The city will transfer the contested Spenger’s parking lot in West Berkeley to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, making it among the first cities in the country to return land to Indigenous people.
Ohlone
The stories Indian and Mortar rocks can tell us
The famous boulders, places of contemplation, ceremony, gossip and industry for the Ohlone, are a symbol of a destroyed cultural landscape but also of what remains worth protecting.
UC Berkeley takes significant step to repatriate 4,400 Native American human remains
It would be the largest repatriation by far at an institution that holds more than 9,000 ancestral remains and has lagged behind in returning its holdings under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
‘Scandal of Cal’ author says university has failed to reckon with history of grave-robbing, colonialism and atomic warfare
Tony Platt’s new book argues UC Berkeley needs to do more to investigate and atone for promoting white supremacy, stealing Native land and hoarding bones.
Surfacing Strawberry Creek in downtown Berkeley would fulfill decades-long dream
A group of activists think they see a glimpse of daylight in their 25-year quest to have water burble freely through Civic Center Park.
A top UC Berkeley professor taught with remains that may include dozens of Native Americans
Despite decades of Indigenous activism and resistance, UC Berkeley has failed to return the remains of thousands of Native Americans to tribes. The university is still discovering more human remains.
Berkeley City Council to begin all meetings with a land acknowledgment
Intended as a “starting point” for reparative work with local Indigenous people, a land acknowledgment will be displayed at every meeting and read aloud monthly.
‘This land is coming back to us’: Berkeley community garden gifted to Ohlone land trust
An anonymous donor paid $435,000 to save part of the Ashby Community Garden in Southwest Berkeley and has given it to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
Spenger’s development can proceed on site of Ohlone shellmound, court rules
The decision by the California Supreme Court means a 260-unit complex with 130 units of affordable housing can proceed on the contested Ohlone land.
City appeals decision to allow 260-unit complex at 1900 Fourth St.
An appellate court said Berkeley should automatically approve a project on the Shellmound landmark site, but the city is pushing back.
Court rules a 260-unit apartment complex can go up at 1900 Fourth St., a site the Ohlone consider sacred
The court ruling, which Berkeley may appeal, is the latest development in a long-running fight about the property.
‘This feels cruel, that our sacred site is now imprisoned.’ Ohlones protest new fence around ancestral land
The owners of 1900 Fourth St. want to build housing and retail on the old Spenger’s parking lot, which sits in the middle of Berkeley’s shellmound district.