Indigenous American Lisjan Nation honors Bay Area ancestors with march from Berkeley to Emeryville [Video]

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 …