California Indians have not only survived assimilation, forced removal from their lands, and state-sanctioned genocide, but are thriving with the tools that they currently have. The resiliency of Native peoples does not excuse the debilitating effects that colonization has on our communities, and yet, we can learn from how local Native peoples are navigating, resisting, and revitalizing their realities. What does it mean to be a modern Native who grew up in someone else’s traditional homelands? What does the path look like for the descendent of a people nearly annihilated? Many Native Americans have turned to academia on their journey of self-realization. This discussion will explore modern Native identity, reconnection with traditional knowledge-holders through literature, and looking ahead at what the future may hold for Native communities.
Facilitated by Trelasa Baratta. Trelasa Baratta is an enrolled member of the Middletown Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians of California. She grew up on the traditional homelands of the Coast Miwok and Ohlone peoples in Marin and San Francisco counties. Her maternal grandfather was Pomo and Lake Miwok, and was raised on the rancheria in Middletown, CA. On her maternal grandmother’s side of the family, she has ancestral roots in Scotland and
Ireland and several ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. Her paternal grandfather’s family came to the United States from Italy in the early 1900’s after a fire decimated their Italian village. Her paternal grandmother and father were born in Puerto Rico, and moved to San Francisco in the 1960’s. Trelasa grew up in the public school system in Novato, CA. Without much sense of purpose, she took the path expected of her and got her undergraduate education at Chico State where she received her BA in Sociology. Learning about societal institutions and injustices in her immediate world left her curious, but feeling lost. She traveled the world, interested in how people experienced their realities in different ways. She came home from a year of teaching English in Spain to an opportunity working with Middle School students in an after school program, where she worked for six years. When she birthed her son, Zephyr, she realized that she wanted to help shape the world he would grow up in, and so turned again to the institution of education and is currently working on her thesis for a Masters in Education at Sonoma State University. Trelasa now works as a Curriculum Developer for a Native women-led nonprofit organization, Redbud Resource Group.
Join us via Zoom: https://SonomaState.zoom.us/j/83820850849