Worth the Price?

Locally every person educated and knowledgeable about the Nisenan echoes eventually on the national stage. Our story is potent and reflective of the true history of the founding of California and the founding of our nation.  Gold was “discovered” in Nisenan waters. The gold taken from Nisenan territory funded the statehood of California as well as U.S. success in the Mexican-American War. The factor that balanced this “successful equation” was the destruction of not only countless animals and plant communities, but the Nisenan’s ancient way of life, destroying the “paradise” that was Northern California. The paradise that settlers “discovered” was in fact the result of thousands of generations and thousands of hands shaping this landscape for time immemorial. It begs the question as we engage in topics of climate change and extractionism, was the outcome worth the price?