BY CHARLENE NIJMEH
A young and ambitious reporter named Shira Stein at The San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington Bureau has injected herself into indigenous politics in the Bay Area over the last several months, publishing a series of biased articles that bolster organizations that present themselves as ‘tribes’ but are not, in fact, legitimate Indian tribes.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is the only legitimate and sovereign Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. Our members comprise all of the known American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay and once enslaved at Mission Delores, Mission San Jose, and Mission Santa Clara after their villages were burned to the ground. The Mission records are quite clear and the lineages have been well documented in Mission records of births, baptisms, and deaths for hundreds of years.
But Stein constantly attempts to undermine the Tribe with journalism that bestows similar stature on these pop-up organizations that unethically present themselves as Indian tribes. Stein is widely seen as a parrot of the California Democratic Party, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren‘s office has made similarly false and misleading assertions in her public and private statements.
It is believed that Stein is producing these articles at the behest of powerful special interests inside the Democratic Party that seek to undermine the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s reaffirmation. California’s 68 Indian gaming venues bankroll much of the Party, regularly sending millions of dollars out of state to benefit Democrats. Today, there are more Indian casinos in California than there are total casinos in Nevada. Gaming tribes are now among the Party’s most generous donors — and they spend heavily to prevent marginalized tribes like Muwekma from being affirmed in the eyes of the federal government, for fear of new gaming competitors under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
In an article this week titled ‘RFK Jr. steps into contentious Bay Area tribal dispute‘, in which she refers to the Association of Ramayatush Ohlone, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, and Tamien Nation as “tribes” in an apparent effort to obfuscate the issue of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s reaffirmation.
But this assertion is a shockingly unethical example of misinformation. These are not tribes — they are individuals who brand themselves as tribes while lacking kinship to one another. They are groups of individuals, often indigenous individuals some of whom are not Ohlone and have no claim to Ohlone territory.
These organizations have just formed in the last few years. They do not have governments or constitutions. They are not sovereign. They merely market themselves as tribes — which is apparently enough for The San Francisco Chronicle to legitimize them in its publication.
Or, did Shira Stein forget to do her homework?
Corrina Gould calls herself the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, and tells everyone that she is a ‘Tribal Chairwoman’. But Gould’s entire family – all of her ancestors – are enrolled in Muwekma.
Gould claims to be from a different village than the Muwekmas. But how does she descend from a different village than her own parents and grandparents? She recently received $20 million on the premise that everyone should pay her voluntary ‘Shumi Tax’ to benefit the Ohlone people. But Gould’s ‘Shumi Tax’ benefits nobody but her. She has the Bay Area dupped in an extremely fraudulent way.
And, to be clear, I’m not saying that Ms. Gould doesn’t do good work in Indian Country. What I’m saying is that she is not a Tribal government, and no ethical academic or Indian law expert would ever support her claims.
The Association of Ramayatush Ohlone is a single individual named Jonathan Cordero, who is making false claims to San Francisco, but none of his kin believe they should be claiming Muwekma territory. They identify as Chumash, from Southern California.
Jonathan Cordero’s relatives have contacted me privately to tell me that they think what he is doing is embarrassing and disgraceful. I recently penned a letter to UC Hastings Law School, where he teaches as an adjunct, detailing his fraudulent and unethical behavior.
Quirina Luna Geary, who calls herself the Tamien Nation, was previously enrolled in the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which is a legitimate historically continuous and wrongfully unrecognized tribe. Geary served on its Tribal Council before having a dispute with tribal leadership. She then broke off to start the so-called Tamien Nation circa 2019.
I also wrote an op-ed for The Los Gattan explaining the difference between Tamien’s self-proclaimed tribal status and Muwekma’s determination by the federal government and the federal district court as a legitimate, sovereign, previously federally recognized, and never terminated American Indian Tribe.
This issue is not unique to Indian Country. It was a well-known strategy of the federal government to use divide-and-conquer tactics to undermine our sovereign governments, often propping up illegitimate Chiefs to sign underhanded treaties that defrauded us of our lands.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Today our politicians attempt to marginalize and politically erase the real and legitimate Tribes like Muwekma by bestowing undeserved stature on pop-up groups who are more than happy to do their bidding.
When will we wake up to the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party. It is no longer the party of truth, facts, and science. It has been hijacked by elite politicians and their billion-dollar corporate partners in crime.
What is most disturbing is that every academic institution and every anthropological and legal expert knows this to be true but too many have been silent, fearing political correctness.
In the same way that we can’t make the desert into a river, or the pebble into a mountain, or the weed into a tree, we can’t make individuals into tribes. Facts are simply facts and to deny these undeniable facts is to deny my people their sovereignty.
These Faux Tribes are a scourge on Indian Country. Colonialist institutions and politicians cannot be allowed to prop up thier own favored ‘Good Indians’ as ‘tribes’. They don’t want to deal with the legitimate tribe of the area — but they don’t have a choice. Times up with their colonialist games. The truth matters now more than ever.
I will be bringing the truth with me as the Muwekma Ohlone travel by horseback from San Francisco to our nation’s capital later this year to speak with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland, and Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland in order to finally bring justice to my people.
Charlene Nijmeh has served as the Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe since 2018, following the 43-year tenure of her mother.
Be the first to comment