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East Bay | Environment & Forest Defense | Racial JusticeBuy Nothing Day Action Links Indigenous Cultural Survival & Environmental Justice
On the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days in the American ![]() buynothing.jpg Indian People Organizing for Change(IPOC), Announces a Call To Action for
5th Annual Buy Nothing Day In Support of Indigenous Cultural Survival and Environmental Justice. The earth, sacred sites, and ancestors are sacred, consumerism and money are not! When: November 24th 12:00PM - 4:00PM Where: Bay Street Mall Emeryville Shellmound On the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season, Indian People Organizing for Change (IPOC), invites all to the 5th Annual Buy Nothing Day Demonstration. The site for the demonstration is the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville, CA, which was recently built atop the Emeryville Shellmound despite protests and strong objections from IPOC and supporters. The shell mound was once 60 feet high and up to 600+ feet in diameter; it is older than the pyramids in Egypt and formerly held at least four historical levels of burial sites. "Today these sites are threatened by developments that have no respect for our way of life, and our spirituality, and our natural way of life. We must continue to stand up for our beliefs. The spirit of the past will rise to claim the future, that's what we are doing today" states Jimbo Simmons of the San Francisco based International Indian Treaty Council. Concerned citizens will come together at the Bay Street Mall, which has been dubbed, "Dead Street Mall" to expose the environmental and ethical consequences of over-consumption and bring attention to the ongoing struggle for environmental justice and protection of Sacred Shellmounds throughout the Bay Area and sacred sites everywhere from further desecration. Ohlone activist and organizer Corrina Gould state,"We do this the day after 'Unthanksgiving' even though the Shellmound, the land, has been desecrated by this strip mall. We give out educational material because it's a cemetery and ask people not to shop at the mall." "We will give out educational material because this is a cemetery. We will meet together to remember our ancestors and to educate shoppers about the 3500 year old Ohlone burial site that was desecrated for consumers shopping enjoyment. We envision moving away from a culture of rampant consumerism and to a culture of protecting sacred sites all over the world that are now in danger from being desecrated such as what the Bay Street Mall has done to Emeryville Shellmound. Buy Nothing Day isn't just about changing your habits for one day. It's about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste. Consumerism is desecrating the earth and its resources. Thousands of activists and concerned citizens everywhere will take a 24-hour consumer detox as part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global phenomenon. IPOC has called this action to draw attention to the desecration and bring justice to the sacred Shellmounds. A "die in" has been proposed to signify has called this action to draw attention to the desecration and bring justice to the sacred shell mounds. A "die in" has been proposed to signify the grave sites that lay beneath the "dead Street Mall". Contact Indian People Organizing for Change to pick up fliers and to get involved! Shellmoundwalk [at] yahoo.com
Add Your Comments
Comments (Hide Comments)Hundreds of bodies were reburied in unmarked grave on the mall site.
Friday Nov 24th, 2006 12:03 AM
Some 300 bodies were reburied in an unmarked grave on the mall site.
About 100 were taken from what later became the parking lot behind a Victoria's Secret store. It's estimated that hundreds more lie beneath the center's concrete floor. Nobody knows how many remains were scooped up and taken to landfills or incinerated during the toxic cleanup. Chuck Striplen, an Ohlone descendant and archaeologist who worked on the excavation, estimates dozens. No sign exists to indicate the Emeryville spot was and remains a burial site. But the workers saw everything. The Earth and her inhabitants cant take this mentality anymore! Speak Out! Act Now! Justice Now! Why now
Friday Nov 24th, 2006 9:19 PM
This is a brand new mall. Why wasn't action taken BEFORE it was built?
Buy Nothing Day Action 4 Sacred Sites Protection: Reportback, Invite, & Challenge!
