As a kid growing up on a Swinomish reservation in Washington state, Matika Wilbur thought it was inherently bad to be Native American.
“I remember thinking that being an Indian meant poverty,” she said. “Being an Indian meant that we were going to die younger. It meant that we were going to be raped and nobody would care. Those were the things that were the Indian identity to me.”
On Saturday, the sounds of laughter, song and drums echoed out from the Recreational Sports Facility as some 175 Native Americans from across UC Berkeley and beyond gathered in a day of celebration at the campus’s 39th annual powwow.
SAN FRANCISCO — On the eve of the University of California’s 150th anniversary, UC President Janet Napolitano addressed a range of issues facing the UC, as well as the institution’s past, present and future, in an hourlong speech in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Dear Colleagues,
March is National Women’s History Month when we honor the multiple contributions of women in history, culture and society. This annual celebration has its roots locally in Sonoma, where a school event in the late 1970’s spurred other organizations across the country to raise awareness and start sharing their stories. Today, it is a month-long event, celebrated globally, and anchored by International Women’s Day on March 8.
What does it mean to fight long-term, structural racism in the time of President Donald Trump?
That’s the topic that consumed the opening evening of UC Berkeley’s three-day conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission Report, the government study published in 1968 examining the causes of widespread racial animosity and unrest and recommending solutions.