Our struggle to be seen.
Our Tribe was federally recognized in 1905 as the Verona Band of Alameda County — and we have never been terminated by an act of Congress. But in 1978, when the official list of tribes was first drafted, the BIA erred in wrongly omitting us. In 2022, a federal district court judge in the Northern District of California has affirmed that we’ve retained our sovereign immunity despite not being on the BIA’s list.
The Trail of Truth was a bold act of resistance against the "Politics of Erasure," protesting 40 years of denied federal recognition that has profoundly undermined our Tribe’s sovereignty, self-governance, land rights, and access to essential federal programs.
#TrailofTruth
To the Muwekma Ohlone people, the Trail of Truth represented a profound spiritual pilgrimage, reconnecting us to our 10,000-year aboriginal homeland amid centuries of trauma, including epidemics, forced displacements, and the suppression of sacred practices under colonial violence.
It embodied resilience and renewal, with horses serving as "spirit horses" symbolizing deep cultural and spiritual bonds—evident when tribal members locked arms around trailers, chanting prayers to protect the animals from federal police threats while the delegation was assaulted by police in October of 2024 in Washington, D.C.
The journey honored suppressed spiritual traditions, fostering a sacred immersion in decolonization and healing generational wounds, transforming personal and collective grief into a defining act of liberation and nation-building.
The Trail of Truth will ride again. Join us.
The Trail of Truth has ignited a passionate drive in all of us to defend tribal sovereignty, weaving horseback excursions through ancestral homelands into direct actions that amplify the voice and visibility of our people.
Uniting recognized and unrecognized tribes in pursuit of shared justice, we can forge unbreakable alliances and amplify our defense of tribal sovereignty. Each hoofbeat echoes resilience, transforming local paths into a national thunder for justice and rebirth.