Nevada City Rancheria

“Knowing this country’s history is the first step we need to take in the long process of repairing our people and our land. Look at the problems our people have now with things like substance abuse, lack of identity, and diabetes. Look at the crisis the Earth is in with climate change and pollution. Our history tells how this came about.”

— Rio Ramirez
Tohono O'Odham Nation

“I beseech this community as a whole to become educated about the Nisenan and their descendants, then give them what they have so long been denied, the respect and dignity of their restored identity, meaningful reconnection to their homelands and the hand of friendship offered in the spirit of cooperation and partnership.”

— Judith Lowry
Let us not forget the Nisenan people
theunion.com
October 2012

“[We should] acknowledge that a grave injustice was done to the original inhabitants of our county, an injustice that has yet to be rectified. There may be only a few of us who are directly related to the forty-niners, but we have inherited the land they conquered, and their legacy. Through our actions in the present, we can begin to heal the deep wounds of the past... I would encourage anyone who is interested to support their cause, which is to restore the Rancheria and the heritage that was unceremoniously stripped from them 50 years ago.”

— R.L. Crabb
We also inherit the legacy
theunion.com
August 2015

“If you want to know the health of a land, look at the health of its indigenous people.”

— Lyla June
Bioneers Conference
October 2018

“Their history is one marked by pain and oppression caused by European settlers and promises broken by the United States government. But they are also a people that personify perseverance. Against all odds, the Nisenan still exist.”

— Avery L. White and Brooke Schueller
The California Tribe the Government Tried to Erase in the 60s
vice.com
January 2018

“Sometimes when people learn about the broken treaties, relocation, and genocide, they feel guilty about what happened to Native Americans. Those feelings are okay as long as we move past them and try to help each other now as human beings. No one here today made these things happen. But we are the ones who are living now, and we need to understand that we are all in this together. Let me say that again: No one here today made these things happen. But we are the ones who are living now, and we need to understand that we are all in this together. I think we all have an obligation to use the talents we have to make the Earth a better place. I am working on my reservation to make a better future for my people and for our land. You are working here in your own ways. It helps me to know that you are working for this too, that my people are not alone.”

— Rio Ramirez
Tohono O'Odham Nation