“There is an abundance on this Earth and She was created with this idea of taking care of everything here. We're the ones that turned our backs to her and we have to figure out a way to get back and quickly.” - Corrina Gould

Corrina Gould, chair and spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, joins hosts Patrick Leung and Armando Davila in this episode for a deep conversation about rematriation and decolonization. Corrina begins by grounding us in the history of the Indigenous peoples of the so called Bay Area and then shares her inspiring journey of becoming an activist and leader in her community. Corrina’s grandmotherly embrace holds listeners with love as she takes us into the somber caverns of Indigenous genocide, climate crisis, and the violence our society faces today, while she similtenously paints a beautiful vision of what the future can be and lays out the work that is necessary to make it so.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• A brief overview and history of Corrina’s people (the Lisjan), their territory (Huchiun), and their language (Chochenyo)


• The abundance and beauty in the Bay Area as it was 200 years ago, when it was a place where people were never hungry or homeless, and the Lisjan songs of gratitude that have survived from that time


• The dark history of the mission system that came and enslaved the Lisjan people and forced assimilation, and the US laws that made it illegal to be native and encouraged the killing of native peoples


• How learning about this horrific history inspired Corrina to preserve and protect her culture and unerase her people


• What white paper genocide is and how it continues to happen today


• How Corrina and her community began leading shell mound walks to raise awareness about these sacred burial sites and to pray for their ancestors


• The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust that Corrina helped established to facilitate the return of land to Indigenous people


• How non-native peoples can support and participate in rematriation


• The importance of learning the history and caring for the land where you live


• What rematriation really means


• How to approach land restoration projects with Indigenous people at the table as full partners


• The importance of giving the land and waters rights


• The lessons of Covid through an indigenous perspective


• How the violence plaguing our society today stems back to heteopatriarchy and white supremacy making people feel like they’re not enough


• The importance of coming of age ceremonies and providing our young people with connection to their humanity and to the Earth

RELEVANT LINKS:

Earthshot Labs: www.earthshot.eco

Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org

Songs by Kadoka: https://kadoka.bandcamp.com

Intro & Outro Music by Little Whale: https://littlewhale.bandcamp.com