Lisjan Nation honors Bay Area ancestors with march from Berkeley to Emeryville

EMERYVILLE, Calif. (KGO) -- Drumbeats guided dancers through a sacred dance in which they honor their ancestors. The performance marked the end of a three-mile prayer walk at the Emeryville Bay Street Mall.

"This isn't just a mall. That this represents a history of people for thousands and thousands of years," said Corrina Gould, Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation.

Gould says for the past three years, hundreds have marched from the Berkeley Shellmound (or burial site) to the Emeryville Shellmound, which is located at the Bay Street Mall. Gould says it is a chance to educate people that this mall was built on sacred land.

"(It's) about respecting our belief systems and our right to be here. This is a part of the erasure of our people, by building on top of our sacred places," Gould said.

Gould says the Lisjan Nation, sometimes generically referred to as the Ohlone people, originated from Mount Diablo and their villages spread throughout the East Bay.

MORE: Berkeley restores Ohlone land to Ohlone hands in largest give-back in CA history

In the struggle to acknowledge the rights of indigenous people, the ceremony also honored the struggle of the Palestinian people in creating an independent Palestinian state, with frequent chants of: "Free, Free Palestine!"

"As youth, who are fighting for the liberation of our homeland from a settler-colonial state, we understand and know we have a deep responsibility to the people of this land who are fighting for land back, who are also fighting for right of return, who are also fighting for indigenous liberation," said Violette Mansour with the Palestinian Youth Movement.

This is also the first prayer march since the Lisjan people regained ownership of the Berkely Shellmound area after almost a decade-long court battle.

"We plan to create a beautiful cultural center and reopen Strawberry Creek on that land. And to really have a place in the Bay Area that talks about the history and resiliency of our people," Gould said.