Close The River, Randy Moore

Winnemem Wintu tribal members traveled to US Forest Service Regional headquarters in Vallejo, to ask Randy Moore, Regional Forester, to close the river for our Coming of Age Ceremony.
We have endured enough disrespect and abuse with the Forest Service "voluntary closure"!
We have the right to hold ceremony in peace and dignity in our traditional area along the McCloud River.

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  Education

[WinnememWintu]

@wildwoodkennels--Thanks for your support. It's actually the federal government, in this situation represented by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs which are refusing to recognize our rights to practice our religion as we have done for millennia.

[Rael Nidess]

One wonders why the official in the video couldn't have been more courteous and invited the delegation into a private conference room (or his office) to sit and make their requests in a private, dignified, setting rather than conduct their business in the lobby...

[nemisis0323]

Are you a federally recognized tribe? Give me a break. The blood quantum is just another tactic of cultural genocide. Most tribes in America intermarried, so there's no way they can prove what a pure Ohlone person's genome would be in terms of a genome. Maybe someone should ask Randy Moore if he's federally recognized as an African American.

[humbygirl8]

r u a federally recognized black? lol

[wildwoodkennels]

SHAME ON CALIFORNIA!!!! Even if you are not a Native American....this is American History and we could all learn from this tradition and respect others tradition and religion! Again SHAME ON CALIFORNIA!!!!

[Kristin H.]

rnidess, I was thinking the same thing and then I thought it may have to do with the camera crew being there and not able to or feeling compelled to reset up the camera equipment . That's my optimism talking, but I do agree with you that a sign of respect would have been to make it a more official meeting.

@scottyperey- Beautifully said and too true.

[FreedomforHaiti]

A lot of people defend the dominant culture by saying the outrageous injustices were mostly done in the past by a few "bad apples." However, this video shows what people are still capable of (as does documentary footage of mountain climbers on the sacred Bear Lodge (aka: Devil's Tower) in June of each year).

[Anon S]

"We love America, do you?"

Sure they do! In fact, they're expressing their religious freedom as guaranteed in the Constitution by holding this ceremony! And here you are infringing on their rights by interrupting that ceremony! Now I'm going to turn that question around: the Winnemem Wintu love America (they were the first settlers, after all), do you?

[ambrozia8]

I completely agree scottperey.