Indybay newswire (video)

Corrina Gould, Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone Good evening. [speaks in Ohlone] In Chochenyo, my ancestors' language, I said good evening, my name is Corrina. I'm Chochenyo and I'm also Karkin Ohlone. And I come here today to talk to you about why it is important for the City Council here in Vallejo to consider the easement at Glen Cove or Sogorea Te in its entirety of 15 acres. There's a quote that I came across while I was sitting here listening, and you guys have a really long meeting. And it says, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." And that was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King that said that. And its true. And today I stand before you because I really believe in protecting this site. Over 12 years ago, we became involved in protecting this site that is one of our ancestral burial grounds. And it has become more than just an Indian issue. It's an issue for the City of Vallejo, it's an issue for human beings. And the reason I say that I want you guys to think about the easement in the entirety of 15 acres is that while we've been doing research here, we have found that there were actually five shellmounds that were in the Glen Cove area. In 1976 when there was a report that was created before any of the homes were built there, there were actually five shellmounds that were there. Four of them were in-tact. And so, when the building was actually done in the Glen Cove area, four of those shellmounds were desecrated, or they were disturbed, or they were destroyed. The shellmound at Glen Cove is one of 425 that used to ring the Bay Area. And in the last 100 years, all of those shellmounds have been covered over or destroyed. We have been coming to the City of Vallejo and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District asking for three things to happen, or not to happen, on that land. We don't want a bathroom, we don't want a parking lot, and we don't want the hill graded. The whole entire site is a place that used to be a village site for our ancestors. Places where freshwater creeks run through, places where we could fish. And people still fish there. Amazingly, when I've been out there on the land in the last 90 days we've seen fishermen coming up with sturgeon that are as tall as me. People from all over, all over Northern California have come to visit that site. And continue to use it as its been used for the last 4,000 years. I ask that you consider signing the easement and the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] with the Federally Recognized tribes that you are in conference with now, and that all of that land is protected. All we've been asking for, for the last 10 years is that there's no bathrooms put on our cemeteries, there's not a parking lot built. And as we've been out there for the last 90 days in a prayerful vigil, we know that we've had over 300 people there and there's no need for [additional] parking. We also know that if you grade that hill, there will be disturbance of more ancestral remains. And we have been in contact with archeology firms that are willing to take that site and look at it in a different way. We're also working with canine forensics that are willing to go in there and begin to do some research on how to find the human remains that are left there. There were many cremations that were done in this area. And because that land thats on that hillside that GVRD wants to grade has already been disturbed, there needs to be consideration that those cremations and burials are not in places where you can do auguring and you'll be able to find stuff. We're asking that those 15 acres be left in-tact as much as possible. That there's no bathrooms, there's no grading, and theres no parking lots. [Mayor Osby Davis: Alright, thank you.] mmm.