By Charlene C. Nijmeh
Once again, The San Francisco Chronicle has served as a willing platform for Bay Area Democrat politicians, intent on undermining the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s efforts to secure formal affirmation of our never-terminated federal recognition with the Department of the Interior. The latest article — highlighting our engagement of lobbyist Roger Stone in our push to return the Presidio to Indigenous stewardship — is not journalism. It is a calculated hit piece designed to derail our 45-year struggle for justice.
This is not the first time. Nancy Pelosi and her allies have repeatedly used The Chronicle to plant negative stories that paint our tribe as “controversial” while erasing our documented history as the Verona Band of Alameda County. Reporter Shira Stein has often served as the vehicle for these attacks, amplifying fringe opposition while ignoring the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ own records showing our tribe was previously unambiguously federally recognized and never terminated by Congress. The pattern is clear: whenever we assert our rights or seek responsible stewardship of our aboriginal lands, The Chronicle publishes narratives meant to discredit us.
Let me be clear: The Muwekma Ohlone people have called the San Francisco Bay Area home for more than 10,000 years. Stanford and Illinois researchers tested Muwekma DNA against a 2,000 year old burial site and proved our ancient connection to these lands. Congress itself recognized the Verona Band, and our federal status was never lawfully extinguished. A bureaucratic oversight in the 1978 list does not erase that reality. We have maintained our community, lineages, culture, and deep connection to these lands through conquest, missionization, displacement, Gold Rush-era genocide, and systematic political erasure.
The Presidio — sacred ground never ceded by our people — sits at the heart of this struggle. It is the site of four ancestral Ohlone villages where our people lived and thrived for thousands of years. Spanish colonizers stole the land in 1776 without proper deed or transfer. The Presidio first served as a prison holding our ancestors captive before they were enslaved at Mission Dolores, where our language and culture were targeted for destruction.
Through the Mexican and American periods, the Muwekma Ohlone never ceded, sold, or surrendered title. No treaty was ever signed. We continue to hold aboriginal title. The Presidio rightfully belongs to our people, and our call to rematriate it is simply the restoration of what has always been ours.
In 1991, as the base was decommissioned, our tribe submitted a formal Right of First Refusal — a clear assertion of our priority to reclaim our homeland. That claim was blocked not by any flaw in our position, but by the determined opposition of powerful politicians, including Pelosi and then-Senator Dianne Feinstein. For decades, these two have acted as consistent enemies of the Muwekma Ohlone, working to derail our recognition and prevent the return of the Presidio. They championed the Presidio Trust to keep our lands under federal control rather than restoring them to their rightful Indigenous caretakers.
Hiring qualified lobbyists to advance our sovereign rights is standard practice for tribes nationwide. Yet when the Muwekma Ohlone do so, The Chronicle frames it as scandal, choosing to disparage Mr. Stone and our Tribe, rather than report the truth. They never report that California gaming tribes donate tens of millions of dollars to the Democrat party and coincidentally Pelosi, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Governor Gavin Newsom and the rest of the Bay Area Democrats choose to oppose our restoration. They also never report on the tens of millions being spent on lobbyists and lawyers to block unrecognized tribes across America.
But they do report when the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe hires Roger Stone to defend our sovereignty. The truth is that I have known Roger Stone now for many years and I can personally attest to his honesty and integrity which is more than I can say about Pelosi, who lied straight to my face when she claimed she supported our restoration but has been actively attempting to stop us.
This is bigger than one article. It is a pattern of powerful Bay Area interests using local media to block Indigenous justice. The Department of the Interior has both the authority and the moral duty to correct its own error and affirm our status without further political interference.
To the readers of the Chronicle: look past the planted headlines.
We seek no special treatment — only acknowledgment of what history already proves. We ask for the same federal recognition granted to other California tribes, bringing resources for cultural revitalization, environmental protection, and community well-being. We have survived genocide and displacement. We will not be silenced by political hit pieces or bureaucratic delays.
The time for affirmation is long overdue. We call on the Department of the Interior to act decisively. We invite all who value truth, justice, and reconciliation to stand with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe on our Trail of Truth toward the recognition we deserve.
Charlene C. Nijmeh is the Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. A proud mother, environmentalist, and businesswoman from the Marine-Sanchez lineage, she has led the Tribe since 2018. Her mother, Rosemary Cambra, led the Tribe for 43 years.
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