The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is at the National Mall in Washington D.C. through the coming election, on their Trail of Truth, to advocate for the return of the tribe’s federal recognition, which would give them the ability to operate as other federally recognized tribes do and protect their histories, cultures, and lifeways as a legal entity.

On October 15th, the National Parks Police at the National Mall, instigated an escalation, threatening the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s horses; not only to seize and keep them, but to euthanize them. “You’ll never see them again,” one bystander heard. When the young people in the group heard this, they jumped onto the horse trailer and stayed on top of it to prevent it from being taken away. They put their lives on the line to save their horses.

The actions of the National Parks Police come as a surprise because in previous engagements with the National Parks Police, officers had offered to help the protestors with their horses.

“We were supposed to meet with Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland that same day to discuss an administrative corrective action that would reaffirm the tribe’s federal status. The Parks Police turning on us and taking our horses feels like a strategic move on their part and it’s disgraceful,” says Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh. “Especially considering that we have Chuck Sams, the first Native American (Cayuse and Walla Walla), as the leader of the National Parks and also Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), the first Native American Secretary of the Interior.”

“We’re out here, asking that the U.S. government return federal recognition to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe so we might operate as other federally recognized tribes do, with protections and the acknowledgement of our history and humanity. We’ve traveled across the country by horseback to make this point. We’ve met allies from so many tribes along the way, and they have marched with us in spirit.”

Members of dozens of other tribes have joined the Trail of Truth, in allyship with Muwekma.

“This is at a strategic point in this country’s history,” says Chairwoman Nijmeh. A lot of American voters who support us are feeling disillusioned by their Democratic leaders. There’s a lot of lobbying going on to silence us. Voters are seeing the gap between what Democratic officials say they believe in, versus their actions. The American people deserve better. We deserve better. We are calling on the American people to put pressure on their elected officials to end this violence against us and grant us the Federal recognition we deserve. We also call on the gaming tribes in California, who see our existence as a threat, to see through the lies and resistance for what it is; an extension of colonization that has sought to divide and control Native People. Today the government tried to take our horses and our power. When they get the opportunity, the same people will come after you. Tribes must stand in solidarity with each other, and the American people who believe in tribal sovereignty and human rights must stand with us. Together, we have the power to make things right for the generations to come,” Nijmeh explains.

A History of U.S. Horse Killing and Betrayal: Custer and The Washita Massacre

Early in the morning of November 27, 1868, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer led a surprise attack on a peaceful winter camp of Cheyenne, who were sleeping by the Washita River. With hardly any notice or time to respond, an estimated 103 innocent Native people were startled awake, attacked, and murdered. Afterwards, Custer’s men slaughtered the camp’s 850 ponies. When the task of slitting the horses throats became too tedious, the army shot and killed the horses and left their bodies to rot.

Chief Black Kettle, the leader of the camp, was shot and killed as he fled across the Washita River, along with his wife, Medicine Woman Later. Black Kettle had survived the horrific Sand Creek Massacre four years earlier. Black Kettle had been a longtime advocate for peace, and had even been honored by the U.S. government with a 34 star flag from the commissioner of Indian Affairs, who had said, “anyone will know you are a friend of the United States.”

About The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was previously federally recognized as the Verona Band of Alameda County, was never terminated by an act of Congress, and a federal district court judge in the Northern District of California affirmed that the Tribe has retained its sovereign immunity despite not being on the BIA’s list of officially recognized Tribes.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs erred when it wrongly omitted the Tribe from the official list of recognized Tribes when that list was first drafted in 1978. The Tribe has struggled for more than 45-years to affirm its federal status, petitioning the Congress for legislative recognition and petitioning the Administration for corrective action.

Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/black-kettle-biography.htm
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=WA037#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20fifty%2Done%20lodges,fifteen%20wounded%2C%20and%20one%20missing.
https://www.nps.gov/waba/learn/historyculture/black-kettle.htm

For more visit: https://muwekma.org/ToT/

Photos by Stephanie Keith