I obtained a copy of the DVD that Clayton Duncan waved in his hand at the last public hearing that addressed the high school mascot name.
Written by James Bluewolf, this honest and moving history of Big Valley and Lake County people represents elder Nelson Hopper”s perceptions and shared history, Lake County Television David Joliffe”s direction, and the history of Bloody Island as told by Mildred Duncan.
The DVD, presently copyrighted by Big Valley Rancheria, is available at the Lake County Public Library, the UC Berkely Museum, and the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. and may be obtained from the Lucy Moore Foundation.
Bluewolf served as the director of a Native Language Program through an ANA Native Language Teaching grant, at Big Valley Rancheria. When the funds were spent, Bluewolf and David Joliffe spent their own money to create this ?DVD, to be used as an educational project. The DVD helped fulfill the grant requirements.
“I”d like to see Hinthel Gaahnuula used in the schools for educational purposes as part of California History Section. I wasn”t given any limitation by the tribe on showing this DVD to groups of people or in the classrooms. It must be nonprofit in its present form,” said Bluewolf.
According to the DVD, by 1860 most Pomo girls aged 10 years old and up were found to have contracted venereal disease from having been kidnapped, molested, and raped by white men. It became a government policy to “exterminate” the native people in Lake County. “We (the tribe) were forced to move again and again”.
Indian slavery was legalized in 1851, according to the DVD. “We were treated as animals. Our hearts were broken.” It is a proud legend that Chief Augustine”s wife, being held captive by the cruel pioneer Kelsey, poured water on Kelsey”s store of gunpowder just before Kelsey was killed by the Pomos.
Bluewolf also researched this history in the UC Berkeley Language Department. The Lake County Museum is mentioned in the credits. Grace Hudson”s paintings of Pomo children and adults delighted my eyes at the end of this DVD.
The DVD ends with present day Pomo children laughing and swimming in Clear Lake, and donning traditional regalia to prepare for marching in a parade in Lakeport.
The Hinthel Gaahnuula DVD is over an hour, and I remained spellbound in my chair until it ended. I learned the history of a people much like the history of the Hebrews told in the Old Testament.
I remember a saying I learned as a child that we cannot fully understand another person until we have walked a mile in his or her moccasins.
I would advise all to walk in the moccasins of Hinthel Gaahnuula and experience this DVD to learn more and become aware of the holocaust in Clear Lake. It is a compilation history and facts that depict the important oral tradition of a people. We have a moral responsibility to learn all the facts in order to understand and make decisions.
Can the two sides be pieced together? Do we want to know the truth? Are we looking at all perspectives? It is up to us as human beings living together on this small but precious Earth to see, to learn, to grow in awareness and to come together in a good way if we are to survive as the human race.
Joan Moss
Lakeport
