Land Back: A Fight for Reparations and Recognition

What does the land back movement mean? Why is it important to Indigenous communities? In this story, tbh producer Amalia Madrid-Lilly answers these questions and explores her Indigenous identity.

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Story Transcript

ABC NEWS CLIP: The City of Berkeley took action today in the effort to return land to Indigenous people

KTVU NEWS CLIP: A landmark settlement has been reached between the City of Berkeley and Ohlone tribal leaders

NBC NEWS CLIP: This represents the biggest urban land give-back to Indigenous people in California history

At an unassuming parking lot on 4th Street in West Berkeley, Ohlone Indigenous leaders and community organizers are gathered in celebration. Freight trains pass by, mixing with the voices of the crowd.

Sounds of a passing train

Sounds of celebration and music

People are eating free tacos:

CLIP OUTSIDE OF TACO TRUCK: I have two more on my plate. One is in my mouth and my belly. I just had a fish taco. I got a fish taco left and a mushroom taco.

Making art,

CLIP OF ARTISTS: We’re painting patches to commemorate the new shell mound that’ll be here. Once it’s rebuilt and there’s beautiful blue sky with a bird, um, flying and then there’s green hills and then there’s the spiral of the new shellmound walkway and with some orange poppies

And listening to performances and speakers.

CLIP OF VIC’S SPEECH: I just wanted to also mention that, um, seeing the Lisjan and Big Valley dance here today, that is the first time that the Lisjan are actually dancing on this sacred site. So I really want that to sit with you.

The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an Indigenous women-led organization that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. They’ve been fighting for years to celebrate this win.

My mom engaged me with my Native identity and Indigenous movements from a young age. I was nine years old when she took me to a Berkeley City Council meeting where we advocated for the return of the site in West Berkeley. An ancient shellmound. I handed out a zine I made — complete with drawings of cartoon shells talking to one another, and explaining the importance of the site.

I flip through the Zine with my mom, giggling at my messy handwriting and frequent misspellings.

Sounds of pages flipping

CLIP OF ZINE READING: And then I go on to say, “All of these shells are a mixture of sad, angry, and confused because of what people are doing to the shell mound. What now is a parking lot used to be an Ohlone shell mound and an ancient burial site.”

CLIP OF ZINE READING: Then I made a page titled “the dream” which is based off of, at the time in 2017 what the proposed dream for the rematriation of the Shell Mound site would be. I write, “the dream includes a 40-foot mound covered with orange poppies. The dream is beautiful, yes, but it is one thing to dream but another to build it.”

In April of 2024, the proposed dream I wrote about those years ago came closer to becoming a reality. The Berkeley City Council transferred the property of the West Berkeley Shellmound to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

CLIP OF SACRED LAND FILM: Thereby returning the land to the Ohlone people.

Some 5,000 years ago, the Ohlone tribe established the first human settlements in the land now called the Bay Area. The gray asphalt may not look like much today. But for years it was a shellmound. A burial and ceremonial site for the Ohlone. UC Berkeley archeologist, Nels Nelson estimated that in 1909, the Bay Area had over 400 shellmounds — the West Berkeley site being the oldest.

At the celebration, the director of Sogorea Te’, Corrina Gould points to the ground and says

CORRINA GOULD: Underneath this asphalt, our ancestors still hear us, and they’re calling on us to continue. This is not the end of it. This is the beginning of a new chapter.

Among those celebrating the return of the shellmound are youth. Members of Sogorea Te’s Mitiini Numa Youth Program.

COYO TENA: My name is Coyo Tena. I’m 16 years old, and I joined the program two years ago.

Coyo tells me that the program allowed him to come out of his shell during his freshman year.

COYO TENA: I think the program teaches us how to be a black and brown youth in Oakland and in urban areas such as Oakland and, you know, in these times. So we like, we go, we take care of sites, you know, we learn about plants that are native here. We cook. We learn about all the cuisine and all the like, the culture from here. And then we just learn about the history. And we use our knowledge of the past, and I think we bring that into the present.

Coyo feels strongly about the future of the shellmound, and Sogorea Te’s work to reclaim stolen land.

