Thursday, May 31 & Friday, June 1. Two separate events in Oakland.
The Winnemem Dancers rush the fire at the end of H'up Chonas, or war dance.
A unique opportunity to learn about current struggles of Native peoples to protect sacred land in Northern California and ways that you can lend support.
FEATURED PRESENTERS:
Caleen Sisk (Winnemem Wintu)
Speaking about current Winnemem struggles
Jim Brown III (Elem Pomo)
Speaking about Rattlesnake Island
Corrina Gould (Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone)
Speaking about Brushy Peak
Wounded Knee DeOcampo (Tuolumne Miwok)
Speaking about Sogorea Te/ Glen Cove
Only at Friday June 1st event:
Morning Star Gali (Achumawi Pit River)
Speaking about Medicine Lake
TWO DATES/LOCATIONS IN OAKLAND:
Thursday, May 31st
5:30pm @ INTERTRIBAL FRIENDSHIP HOUSE
523 International Boulevard, Oakland, CA
Friday, June 1st
7:00pm @ THE HOLD-OUT
2313 San Pablo Ave, Oakland, CA
Admission $5-$20 * No one turned away for lack of funds
A program of several short videos will precede the panel discussions, including:
“A River in their Veins”, on the Winnemem Wintu’s Coming of Age ceremony in 2010, a tradition that could be gone forever if the sacred sites necessary for the ceremony are permanently submerged by a raise of the Shasta Dam.
This Monday, we held a direct action at the U.S. Forest Service Office in Vallejo, challenging Regional Forester Randy Moore to implement a mandatory closure at our Coming of Age Ceremonies on the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake. At our previous ceremonies, which are held at a traditional Winnemem village site within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, recreational boaters have ignored the Forest Service’s voluntary closure and have heckled us, yelled racial slurs at us and even flashed us.
A mandatory closure is the only way to hold our ceremony in peace and dignity and to protect our young women from abuse. Watch this short video below by Will Doolittle about our Vallejo event and previous ceremonies.
This is our river, our ceremony, our right!
Why We Had to Go to Randy Moore
We have exhausted every diplomatic and legal means to achieve a mandatory closure from the Forest Service without sacrificing our sovereignty. We have met roadblocks down every path.
Here is why we have reached this point:
1) We have sent a letter from to Sharon Haywood, Shasta-Trinity Forest Supervisor, asking her to close 300 yards of the river for the four days based on our religious freedom guaranteed by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. This seemed to be the simplest route to take since she can use her professional discretion. Thus far, she has failed to provide a mandatory closure of the river for previous ceremonies despite evidence that a voluntary closures do not work.
2) We want to change the language in the Farm Bill, which states only federally recognized tribes can close National Forest land for ceremonial and traditional uses. Unfortunately, it got stalled in Congress, and inserting new language will not happen in time for this ceremony.
3) We plan to submit a complaint to the U.N. CERD Committee because the U.S. is being reviewed by the Convention Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). However, the U.S. has not filed their report. We cannot submit a “shadow report” until they file.
4) We have requested that UN Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya, visit our village to learn about the plight of federally unrecognized tribes in California. We believe governmental entities using the “unrecognized tribe” label is a form of racial discrimination against tribes like the Winnemem. Specifically, a prime example of this is the unwillingness of the Forest Service to close the river for a ceremony because we are a federally unrecognized tribe. We have not yet heard back from him but have heard he will visit Alaska.
5) We are still pursuing the possibility of an “urgent action” or “emergency intervention” from the U.N. CERD Committee.
The following is a letter from a supporter in Oregon (she asked us to only use her initials) to the local Forest Service district urging the forest manager to enforce a mandatory river closure for our upcoming BałasChonas – Coming of Age Ceremony – for 16-year-old Marisa this summer.
Previous ceremonies have been marred by heckling and disruptions from recreational boaters on the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake. To see video of the heckling and learn more about the ceremony, visit www.saveourceremony.com
For information on writing your own letter to Sharon Heywood, visit our how you can help page. #saveourceremony
Feel free to send us your letter to winnememwintutribe@gmail.com or even make a video on youtube, and we will share it on our web site and on our facebook page!
March 20, 2012
USDA Forest Service
3644 Avtech Parkway
Redding, CA 96002
Dear Ms. Heywood:
I’ve watched and listened, danced and feasted at the two most recent Balas Chonas, (puberty), ceremonies of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, held along the McCloud River at their traditional home and sacred sites. Welcomed guests, including even non-tribal people like myself, as well as US Forest Service employees, have joined them. Some of the USFS people were there as part of their work, others were there to witness and participate in the beauty of the ceremony.
It was shocking that some recreating public members refused to accept a “voluntary closure” of the ceremony area and purposely disrupted it with shouts and curses. In one such incident a woman lifted her shirt and showed her breasts. This is totally unacceptable, and particularly at a time that is so sacred.
The United States of America is now among the signers of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Article 12 states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practice…and teach their spiritual and religious traditions…and ceremonies; the right to maintain and protect and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites.” There are other relevant articles, but Article 12 should be enough reason for you to close the river/lake for the upcoming ceremony, June 30 – July 3, 2012.
In conversation with Winnemem Wintu Tribal Chief, Caleen Sisk, I have learned that she is being asked to respond to an application that would be appropriate for any recreating group or family. This seems an insult, like asking a Priest or Rabbi to apply each time they needed to hold a religious event in their sacred place.
And, as for the date of the event, there is only one traditional time that can work for the Balas Chonas ceremony; to expect use at another time would be no different than expecting Christmas services to be held on Halloween or Easter Sunday. I use these examples because I think that many people have a hard time understanding certain insults and indignities and racism if they can’t see it from their own cultural perspective. The safety and sacredness of this Balas Chonas event, in which the next tribal chief will be the initiate, is absolutely crucial.
Our government, in signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, agreed to uphold that document. You, as Supervisor of the Shasta-Trinity Forest, have the responsibility to carry out the intent of it, unless it is more appropriate for Regional Director, Randy Moore, or Forest Ranger Kristy Cottini, to do so.
In hopes for a good outcome for the Ceremony, sincerely,
Arron Sisk fillets a Trinity River salmon last fall. We have to rely on receiving salmon from other tribes because of the Shasta Dam.
Winnemem Wintu Tribal Member Ricardo Torres will discuss the Tribe’s efforts to return our salmon home to the McCloud River at the 2011 Community Food Summit tomorrow, Sept. 13, at the Sacramento Native American Health Center (SNAHC). Torres is also Chair of the SNAHC Board of Directors.
Scheduled for 10 a.m. – 1 p.m at the SNAHC building, 2022 J St., the summit is part of the “Let’s Move! in Indian Country” initiative which is a joint effort between First Lady Michelle Obama and Indian Health Services to improve nutrition and wellness in native communities.
But our access to salmon has been limited, and we believe it’s important for our physical health that salmon become a regular part of our diet again.
A growing body of research supports what indigenous people have long known, it’s in a salmon people’s genes to eat salmon.
“Salmon are the ultimate source of good health for California Indians that has been missing from our diets for generations,” said Spiritual Leader and Traditional Chief Caleen Sisk-Franco. “We need salmon back in our rivers and back in our diets for balance to return to our world.”
