Indigenous people rejoice after Berkeley votes to return sacred Native land to Ohlone
More than five thousand years ago, it was a sacred burial site, but for the course of recent memory, it has been a parking lot in West Berkeley. But on Wednesday, that lot was given back to the Ohlone tribe in a landmark return of native land.
"I have five generations of family," explained Ohlone descendant Ruth Orta. "So the indigenous native in me is 23%."
For Orta, this moment was about 20 years in the making, but it speaks to her family history, stretching back generations.
"The answer to my prayer," she said. "Yes."
The ceremony marked the return of this land to the Ohlone people; A 2.2-acre parking lot that is the last undeveloped block above a long-covered sacred burial ground.
"The shellmound, we are standing on. This is it," Orta said of the site. "Underneath here were people. And now it's the ancestors and where they're buried."
"Perhaps this is the most meaningful land acknowledgment that I will ever get to do," Mayor Jesse Arreguin said during the ceremony.
The site had been in question since it was designated a landmark back in 2000. Once slated for housing, the developer ultimately accepted $27 million and returned the land to Berkeley, which is passing it on to a land trust.
"May this be an example of what is possible for all cities, counties, states, and other places around this country," said Melisa Nelson of the Sogorea Te Land Trust.
"So to have it returned is a gift," Orta said. "Because we can take care of it."
There are tentative plans for what comes next, and that is the removal of the asphalt, and the rehabilitation of the land.
"But just to have it returned to us, and to have the input from all the people of the city of Berkeley," Orta said. "That's who we thank now, the people who owned this land. For me, it is a gift."
The land trust will contribute more than $25 million dollars of the settlement. The city of Berkeley will cover the rest. The plans for the site could include a cultural center and commemorative park.