SHELLMOUND WALK - 2008 (11/24/08)
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Every year the Shellmound Walkers gather and in honor of our Ohlone ancestors visit the Sacred Burial Grounds all over the Bay Area. This year the days chosen were November 14 to November 28, 2008. The Ohlone are the First People of the Bay Area and of course San Francisco.
Every year it is my privilege to meet with Shellmound Walkers imbibe in them a spirit to do what is right and encourage them to honor our Ohlone ancestors. Revere the Shellmounds that I believe to be Healing Points that soothe our Earth and bring HOPE to humanity. Much like acupuncture point that do so much good when the body needs healing. Shellmounds are Sacred Burial Grounds and NOT middens as some in their foolishness state. We would not dare call the cemeteries that we know of as dump sites. That would be wrong. Middens are garbage sites that some so called experts - would do better not equating garbage with Shellmounds. The Shellmound Walkers are a unique group - some come all the way from Australia. There is Wounded Knee who is my good friend. A friend of the Muwekma Ohlone - Perry Matlock. Others who I have come to know and long to meet every year. Three hundred years ago all that we see in the Bay Area was pristine. Yet, in so short a time the frogs have all gone - the air, the water, and the sky are polluted. The land is full of concrete and these concrete jungles do more harm then good. Look at the Shellmounds - all natural and healing points. White folks love digging into areas and removing remains. So, it is not surprising that over 10,000 remains are found at the University at Berkeley, California. The University must return the remains to the ground - or face the wrath of what the spirits deem - in time. We have issues at Glen Cove, more at Emeryville, San Bruno Mountain, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the Bayview Hill, and in hundreds of places be it the Presidio of San Francisco, Cliff House, Mission Dolores, Yerba Buena, Crissy Field, closer to the freeway near Caesar Chavez Street - so many places. In all the years I have seen the atrocities linked to the remains of the Ohlone ancestors. So called Monitors - pretending to do right but taking money to do wrong. You should not take money when it comes to the ancestors when in your dealings and actions you fail to respect the remains - and taint your actions with blood money. Leave a bad legacy for the young to remember. Often times the remains of the ancestors are treated with disdain. Few know that the Candlestick Park has remains on the grounds where the football matches are played. Dirt complete with Ohlone remain was taken from the side of the Bayview Hill and spread all over the Candlestick Field as infill. This desecration cries to heaven - and there are few that take a stand and speak the truth. The same at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where stood two Hills much like the Bavyiew Hill - and on these hill - the remains of the Ohlone. The United States Navy demolished the Hill - and spread the dirt with the remains all over Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Ninety five percent of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is landfill - prone to liquefaction. The Shellmound Walkers do justice - make a great sacrifice - walking from Shellmound to Shellmound - praying, chanting, striking the drums - accompanied by the Buddhist nuns and monks that have befriended us - these so many years. Aho. No one really knows the genuine facts surrounding the Shellmounds. We try to connect the dots - listening to the elders and trying to read some true documents and find other sources spiritual in nature - to make sense. We know the ancestors left us a legacy - and we know that today - few are capable to acknowledge the fact and more understand the meaning of all - that is to know - because of the spiritual bankruptcy. We have many that talk the talk but few that can walk the walk. You cannot face the present and be a true warrior if you do not know the past and appreciate the legacy left by your ancestors. Tribal leaders are more concerned today in Compacts and Casinos. More, in making money and less in honoring the past and the ancestors that had little in monetary wealth but more in cultural and spiritual - wealth. Some one must take a stand and walk the walk - and the ones representing the righteous are the Shellmound Walkers. Aho. |
