Muwekma Ohlone Tribe demands return of artifacts, federal recognition

BERKELEY — More than a dozen members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe rallied at UC Berkeley in traditional regalia Tuesday, dancing, chanting and praying on a patch of grass outside the museum where tens of thousands of Native American remains and burial artifacts have been stored since the 1870s.

The protest was part of the tribe’s “Trail of Truth,” a three-month horseback trek from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., that began on Sunday when tribal members rode en masse over the Golden Gate bridge. The cross-country ride is aimed at spurring lawmakers to recognize the Muwekma Ohlone as a legitimate tribe — a move that would bestow its 614 members powers of sovereign self-government, access to financial benefits and other federal protections.

Joey Iyolopixtli Torres, the tribe’s cultural bearer and faith keeper, proclaimed that they could not leave the Bay Area without saying a prayer to the ancestors that are still being “held captive” by UC Berkeley at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Tuesday’s rally was an important stop before heading to Sacramento to deliver their demands to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Torres said. They plan to ride to San Jose next week, hoping to bolster support for a resolution seeking federal recognition.

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe took their months-long
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe took their months-long “Trail of Truth,” to the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024 to push elected leaders from California to Washington D.C. for federal recognition. (Frame from video by KGO-TV) 

“That’s what you see right now — what we feel in our hearts and see in our children’s dreams,” Torres said. “To understand where we’re going, we have to know where we went. And the ancestors tell us these directions.”

At stake, tribal leaders said, is the return of tens of thousands of their ancestral remains and other sacred artifacts stored “in boxes in the museum’s basement.”

But until the Muwekma are added to the list of federally acknowledged tribes — approved through a process established in 1978 — government agencies and publicly funded museums are not yet required to repatriate and return their artifacts.

The tribe attempted to achieve recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but its request was denied in 2002. Challenges in district and appeals court were unsuccessful. No new tribe has received such recognition in the past five years.

Starting in 2022, Nijmeh and her allies attempted to wage the fight in Congress, asking representatives from the Bay Area to introduce a bill granting recognition to the tribe — efforts that were clouded by allegations of disinformation and anonymous news articles criticizing Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents San Jose, and other members of Congress.

After lawmakers expressed reservations about gambling rights for the tribe, proposed limitations on gambling as a condition for federal recognition and questioned the tribe’s methods of advocacy, Nijmeh said elected leaders began actively obstructing efforts for federal recognition, going so far as to call Lofgren a “colonist.”

Nijmeh said now that they’ve exhausted all administrative processes and legal battles, the tribe is left with no other option than to physically appear before state and federal lawmakers with their plea to resolve historical injustices with federal recognition.

“Now, we’re standing up for the injustice of denial,” Nijmeh said in an interview Tuesday. “We are taking it on the road, and we’re getting support from relatives across the nation, as we walk and ride on horseback to D.C., where we will speak our truth. Truth is always uncomfortable, but it needs to be said.”

Staff reporters Luis Melecio-Zambrano and Martha Ross contributed to this story.

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