Invisible Local Muwekma Ohlone’s fight for federal recognition
H
undreds of years ago, the Ohlone tribe walked the very land that became Palo Alto High School. Traces of tribal history linger in the area, such as in Ohlone Elementary School’s name, or the Palo Alto third-grade curriculum. Nonetheless, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, which is still in the area with 600 living members, is not yet federally recognized — but new legislation could change that. The Muwekma tribe, which has resided in the Bay Area for 12,000 years, is fighting to be recognized as a tribe by the federal government. Armed with DNA evidence and records of past censuses, their fight can pave the way for other indigenous tribes. The tribe is urging the passing of the California Senate Joint Resolution 13, introduced March 17, which would establish them as a federally recognized tribe. This would make the tribe eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Recent DNA research serves as one of their primary means of evidence. According to the tribe’s
ethnohistorian (a person who studies in- elected officials within the liberal Demodigenous and non-Western cultures) Alan crats or the conservative Republicans, [is Levanthal, the that] they will not DNA of current support tribes.” tribe members has “They’re here for 12,000 The history of been matched with years, they owned all of disrespectful treatDNA found in buriment towards Naals from over 6,000 California, they were paid tive American tribes years ago in certain pennies for the theft of dates back to when parts of the Bay European colonizers their land.” Area. first arrived. Prior Levanthal cited — ALAN LEVANTHAL, Muwekma to when the Spanish the records of the Ohlone tribal ethnohistorian arrived in America, tribe on past centhere were about suses and in Native 1.5 million Native American boarding schools as a reason why Americans — this number was quickly the tribe has a case for being recognized. reduced to fewer than 20,000. As for the Although the tribe received confirmation Muwekma tribe, there were about 30,000 members prior to European contact. Only 62 people remained. The harsh policies towards Native Americans persisted as European settlers moved westward in the 20th century. “By the 1850s, because of the Spanish and the Mexican and then the United States, the policy wasn’t reservation,” Palo Alto High School history teacher Eric that they had once been feder- Bloom said. “The policy really was eliminaally recognized and Congress tion.” had never terminated them, The elimination of tribe members via Levanthal said, this was not disease, starvation, and conflict is one reaenough to have a lasting son for the Muwekma’s struggle with beeffect. coming recognized, Bloom speculated. “In 2002, the “It’s hard to prove that you are a real Bureau said ‘yes, tribe if most of the people who were in your the tribe is a historic tribe have been killed generations ago, and tribe, yes the tribe was then people were hiding the fact that they never terminated and were indigenous because you didn’t want to previously recognized,’ deal with racism around,” Bloom said. but they recommended Land has also been wrongfully takthat Congress put togeth- en from the Muwekma tribe, according er legislation to re-recognize to Levanthal. In 1971, the tribe reached a the tribe,” Levanthal said. settlement with the California government “And the problem is that our in which tribe members received financial
Art by LAUREN WONG
20 May 2022
