National Park Service curator Wendy Bustard spent a day with us, displaying an array of New Age offerings and reflecting on why they are considered offensive by native people. Here is a scene we weren’t able to include in the film.
When a developer proposed a 5-story condo-commercial complex on the site of a 5,000-year-old Ohlone village site known as the “West Berkeley Shellmound,” fierce opposition grew in support of local leader Corrina Gould.
Indigenous women and youth sparked something magical at Standing Rock, drawing thousands of supporters and donations from around the world with a compelling message: water is sacred.
How can well-meaning people reconnect to nature in an authentic way that does no harm to indigenous cultures and their sacred places? It may be one of the key questions of our time. At the very start…
The first Ohlone skeleton disturbed by Berkeley construction workers on March 29 was alarming. But of course the work was allowed to continue because few pay attention and money talks. The second…
I had the honor of screening films and guest lecturing twice with Terry Tempest Williams at her awesome “Arts, Advocacy and Landscape” class at the University of Utah. It is very sad that Terry’s…
It was a sad, sunless Sunday at the corner of 4th Street and Hearst. Few shoppers—or Berkeley residents for that matter—are aware that an ancient Ohlone village once graced this sprawling site around…
Secret negotiations are fascinating to behold, especially when the fate of a Native American tribe hangs in the balance, not to mention the California environment. The 2015 window is closing for…
I was having some fun last week writing a letter of protest to Senator Barbara Boxer with water scientist Peter Gleick and Winnemem Chief Caleen Sisk. Ideas and questions were flying back and forth…
On October 29, 2015, the following letter was delivered to Senator Barbara Boxer. Led by Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk, an array of notable allies ask Senator Boxer to amend the California…