For the last five years, Lisjan Ohlone leader Corrina Gould has been protecting one of her people's sacred places, the West Berkeley Shellmound and Village Site, from development. A judge ruled against the developer’s plans in October 2019 but the two sides are now battling it out in appeals court. During the court hearing on February 18, the landowners put up a six-foot fence with three strands of barbed wire around the 2.2-acre site, which is currently a parking lot. Ohlone people (and the public) are now blocked from going to this ancestral, historic site to put down their prayers-as they've been doing for thousands of years.
Instead of holding her regular spring equinox ceremony at the site, Corrina called on her supporters to join her for a day of civil disobedience and street art, followed by a candlelight vigil at sunset.
For more information visit shellmound.org.