Please help the Ramaytush Ohlone return to their ancestral homeland after 250 years of absence. The Ramaytush Ohlone (“rah-my-toosh” “oh-lone-ee”) are the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula and are represented by the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (ARO). The Spanish, Mexican, and American colonization of California displaced our ancestors from our homeland and resulted in the genocide of our people and culture. Because our cultural and spiritual traditions require that we be in direct relationship with our ancestral lands, our return is necessary for us to become whole as a people.
Holding land is the crucial first step to become culturally and spiritually more whole as a people. Because our relationship with the land defines us culturally and spiritually, our return to our ancestral homeland is critical to our sovereignty. In this instance, sovereignty means more than self-governance. In addition, it refers to cultural continuance—to our ability to continue into the future as a culturally distinct group of people with a shared ancestry.
Also, because of our limited capacity (i.e., necessary financial, legal, technical, and human resources) we require assistance from like-minded organizations and agencies in order to fulfill our responsibilities to care for the earth and to care for people. For example, our ecological work, guided by Native perspectives and values, requires partnerships. Since our ancient responsibility to gather the fruits of the earth for sustenance is now impossible, the ARO has turned to the acquisition of land as a means to providing opportunities for the people who inhabit our ancestral homeland to farm and garden. While rematriation is not necessary to farm and garden, it does make the implementation of the projects more feasible. That said, the ideal of rematriation and the land back movement should be accompanied by a recognition of the burdens of land acquisition and maintenance or the need to have capacity--the financial, legal, and human resources necessary for the annual management of land.
Sovereignty
Although not Native in conception, sovereignty is a relational term that refers to the “rights” of Native peoples to self-govern as opposed to being governed by colonists. As stated above, our relationship with Mother Earth defines us culturally and spiritually. Our instructions regarding how to live originate from our direct interaction with our Earth Mother in our ancestral homeland. The two primary responsibilities are to care for the earth and to care for people. Governing the fulfillment of those responsibilities with our partners constitutes an act of sovereignty in our ecological restoration and agroecology efforts. In addition, sovereignty refers to cultural continuance—to our ability to continue forward as a culturally distinct group of people with a shared ancestry. Our governing of the revitalization of our culture and spiritual practices, of the culture and history we share with the public constitutes yet another act of sovereignty. The recognition of sovereignty, including the rights of First Peoples, cannot be separated from our interactions with others.
Rematriation
There are many different Native definitions of rematriation. For the ARO rematriation refers to the giving the earth back to Mother Earth, by which is meant giving stewardship of the earth (and all of nature) back to the Original Peoples who listen to instruction from Mother Earth. The restoration of natural cycles, the reestablishment of balance and harmony, although limited in today's world, serve as examples of the restoring the control over nature back to Mother Earth. The ARO fully supports the rematriation of land to Native women who historically have been denied the right to own land.
Restoration
The reparative act involves the acknowledgement of Indigenous sovereignty and the rematriation of land as crucial first steps, but the end goal is our mutual liberation. Recognizing sovereignty and the rematriation of land requires settle colonists to relinquish power—whether in governance or as landholders—in order to fully realize their own decolonization. As Native peoples reach out for assistance, the goal should not be simply to help but to change. As Lilla Watson shares, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” In short, our restoration as the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula begins with the recognition of first wounds and then, and only then, can we attain our mutual liberation from our colonial and capitalistic constraints.