#48 Mothering the Earth

Understanding the Native world
        I mentioned my recent spree of talking about the book Literary Industries that my great-great-grandfather, historian and book collector Hubert Howe Bancroft, wrote in 1890 (and was just re-issued by Heyday; check out this link). One of the book talks occurred in conjunction with Earth Day at the Mendocino County Museum where a large exhibit called Woven Worlds presents the life and times of the Native people in this region, both historically and today.

Collecting material for Native Pomo basket,
on display at the Mendocino County Museum

I was asked to speak about what H.H. Bancroft had to say about Native peoples and nature.

            As in all things H.H. Bancroft, I said, I found him contradictory. On the one hand, Victorian gentleman that he was, he admitted being somewhat “disgusted” by the primitive nature of many “savages.” And yet he decried the brutality of the white “Indian butchers” bent wholly on Native annihilation. I also saw the contradiction in my ancestor’s relationship to nature. He described his great dependence on nature as a source of respite, yet he also found it desirable to cut down hundreds of “venerable” oak trees to make way for the pear farm he created in Walnut Creek, pears being more profitable to modern Europeans than acorns were to the Indians, now forcibly removed.

            Adapting to such contradictions is often inherent in the game of life for any of us who engage with the complexities of history and change. These very topics are always at the top of my mind in Little Lake Valley where we continue to see history in battle with change.
            This valley was once fertile with deer, elk, and huge runs of salmon in the six creeks that created the Little Lake. The sedge and other grasses supplied the material for the gorgeous baskets that the Pomo people wove.
            Over the last year and a half, many of us opposed to the construction of a cement river ripping through the valley have seen the implacable power of Caltrans, especially when fortified by money and arms. Regardless of the opposition, they have laid down the six miles of a dirt foundation for their future bypass. 

 However, one change we continue to insist on (and that I’ve blogged about before; see earlier posts) is to reduce the humongous 4-lane northern interchange to a 2-lane roundabout, given the relatively little traffic that passes through Willits on an average basis (8000 cars, compared to the 40,000 that such a huge interchange is built for). Also, this downsized would reduce the impact on the precious wetlands from 40 acres to 10 acres, not to mention the many subsequent benefits to water and vehicle use of reducing construction, among many others.

So far, Caltrans remains, well, stupid in the face of reducing costs of all kinds. It simply seems illogical, as well as irresponsible.

The Water Board Surrenders, the U.S. Army Corps Stands Strong

Speaking of Caltrans’ irresponsibility, a KGO television report on June 11th came out about the Northwestern Regional Water Board’s analysis of the lack of proper protection to vital streams and creeks in the path of the Willits wetlands. The Water Board is about to impose $10,000 a day fines on Caltrans for their destruction of vital habitat to spawning salmon and other creatures. The news clip gives some excellent visual footage for seeing how poorly Caltrans has coped with the sensitive hillsides and creeks involved.

Still, the Water Board just caved in to Caltrans’ presentation of their “mea culpas,” so reported The Willits News Friday, June 20th.  Having promised to clean up their act, literally, Caltrans somehow convinced yet another state agency that they will do a better job henceforth. Given that all of these state agencies are essentially living together under the same state-corporate roof and feeding out of the same state funds, it’s not a surprise that a smaller agency can be “convinced,” one way or another, that the transportation-industrial complex is in the right.
In the roller coaster ride of our Caltrans dilemma, we just received a KGO report later on Friday, June 20th, that Caltrans was ordered to stop work by the Army Corps of Engineers for an indefinite time because Caltrans failed to meet the conditions of their mitigation plan for protecting the water and other impacts on the earth.

Native Peoples Speak Out

Pile of dirt for freeway overpass
             covering Pomo ancestral site 

Another cruel act of irresponsibility on the part of Caltrans was their purposeful desecration of Native Pomo burial sites that were in the path of the bypass. They knew exactly where they were since Native peoples had been long involved in pointing out the spots sites, yet Caltrans insured last summer that tons of dirt were dumped on these sites, forever distorting the opportunity for Native peoples to have this intimate contact with their ancestors.

Process to the wetlands for a ceremony of blessing
(Photo by Steve Eberhard)

Last weekend members of Save Our Little Lake Valley and other concerned Willits citizens had the opportunity to hear from Native people themselves. The group of Pomo people from Round Valley spoke about the betrayal of trust (what little they could expect) from Caltrans in the transportation corporation deciding to allow a hill of dirt and cement to end up on top of what is their sacred place where their ancestors had lived and were buried.





Members of the American Indian Movement led a group of nearly 100 people onto the former wetlands for a sacred ceremony to bless the earth, to remember those who had lived there, and to give strength and courage in the continued struggle to find justice for the Native people and the wetlands.

The Willits News reported on this event; click here to see their full report. I was the MC for part of it. 

Passing of my friend Darryl Wilson

            This collaboration between the environmental activists of Willits and the descendants of Little Lake Valley’s Native peoples was reminiscent for me of the loss of a gentle Native spirit, Darryl “Babe” Wilson, whose memoir I helped edit many years ago. In his book, The Morning the Sun Went Down, Babe told the story of what it was like growing up among the Pit River Indian people near Mt. Shasta (he was Achumawe and Atsugewi), including the legends and lifeways that he had inherited. A tremendous tragedy struck his family when his mother and baby brother were killed in a car accident that involved a lumber truck. His father, crushed in spirit, could no longer raise the remaining small children after Babe’s mother died, and so Babe and his siblings were farmed out to relatives and to white foster families that were often insensitive to his cultural way of life.

Babe Wilson and me, with "Dr. Cho,"
as Babe fondly called Cholo, 2010 

            Yet Babe persevered, especially when an English teacher coxed his stories out of him and taught Babe the power of capturing on paper the mystery, passion, and politics of his Native world. Babe went on to gain his Ph.D. in anthropology and to write a variety of pieces, as well as teach and become a valuable voice for protecting Native rights and traditions. His writing for News from Native California became a staple of that magazine. Babe’s anger never abated about lands taken from Native peoples through specious white laws and treaties.

            Thirteen years ago, Babe was struck by another tragedy, a stroke that left him fairly disabled and dependent on his two then teenage sons, Theo and Seterro, who did their best to stick with their father and help him along, though he could walk very little. But his brain never faltered. With his one good hand, he sure could type, and he continued writing pieces for the journal, as well as a sequel to his memoir, and the plans for a grand pageant of dancers from all over the world, led by indigenous peoples, that would take over the Champs Elysee and other major thoroughfares of great cities.

            Babe passed away on May 7, 2014. He will be deeply missed by the many who knew and loved his wit, his stories, his wisdom—as I did. He explained in writing once what he would often say upon saying good-bye to a friend in his language:
“Ina'lum'qtmi (if you are leaving):  "I must go but I leave my heart with you."  (If you are staying and someone is leaving:  "You must go but you must take my heart with you."