Press Release: DELTA DYING – WARRIORS DANCE

CONTACT:
Gary Hayward Slaughter Mulcahy, tribal liaison (916) 214-8493
Evan Bissell, muralist (415) 686-2079

Press Release: For Immediate Release

[NOTE: PRESS CONFERENCE 1 PM 11/26/05 ON SITE]

DELTA DYING – WARRIORS DANCE

San Francisco, CA November 21, 2005 – On Saturday, November 26, the Winnemem Wintu tribe will bring its Warriors to San Francisco and the dying delta. “We sing to water,” says Caleen Sisk-Franco, Spiritual and Tribal Leader for the Winnemem. “We have to give the river a voice. We have to give the fish a voice. The sacred places need to be protected,” said Sisk-Franco.

That was the call to Hu’p Chonas, “War Dance” when the Winnemem Wintu fasted and danced for 4-days and nights at Shasta Dam in September 2004. It was the tribe’s first war dance in over 100 years, called because of the threat to cultural, historical and sacred sites by the Bureau of Reclamations proposed enlargement of the Dam.

Built in 1945, Shasta Dam became the largest dam in the state and flooded over 90% of the Winnemem homeland. The new proposal, part of the CALFED storage project, would raise the dam an additional 6 to 200 feet in order to guarantee more water deliveries to huge Agri-business than have historically been delivered. “Raising Shasta Dam even 6 feet will flood most of our remaining sacred sites on the McCloud River that we still use today,” said tribal leader Sisk-Franco.

“When we first entered this fight, we only saw a small piece of the threat to our people, the water, and the salmon with the proposed raising of Shasta Dam,” said Mark Franco, Headman of Kerekmet Village, “But as we learned more of CALFED, and the water projects related to it, we learned that the water and salmon throughout Northern California, and the life of the Delta itself are threatened,” said Franco.

“We are deeply concerned about the recent discovery that the Delta Smelt are at their lowest ever recorded levels,” said Gary Hayward Slaughter Mulcahy, Liaison for the Winnemem Wintu tribe. “We have always wanted to bring the salmon home to the McCloud, but the news of the Smelt population does not bode well for the Delta Estuary. The Delta Estuary is key in the survival of the salmon as they leave the spawning grounds to go out to sea, and return to spawn in adulthood. A dying estuary could mean extinction."

On Saturday, November 26 the Winnemem Wintu tribe will be in San Francisco to unveil a Mission District mural that honors the campaign against the proposed raise of Shasta Dam, and their struggles to protect cultural, historic and natural resources. The mural, created by Evan Bissell and Claude Moller, depicts Winnemem Wintu tribal members at the ceremonial war dance on Shasta Dam.

According to lead muralist Claude Moller, “the mural was a cooperative project between San Francisco artists fighting gentrification and the Winnemem Wintu tribe who are fighting displacement from their homeland.”

Entitled “We sing to Water,” the mural will be on display through March 2006. Sponsored by Hypersea and Intersection for the Arts, this project is the fourth in a series of community based murals known as the Living Walls Mural Project.

The unveiling is taking place this Thanksgiving weekend to highlight threats to the Winnemem and the struggles to protect California resources and cultural heritage. The unveiling of the mural, located in the Clarion Alley mural corridor, will begin at 1 pm. Clarion Alley is located one block south of 17th street near Valencia Street in San Francisco.

Caleen Sisk-Franco, tribal leader and, War dancers from the Winnemem Wintu will dance in traditional regalia to “sing to the water” and “give the salmon a voice.” This ceremony will be a dedication to the mural and a memorial to Florence Jones, the Winnemem Wintu’s Spiritual and Tribal Leader who passed away Nov 22, 2003.

“We thank Evan and Claude for this great gift they have given us with this mural. It not only depicts our struggles, but represents the principles taught to us by our “Grams” Florence Jones and what we stand for as a people. On this day, as we sing, dance and pray for the water, we give thanks in memory of Grams,” said Caleen Sisk-Franco, Tribal Leader and Great Niece of Florence Jones.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Living Walls Project: http://www.hypersea.net
Winnemem Wintu Tribe: http://www.winnememwintu.us
or Google: “Winnemem” or “Winnemem Wintu”
CONTACT INFORMATION:

Gary Hayward Slaughter Mulcahy, tribal liaison (916) 214-8493
Evan Bissell, muralist (415) 686-2079
Mark Franco, Headman of Kerekmet Village (530) 275-2737