Pomo Indians demand respect

About 40 people attended an open meeting Feb. 10 called by Pomo Indians in Lakeport, Calif., to educate the non-Native population about the bloody history of slavery and massacres which were carried out against the Pomo and other tribes by the white settlers.

The Pomos were reacting to a racist campaign mounted in the Kelseyville, Calif., school district to overturn the renaming of the Kelseyville High School mascot from the Indians to the Knights. Even though the Pomos had invited them to come and express their point of view, none of the racists showed at the meeting.

The name change happened only a couple of years ago at the instigation of Clayton Duncan, a local Pomo. He was able to win the support of a number of people, and the school board unanimously changed the mascot name.

Since then, there has been a school board election, with the racists running candidates to get the change overturned. There have also been a number of nasty attacks against Duncan in letters to the editor of the local Record Bee newspaper. He has received a large amount of support, in letters, as well.

A very moving, locally produced documentary was shown at the Feb. 10 meeting, entitled “Hinthel Ganula.” This movie documented the struggles for survival of the Pomo people in Northern California, focusing on what is now Lake County. Duncan’s great-grandmother was one of the lone survivors of a particularly heinous event, the “Bloody Island Massacre.” As a child she hid in the shallow waters of the lake, breathing through the tulles, still clutched by her dead mother, as she watched white soldiers murder every man, woman, and child on the island. In the discussion that followed the movie, support was strong to push back this attempt to overturn the righteous name change.

One of the original school board members who had voted to get rid of the Indian mascot name was in attendance. He and two others of the original five had been re-elected to the board. A school board meeting on Feb. 19 has this issue on the agenda.

The Pomos are also mounting a campaign to change the name of the town of Kelseyville, which is named after one of the racist settlers who was responsible for the enslavement, starvation and murder of many Pomos.