Indigenous people rejoice after city of Berkeley votes to return sacred native land to Ohlone

abcnews.go.com:

Ohlone people and others are rejoicing over the return of sacred native land dating back thousands of years

SAN FRANCISCO — Ohlone people and others rejoiced Wednesday over the return of sacred native land dating back thousands of years, saying the move rights a historic wrong and restores the people who were first on land now called Berkeley to their rightful place in history.

The 2.2-acre parking lot is the only undeveloped portion of the shellmound in West Berkeley, where ancestors of today's Ohlone people established the first human settlement on the shores of the San Francisco Bay 5,700 years ago.

Berkeley’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance giving the title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a San Francisco Bay Area collective led by women that works to return land to Indigenous people. The collective raised most of the money needed to reach the agreement with developers who own the land.

“The site will be home to education, prayer and preservation, and will outlast every one of us today to continue telling the story of the Ohlone people,” said Mayor Jesse Arreguín at a celebratory press conference Wednesday. He said their history is “marked not by adversity, but more importantly, by their unwavering resilience as a community.”

The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a movement to retore other lands to Indigenous people. The site — a three-block area Berkeley designated as a landmark in 2000 — will be home to native medicines and foods, an oasis for pollinators and wildlife, and a place for youth to learn about their heritage, including ancient dances and ceremonies, said Melissa Nelson, chair of the board of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

“We want to be a place for global