Community members gathered to honor the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe at the New Museum Los Gatos on Saturday afternoon. The Reawakening Community Day, a collaboration between the tribe and the museum, celebrated Muwekma heritage with discussions among tribal and non-Indigenous community members, from children to the elderly. Muwekma artifacts and crafts also offered more ways to connect with the culture.
The program began with the Trail of Truth panel, which introduced tribe members who participated in a horseback trek from California to Washington, D.C. between August and October of 2024. The 90-day journey advocated for the federal recognition of the Muwekma Ohlone and several other Native American tribes. The journey was also a protest for the injustice unrecognized tribes in the Bay Area have faced.
Although the federal government previously recognized the Muwekma Tribe as the Verona Band of Alameda County, the tribe was no longer recognized following the 1927 “Dorrington Report.” This single bureaucratic report led many Native American tribes to lose their land due to high land prices.
Muwekma submitted a petition in 1995 to be re-recognized, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied it. Federal courts soon ruled that only Congress has the authority to restore the tribe’s status. Today, the Ohlone Tribe is active in the Bay Area with a new petition to regain recognition.
Iris Loretto, who contributed to the discussion from the audience, got emotional while addressing the goal of official tribal recognition. “[The Muwekma are] just wanting recognition, not even money, just land and the opportunity to protect their burial grounds,” she said.
The tribe has been working with Stanford University to promote environmentalism and cultural preservation through the native plant garden. Addie Malat attended the event as part of this environmentalism program at Stanford. “It just makes my heart happy to know that so many people care and that this institution is making a lot of space for the tribes’ story front and center,” she said.
After the panel discussion, attendees had time to explore Muwekma artists’ work. A wide variety of pieces, from paintings to sculptures, were arranged throughout the gallery. They told stories of Muwekma dancers and the healing plants that brought them together.
The event continued with a graduate student research showcase from San José State University. Selected students addressed the behind-the-scenes of the exhibition development, native plant cultivation, and the tribes’ decolonizing history.
Later, Bernadette Quiroz, a Muwekma tribe member and panelist, shared Kàanak Hašepekne Muwekma, a children’s book she wrote on the tribe’s ancestral creation. She read aloud to younger children and their parents, teaching kids authentic Chochenyo vocabulary, the traditional indigenous language of the Muwekma Ohlone tribes. “It’s really beautiful and validating as a tribal member that people are receptive to hearing the truth and who we are,” Quiroz said.
The spotlight then turned to a poetry reading by tribe member James Dominguez. With his two children by his side, Dominguez detailed the tribe’s fight for sovereignty and cultural resilience in a free-verse style. “I think it’s important for other people to know what land they stand on and the actual history of what happened,” Dominguez said.
The Muwekma Tribe shared its history, hardships, and resilience through an inclusive, exciting community-building event. Community members learned about the issues Indigenous people face in the fight for the tribe to gain federal recognition.
