The fight to keep Glen Cove unchanged and the Shellmounds intact goes on and on and on.

The Native American - I like to call them the First People lived here in the Bay Area for thousands of years.

The stranger, that rare commodity that love GREED never get it. First the come asking for water and hospitality and then just like that they bite the hand that feed them.

This has happened all over the United States better know to First People as Turtle Island.

Shellmounds are Sacred Burial grounds to be respect. The land on which such Burial Grounds have the blessing of the First People and the Spiritual leaders - the come under the especially Patrimonial Jurisdiction that the stranger - cannot comprehend lacking the respect for Mother Earth and less spiritual finesse.

At Glen Cove the Ohlone, the Miwok, the Pomo and other First People lived in and around Glen Cove and enjoyed the riches of the Cove and the other foods available in abundance including fish,birds, and small animals.

The Spiritual leaders from the Ohlone, the Pomo, and Miwok and other local tribes have declared that the area in question as Sacred Burial Grounds. The plans put forward for development by the GVRD is a desecration of the land and an insult to the First People and other people of good faith, understanding and plain decency.

A Federal Mediator was invited in the last two weeks and even this Mediator as history has shown us in the past - refuses to talk the the First People that know about the site where the Shellmounds are, have an valid interest in the area, and have fought for so many years.

It is not as if the area is not documented and that we do not have precise mapped areas of the Shellmounds. The people that are against the First People - have hatred in there hearts, and often confrontation and things would have got ugly - had Vallejo not been bankrupt and cannot afford the area to be patrolled and more Law Enforcement to act on some orders that today - cannot be paid because Vallejo coffers are - empty.

Wounded Knee DeOcampo, Mark Anquoe, Morning Star, Corrina Gould are some of the many First People that understand the issues first hand. This Federal Mediator must bring the people together to have a meaningful dialog. There can be NO adjudication if all the sides are not heard and some plan agreed upon to understand the implications of the Native American Graves Protection and Rehabilitation Act (NAGPRA).

I am calling upon the Elders and more elders like Dennis Banks to understand the situation at hand and use their influence to do right. The innocent people are suffering and I admire the sacrifice of the First People to camp out for such a long period - under very harsh and inclement weather.

The First People have been camping on the site - protesting with vigor and joined by hundreds of decent children, men, and women - who feel the injustice and will not permit any more desecration on this Sacred Site - called Glen Cove that comes under the jurisdiction of bankrupt Vallejo. This is all the more apparent on weekends - where I have joined them for a couple of hours - making my trip from San Francisco all the way to Vallejo taking Bart to the East Bay closer to Berkeley and than taken to the site - where I meet the First People and their supporters.

I encourage the indigenous people the Samoans, African Tribes, the Latin American Tribes, others to visit the First People and show your solidarity. In Unity is Strength.

This is the opportunity for Faith Leaders to show you understanding and compassion.

The political leaders to show your clout and help those that need help most.

The City of Vallejo cannot offer basic services - but are wasting time and money to back this development plan as part of their Master Plan to build restrooms and other mundane facilities to insult the First People and all people that know what is right and what is wrong.

These folks from the Greater Vallejo Recreational District and the Council Members from the City of Vallejo - have no decency, no conscience, and have being told repeatedly that the site is a Sacred Burial Ground - think nothing of it and want to bulldoze the the land and destroy the Shellmound - unearth the remains of the ancestors and all this in the year 2011.

These shameless people from the Greater Vallejo Recreational District. especially - must be ashamed of themselves.

http://www.protectglencove.org

Here are some photographs from my visit yesterday. Aho:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscodacosta/sets/72157626503487697/show/


Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy