CLEARLAKE— At the Thursday Morning Judge’s Breakfast in Clearlake April 27, April Batsulwin Brown, Commissioner at the Lake County Planning Commission discussed cultural resources and the future landscape. This conversation covered cultural sensitivity material as well as aspects of tribal cultural resources.
Prior to beginning his position with the planning commission in 2018, Brown served as Vice Chair for the Elem Tribe from 2006 to 2008 becoming Chairman through a recall. This was around the time the Environmental Protection Agency, according to tribe officials, overstepped in the Sulpher Bank Mine situation by not following the national historical preservation federal law.
According to Brown, the EPA “destroyed over 7,000 cubic yards of cultural soils which had a value of more than 70 million dollars.” Brown added, “The tribe was compensated 380 acres, of our own land given back to us. A lot of my elders were happy and as a younger person I was like, what are you celebrating? This is our land.” Brown noted, “The elders of my community, who grew up in a different time, they couldn’t say too much, they couldn’t challenge the norm, they couldn’t challenge anything in society. Thy were in a place where they just went along with what they did to survive.”
In fully illustrating the depth of cultural sensitivity Brown asked the audience to expand their perspectives in understanding that tribal history is often not something anyone wants to discuss including themselves. Brown detailed his own suppressed family history sharing, “The founder of this valley, Burns Brown, is my great great-grandfather. At the time he came here indigenous people had no rights so my great great-grandmother who lived on the land became his property, became his concubine, and had his children. Then he abandoned them.” These familial histories may not be easily discussed and therefore are not very widely known, but according to the speaker, these are the types of things they mean when they talk about cultural sensitivity.
Brown introduced the term “tribal glossing” explaining “Tribal glossing refers to the assumption that all tribes are exactly the same culturally. The idea that all tribal people are the same is an idea I still hear in conversation.” He added that as tribes they are aware of each other’s different ideals and practices but need those differences to be recognized at a state level. Brown noted the importance of tribal interference in early planning stages, especially in California Environmental Quality Act applications yet he said it is often overseen or ignored completely. Brown said, “It’s important that when we’re working with tribal people, you don’t see them as all the same people, and this is a common thing that happens.” Currently, CEQA places more credibility in science than tribal communities, requiring an archaeologist or other designated professional to determine artifacts or remains instead of a tribal member. Due to ongoing circumstances, it is Brown’s opinion that CEQA has a long way to go in order to protect cultural sites.
In regards to education, Diane Watson and Erin McCarrick asked, “Is there anything in the curriculum that talks about cultural sensitivity?” Lake County Superintendent Brock Faulkenberg responded that “By 2025 every high school kid must take a cultural course, and there will be an African American culture, one of them is Asian culture, Hispanic culture and Native American culture.” Faulkenberg said the intent is to bring in the local Pomo so that there is a local influence rather than staten and agreed with Brown that each tribe is unique.
Breakfast attendees expressed their gratitude in rounds of applause for this month’s guest speakers with special thanks directed to Erin McCarrick and Diane Watson for curating such an informative line up of our local tribal history. The Judge’s Breakfast is held every Thursday Morning at 7 a.m. in the Clearlake Senior center and is open to the public, serving array of breakfast foods.
