Indigenous peoples say: ‘No celebration for desecration’

WW photo: Terri Kay

By Terri Kay
Vallejo, Calif.

“No Celebration for Desecration” was the theme of a protest by Indigenous peoples and their supporters who gathered June 16 to oppose “the grand opening” by the Greater Vallejo Recreation District of a park which the GVRD calls Glen Cove. This newly desecrated site is actually Sogorea Te, a sacred burial ground, used for thousands of years by many coastal California Native nations.

Indigenous activists have fought the GVRD and the city of Vallejo for 12 years to prevent them from destroying and desecrating what is known as the Glen Cove Shellmound. Thirteen thousand human remains were stolen from this and other California shellmounds and are now stored in footlockers at the University of California-Berkeley.

Last year people from many coastal Indigenous nations conducted a 109-day vigil at the Sogorea Te site to protect it from any further desecration. An agreement was finally reached with the city of Vallejo and the GVRD in the form of a memorandum of understanding, where the city agreed to a cultural easement.

“Out of all that GVRD wanted to do with the land, we only asked for three things: that they not build bathrooms, not include a 15-car parking lot, and not grade a hill that contains burials/cremations,” wrote Corrina Gould, Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone, in a statement describing what the GVRD had done to the site. The GVRD reneged on the agreement and graded the hill, put in a large parking lot, cleared the land of all trees and vegetation and put in wide trails.

More than 100 people came to remind the GVRD and the city of Vallejo about their broken promises. All of those opposing the opening came dressed in black T-shirts, carrying signs saying, “No Celebration for Desecration.” Participants of “the grand opening” were allowed to enter, but they had to pass through the gathering of protesters and their solemn reminders of what had been done to this sacred site. The Indigenous people held their own ceremony in respect for the site and those buried there.

For updates and more information, see protectglencove.org.