This letter to the editor was contributed by Colleen Cabot of South Bay Indigenous Solidarity. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
In response to the misleading letter published in BenitoLink on January 6 by Rider McDowell regarding the controversial Betabel Project, here are two Amah Mutsun Tribal Band youth reflections to help us better understand what sacred land means, approved by them from their interviews in
We Are the Middle of Forever. Betabel is a part of the Juristac Sacred Landscape and has many culturally significant sites. Because the Betabel Project did not consult directly with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band about these cultural resources, the tribe sued to stop the project.
Alexii Sigona: “Juristac had long been known to be a place of power, a place where spirits lived… ancestral lands where dances connected with Kuksui took place for millennia. The area is full of critically important sites and Earth features that are of significant spiritual importance for the tribal band. Juristac has such important power with those things imbued in it… So these things make up this really important cultural landscape that makes things like medicine have power. That’s why places like Juristac are so important. We can’t just do a ceremony in a parking lot.”
Steven Pratt: “Juristac… was historically a ceremonial ground for our tribe and many other tribes, and the fact that it’s ceremonial ground means it still holds those prayers. It still holds ceremony, in the land itself, and to manipulate the land, you remove that prayer from the land. The prayer is still there, but development today diminishes what has been integrated into that land for thousands of years. It’s sacred land!”
Colleen Cabot
South Bay Indigenous Solidarity.
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