After years of struggle, Indigenous activists and allies rejoiced last week, as the Berkeley City Council announced a global settlement to purchase West Berkeley’s historic Ohlone Shellmound village site and pass title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. The 2.2-acre parcel is the last undeveloped portion of the first human settlement in the Bay Area where, more than 5,000 years ago, ancestors of today’s Ohlone people created a unique way of life at the mouth of Strawberry Creek. It is believed this deal will be the largest and most expensive urban #LandBack victory in California history — and perhaps in U.S. history.
On this episode of Terra Verde, Fiona McLeod speaks with Corrina Gould, Chairperson of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, and co-founder of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, about what it took to secure this historic victory, and what’s next for the West Berkeley Shellmound village site.