News From Native California - Summer 2017 Volume 30, Issue 4 | Page 2

Vol. 30, No. 3, Spring 2017 editor’s notes news from native california PUBLISHER: Steve Wasserman FOUNDERS: Malcolm Margolin, David W. Peri, Vera Mae Fredrickson EDITOR: Terria Smith CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Tiffany Adams, Dugan Aguilar, Lindsie Bear, Brian Bibby, Marina Drummer, L. Frank, Jeannine Gendar, Leanne Hinton, Julian Lang, Frank LaPena, William Madrigal Jr., Meyo Marrufo, Vincent Medina, Beverly R. Ortiz, Sage Romero, Terria Smith, Paula Tripp-Allen, Linda Yamane OUTREACH COORDINATOR: Vincent Medina GRAPHIC DESIGN: Tima Link PROOFREADING: Kim Hogeland INTERN: Camaray Davalos PRINTING: Modern Litho, Jefferson City, MO NEWS FROM NATIVE CALIFORNIA Volume 30, Issue 4, Summer 2017 (ISSN 10405437) is published quarterly for $21.00 per year by Heyday, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation, located at 1633 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94703. Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone] Mail Address: P.O. Box 92707, Long Beach, CA 90809. Periodical postage paid at Berkeley, CA and additional mailing offices. Internet address: www.newsfromnativecalifornia.com [email protected] Subscription rates $21.00 per year. Single copies $5.95. International rates $41 per year. Copyright © 2017 by News from Native California except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles and columns are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Printed on 10% post consumer waste recycled paper. we have a very special focus on the California Gold Rush for this issue of News. We invited tribal people from across the state to share their perspec- tives on this poignant period of history, including our writing intern Cama- ray Davalos (Pechanga Band of Mission Indians) and also our guest editor, Professor Cutcha Risling Baldy (Hoopa Valley Tribe). In fact, the concept was Cutcha’s idea. She’ll tell you more about it. —Terria Smith, Editor for my daughter's third grade Gold Rush assignment she was supposed to come to school dressed up like a miner. I refused. I told her that she could wear her bark skirt, her hat, and her beads if she’d like. She considered it for a moment and asked, “But what if I really want to dress up like a miner?” “Well,” I responded, “the only way you could dress up like a miner is if you showed up with blood all over your hands.” It’s the dreaded third and fourth grade years in California schools when I must send my Native (Hupa, Karuk, Yurok) child to school just hoping that she doesn’t come home with a coloring book of happy Indians working the fields next to the missions or eagerly welcoming colonizers to their land. This sanitized history is a part of the American school system, especially when it comes to the genocide of Native peoples, but in California it holds particu- larly true for both the mission system and the Gold Rush. For my daughter’s Gold Rush assignment, she went to class and talked about how miners had attacked Native girls and sometimes took them away from their families. Then she talked about how they tried to stop our ceremo- nies—but we still did them and we still do them today. As an assistant professor I teach Intro to Native American Studies at Humboldt State University, and when students have to relearn Gold Rush his- tory they are often in shock about the amount of violence, environmental destruction, and slavery that was perpetuated against Native people by everyday citizens and legalized by the government. At the same time, they are in awe of the survivance, strength, and resilience of Native people and Native cultures. Sometimes they ask me, “Can we teach the ‘real’ history in schools? What will the children think?” And I tell them about my daughter: “I have taught her our history and she thinks that Native people are strong and alive and resilient.” I am incredibly grateful for this issue of News from Native California, which offers insights into the Gold Rush and demonstrates that Native people are still here. We are still singing and dancing and loving and laughing. We are telling our own stories. We are giving voice to those who fought for our futures. And our children, and our children’s children, and on and on. ON THE COVER: Calling Down the Dances by Marlette Grant-Jackson (Yurok) was sold at action to raise money for the Wiyot tribe to buy back Indian Island (Gunther Island) where in 1860 the last ceremony for the Wiyots turned into a massacre of their people. CORRECTION: We are very sorry that in the Spring 2017 issue of News we mispelled author Jeanne Ferris’s last name. Of course, it’s Ferris and not Farris.