Looking at Lafayette’s Legacy

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Acalanes Blueprint

By Reid Aldrich, Henry Hagel, Gus McKinney, and Taylor Daggs, Staff Writers

// Committee members pulled back the curtain, revealing illustrations of the Bay Miwok people accompanied by the city’s written land acknowledgment on an electrical box in downtown Lafayette. The acknowledgement serves to honor the people who called the land home many years before Lafayette’s founding. 

   On Mon., April 8, the City of Lafayette held a ceremony at the corner of Mt. Diablo Blvd. and Lafayette Circle in which they honored the history of Indigenous stewardship of the land.

   The City of Lafayette unveiled a new street sign at Mt. Diablo Blvd. and Lafayette Circle, which would incorporate the name the Ohlone people gave to Mount Diablo. 

   “One of the things that the land acknowledgment task force proposed was at the spot where we have the wrap, it would be nice to have an alternative for what we call Mount Diablo, Devil Mountain. The mountain was sacred to many Native Americans around here, so we wanted something to reflect what many of the Native Americans called the mountain, so we wanted to put in something for the name that was used back in the time that they were here. The name was Tuyshtak,” Lafayette City Council Member and Chair of the Land Acknowledgment Committee John McCormick said.

   Many community members hope that this sign will bring increased recognition to the Indigenous people of the area.

   “It is an acknowledgment of history, an acknowledgment of the Bay Miwok people and the Saclan people. It honors people in our community and I also think it is very grounding for the city and for our campus,” Ethnic Studies teacher Katherine Walton said.

   Before it came to fruition in April, the Lafayette Mayor proposed this idea last year.

   “A lot of credit needs to go to Mayor Carl Anduri at the time. He proposed this as part of the Lafayette 175+ celebration last year as a celebration of Lafayette’s founding, but also going beyond the 175 years ago when the Native Americans were here,” McCormick said.

   Students can understand the significance of this event through their knowledge of the history of the land that makes up the Acalanes community.

   “They were here before us, so I think it’s only fair that we honor them properly,” former Ethnic Studies student and senior Trevor Rogers said.

   The City of Lafayette’s ceremony reflects a larger movement of land acknowledgement.  In fact, Acalanes has been in the process of working on their own land acknowledgment.

   “Acalanes is actually already in the process of having a land acknowledgment. It came up a year ago after discussing the mascot and student leaders asked Mr. Shawn for a land acknowledgment to be put into place along with an acknowledgment of our history,” Walton said.

   In this process, Acalanes can reference the City of Lafayette’s acknowledgement as a model for their own.

   “Niroop [Srivatsa], our city manager, called around to every city in Contra Costa County and I believe it was just Pinole that had one, nobody else did. However, many of them said that they would love to model their acknowledgments after ours. I would be thrilled to be shamelessly copied, now that we have kind of shown what it looks like. I think the educational component is really what makes this important rather than just something that gets put out one time and never changes the behavior,” McCormick said.

   This formal land acknowledgement is one step towards furthering recognition of the Native American history of Lafayette and the city has more plans to come.

   “We are also looking to get a Native American speaker to come speak at the city council meeting in September, we are still working on that, to give us an oral history. I think it really just adds to the tapestry that makes Lafayette special. It doesn’t subtract from anybody that has been here before, but adds to it. I think it is really exciting and we can learn a lot,” McCormick said.

Below is the direct wording of the land acknowledgement:

“We acknowledge that Lafayette is part of the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Bay Miwok people. The Bay Miwok and neighboring Ohlone people have lived in and moved through this place for thousands of years. They stewarded and shaped this land for hundreds of generations. We express our appreciation and gratitude for this profound legacy, which enhances and contributes to our lives to this day. We will strive to honor this land and strengthen our ties with the Indigenous communities that continue to live and work in our East Bay region as our neighbors and community members. We acknowledge and honor them and their ancestors, elders, and next seven generations.“