COYO TENA: We’re gonna build it from the ground up. You know, we’re gonna take back our land, because, you know, this is our land. This is, you know, our ancestors have been living on it for thousands of years. We want our descendants, for thousands of years to come, to be able to come to this land and be like, “This is our land. This is our people’s land. This is where we belong.”

Araceli is a youth program coordinator for Mitiini Numma. THEY say this is a win for Native youth. Although young folks don’t often get to be part of the logistical process, seeing a community success story is empowering.

ARACELI: For many of them, I think it’s important to reconnect to their Indigenous ancestors and to see themselves as Indigenous leaders, because for many of them, they’re not being represented in their schools and the city. And a lot of the times when many of them are trying to reconnect to their Indigenous roots, they’re not able to do that in, like, the mainstream culture, and so here’s a space for them to be able to do that.

But … this space is pricey. Sogorea ‘Te provided $25 million, acquired through the Shuumi Land Tax.

ARIEL LUCKEY: Shumi is a Chochenyo word that means gift and Chochenyo is the Indigenous language of this land, it’s been spoken by the Lisjan people for thousands of years.

That was Ariel Luckey. The development director at Sogorea Te’. He was involved with the creation of the land tax in 2015. He says that Shuumi is an invitation for people to be mindful of their relationship with the land they live on.

ARIEL LUCKEY: To recognize really that all of our society now is really built on the historical legacy of the land theft and colonization and genocide that happened here against the Lisjan Ohlone people and the Indigenous people all over California.

Through donations, Shuumi has helped fund and grow Sogorea Te’. Ariel says that the ongoing support of the land tax makes it possible for them to continue their transformative work. Like the rematriation of the West Berkeley shellmound.

But, as a Native person, I have … complex feelings over Indigenous groups buying back their historical land.

ARIEL LUCKEY: Yeah, I mean, we are working in one of the most inflated real estate markets, you know, in the country, if not in the world, you know, everyone knows the Bay is hella expensive.

I was pleased to hear from Ariel that not all land returns are purchases. From gifted land, cultural conservation easements, and long-term lease agreements at subsidized rates, Ariel tells me that there are many pathways to land return, and purchasing actually isn’t ideal.

ARIEL LUCKEY: In some ways, you know, I think it even raises the question is that really rematriation? The land is returning to indigenous hands, but it’s allowing the capitalist real estate market and, you know, speculative land pricing and all of these things to continue.

I agree.

Movement Generation is working to inspire civic engagement. They work to help restore and liberate land, labor, and culture. And as I spoke with Movement Generation’s co-director Angela Aguilar, I learned more about the strong significance of land return. She says it’s far more than the return of quote-unquote property.

ANGELA AGUILAR: It’s about returning our lifeways and sharing those with the generations that come after us.

Angela says that a lot of this work is about organizing within the community. From fundraising to foundations, and grassroots organizations — strong community ties are so important. They recently worked in collaboration with Sogorea Te’ to liberate 43 acres of land in the East Oakland Hills.

ANGELA AGUILAR: It’s about being able to then have Indigenous leadership and vision in taking care of that land and restoring that land.

Indigenous leadership could actually make all our lives better. Ecological data from Brazil, Australia, and Canada shows that lands under Indigenous leadership have equal, if not more biodiversity than special conservation lands managed by governments.

California has seen significant progress in land return this year Several sites have been reclaimed and returned to Native tribes. My mom says that this discussion needs to continue, even if some people don’t like it.

FRANCINE MADRID-LILLY: Land back, land return is a conversation that has to be had, like the conversation around reparations. It’s going to make a lot of people unhappy and uncomfortable and mad because a lot of people have built their familial wealth on stolen land. So, when you put it like that, it means people gotta give back what they didn’t rightfully have. And you know, nobody wants to hear that.

I encourage everyone — particularly youth — to examine your relationship to the land you dwell. The plants, animals, and cultures that make up its population. Who were the original inhabitants; what languages did they speak? What foods did they eat? Are their descendants fighting to reclaim stolen lands? Speak up for them but not over them — be an advocate. Listen.

ARIEL LUCKEY: Young people are such passionate and powerful advocates and when they’re fired up about things, you know, that energy is contagious.

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