the Land One of our most FAQ is “Wh Listening to the Land
One of our most FAQ is “What do you plan to do with this land?”
 Many land sites have returned to indigenous hands are not in  best conditions. Some conditions are invasive plant and tree species, contaminated soil that will take years to regenerate and years of layered trash. 
Listening and observing the land gives us time dream and plan out our vision. 
We spend time learning about the history of the site and who “owned” it before it returned, what was built on it and most importantly acknowledging that the land needs to rest. 

#LandBack #landreturn #returntotheland #indigenousautonomy #indigenoussovereignty 

📸: @shay_marcos97 
📸: @creative_mudafukah
"...The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a move "...The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a movement to restore other lands to Indigenous people. The site — a three-block area Berkeley designated as a landmark in 2000 — will be home to native medicines and foods, an oasis for pollinators and wildlife, and a place for youth to learn about their heritage, including ancient dances and ceremonies, said Melissa Nelson, chair of the board of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

“Thousands of years ago, this site was a thriving … urban center for Native Americans, for California Indians with their beautiful shell mounds dotted all around the bay,” said Nelson. “We want to be a place for global Indigenous leadership to come and gather in solidarity. We want to educate, we want to restore and we want to heal...”

from @KQED 

#IndigenousJoy #LandBack #LandReturn #RematriatetheLand
“Now this area will be restored under Indigenous “Now this area will be restored under Indigenous women’s leadership. We are Rematriating this West Berekley Shellmound.” 

Dr. Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Métis [Turtle Mountain Chippewa]) Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Board of Directors 

#sogoreatelandtrust #westberkeleyshellmound #pressconference #landback #rematriatetheland
Live with @corrina_gould! Reactions from the lan Live with @corrina_gould! 

Reactions from the land return!
Press Conference at The West Berkeley Shellmound Press Conference at The West Berkeley  Shellmound “This Land has been Returned to Indigenous Hands”
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