Saturday Nov 25th, 2006 9:31 AM
Buy Nothing Day Action 4 Sacred Sites Protection: Reportback, Invite, &
Challenge! The day after 'Unthanksgiving' and one of the busiest days in the American retail calendar -- around 100 or so people gathered at the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville for the 5th Annual Buy Nothing Day Demonstration called by Indian People Organizing for Change (IPOC). With colorful flags, song, heartfelt statements, prayer, and literature, we demonstrated at the busy intersection of Shellmound Drive and Ohlone Way. After a couple hours, we then marched together in the hustle and bustle throughout the mall (against police orders not to leave our designated protest area!) to expose the environmental and ethical consequences of over-consumption and to bring attention to the ongoing struggle for environmental justice and protection of sacred shellmounds throughout the Bay Area -- and sacred sites everywhere -- from further desecration. The Bay Street Mall, which has been dubbed the "Dead Street Mall," was recently built atop the Emeryville Shellmound, despite protests and strong objections from IPOC and supporters. A sacred burial site, this shellmound was once 60 feet high and up to 600 feet in diameter. It is older than the pyramids in Egypt and held at least four historical levels of burial sites. Many do not know that there is a growing movement of people unified around efforts to demand environmental justice and to raise awareness about sacred sites -- of which there are many in the Bay Area and throughout the continent. Indigenous resistance campaigns to protect sacred sites across North America and around the world are growing more powerful, more organized and focused, and are quickly becoming more collaborative. Native peoples have been and are joining with each other regionally and globally, as well as with attuned non-native groups. The call is out! Victory in reclaiming the earth will require a broad movement that can help bridge cultures, issues, and nations. Indigenous peoples need allies from the outside -- not leadership, but supporters and collaborators, especially from the environmental, women's, and global justice movements, human rights advocates, and many others. Most of the strength at Friday's protest came from the Bay Area Native American communities' efforts to protect sacred sites. As with the Save the Peaks events in San Francisco this past September, I was saddened not to see more non-native Bay Area activists out in a show of support -- particularly members of groups whose mission is closely aligned with the struggle to save sacred sites or having to do with environmental justice, confronting environmental racism, and demanding corporate responsibility, to name a few. There are roughly 350 million indigenous people in 5,000 distinct societies on the planet. A recent study found that the world's last remaining resources and pristine areas are on indigenous lands. Now this global corporate, eurocentric model is targeting these communities for the last dregs of resorces. Indigenous people's are on the front lines! Whatever our movements can do to further the indigenous cause -- in its many struggles and forms -- also furthers our own, and our children's. Often, it is indigenous peoples who embody a vision which is vastly different from the dominant dominant, corporate, eurocentric worldview. The progress and success of these campaigns as defined by the First Nations require active participation and support from allies. The campaigns to protect sacred sites are being determined by indigenous peoples, on their own terms. I challenge you to support these important movements. It is more critical than ever to bring environmental justice by protect sacred sites and defending human rights and indigenous culture by attending events, visiting websites, volunteering, responding to requests, and talking in your own groups about how we can link our efforts. Thank you. In solidarity, ~dixie dixieb [at] riseup.net PS. Pictures from various photographers of the Buy Nothing Day Everyday at Dead St. Mall Action will be posted onto http://www.indybay.org soon! Lots of action was taken before!
Saturday Nov 25th, 2006 10:53 AM
Why dont you fond out more of the history before you make ignorant comments
Audio coverage of Sacred Site Protection on Buy Nothing Day
Saturday Nov 25th, 2006 12:00 PM
KPFA's show Terre Verde interviews activists in the streets who are are at Buy Nothing Day actions thoughout the Bay Area. Ohlone activist Corrina Gould with Indian People Organizing for Change breaks it down listeners about the struggle for protecting shellmounds and tells us about the Buy Nothing Day demonstration at Bay St. Mall, which is a sacred shellmound burial site. She tells us what the site was like before colonization and how there are more sites still in need of protection: 15 minutes into the show: http://www.kpfa.org/cgi-bin/gen-mpegurl.m3u?server=aud1.kpfa.org&port=80&file=dummy.m3u&mount=/data/20061124-Fri1300.mp3 KPFA's show called Living Room has audio interviews with activists in the streets on Buy Nothing Day. Here's Wounded Knee discussing Sacred Sites from the Buy Nothing Day demonstration at the desecrated sacred Shellmound site and burial ground which is now Bay St. Mall in Emeryville, CA. 35 minutes into the show: http://www.kpfa.org/cgi-bin/gen-mpegurl.m3u?server=aud1.kpfa.org&port=80&file=dummy.m3u&mount=/data/20061124-Fri1200.mp3 |