By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Members of the Kumeyaay tribe danced at the beginning of the Women’s March rally in 2019. Photo by Chris Stone

November 27, 2020 (San Diego) - The surprise discovery of possible human remains at Kumeyaay cultural sites has sparked a new attempt to halt border wall construction — even with 14 of 15 miles of the bollards already done.

By Miriam Raftery

File photo: A section of the old border fence being torn down in San Diego’s East County as work continues on new wall despite lawsuit and pandemic

July 23, 2020 (Washington D.C.) -- The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt construction of President Trump’s border wall. In a motion filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, the ACLU is urging the court to lift an earlier stay that allowed the Trump administration to divert $2.5 billion from military pay and pension funds for border wall construction that Congress had specifically denied. 

By Helen Horvath

Photo, lefft: Dynamite charges set by the US Corps of Engineers

June 30, 2020 (Campo) – Yesterday, at the end of Tierra del Sol Road in the Campo area, a group of Kumeyaay-led people and supporters gathered early in the morning to protest the blasting of Kumeyaay cultural sites.

Many of these protesters, wearing masks due to COVID-19, were members of the Kumeyaay Original Peoples Alliance, American Indian Movement, and Warriors of Awareness. These groups  participated out of concern for the ancestral history and culture of the Kumeyaay tribes.  Black Lives Matter (BLM) and American Friends Service Committee also participated in the protest in a show of solidarity with local Native Americans. (Photo, right)

By Donald H. Harrison

Originally published at San Diego Jewish World, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

Photo:  Ewa’a on patio of Mission Trails Regional Park visitors center

December 8, 2019 (San Diego) - There are some 40 miles of trails in Mission Trails Regional Park along the San Diego River and surrounding grasslands and mountains. Hikers can view Kumeyaay and Spanish archaeological sites, possibly encounter some endangered animals and some dangerous ones, and be introduced to plants with characteristics so interesting they almost have personalities.

March 20, 2019 (Viejas Reservation) -- Tom Hyde, revered tribal elder, passed from this earth and his beloved Viejas community, March 14, 2019, at 92 years of age.  He is survived by a large family of 200, both blood and chosen.  Born Thomas James Hyde to Prudencia and Valentine Hyde, of El Capitan Village, he’s the last of the original Viejas Reservation members, and last to have personally witnessed destruction of El Capitan Village, at age five. Thus, he began life as a bridge between the past and future of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

East County News Service

March 1, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) -- Shawii, or acorn “mush,” was one of the most important foods for Kumeyaay/Diegueño People for thousands of years. The long process for preparing this staple food has been passed down from generation to generation.  On Saturday, April 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Martha Rodriquez (San Jose de la Zorra) will teach a class on how to make this rare treat at the Barona Cultural Center and Museum.

View a video on the San Diego River Conservancy’s report to the Legislature

March 18, 2017 (Sacramento) -- This week, two bills authored by Sen. Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) cleared key policy committees and moved on to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration. One wil help enhance portions of the San Diego River in East County. The other provides funding to build affordable housing.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Ozzie Monge

September 1,2016 (San Diego’s East County) –  Native Americans held a protest Wednesday outside theNavy’s new SEAL training center on Coronado over desecration of  an area  where  ancient Indian remains were found. 

The 12 tribes of the Kumeyaay Nation have asked the Navy to move the construction boundary to preserve the site where tribal members believe more remains are likely located, but so far the Navy has refused. 

“To us, the sight of those machines brutally ripping our ancestors from the ground is no different than it would be for those very same Navy personnel to watch bulldozers rip through Arlington National Cemetery, scattering the bodies of fallen soldiers carelessly under the metal treads,” Cynthia Parada, Councilwoman of the La Posta Band of Mission Indians, wrote on a Facebook page for the Save Our Ancestors from Desecration event.

By Miriam Raftery

June 25, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Only about 100 fluent speakers of the Kuyemaay dialect remain -- and most of thoe are in Mexico, Margaret Field, a professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University told the San Diego Union-Tribune. She added, “All indigenous languages around the world are endangered, in that they could disappear within a generation or two.”

But here in San Diego’s East County, local Native American tribal members are making efforts to keep their language alive.

By Miriam Raftery and Leon Thompson

Photo: Charlie Brown, right, honored as a Healthcare Hero in 2009 for his work with the Burn Institute

November 14, 2014 (Alpine) – It takes courage to jump out of an airplane into a raging forest fire—and a big heart to work on behalf of burn victims and other charitable causes.  Kumeyaay elder Charlie Brown has done all of these things and more.  He’s been honored as a Healthcare Hero, nominated by the Burn Institute. He's also lived through tumultous changes that swept across Native American reservations in East County as a result of tribal gaming.

This month, he sat down with East County Magazine Tribal Beat reporter Leon Thompson for an exclusive interview, reflecting on his career as a U.S. Forest Service hot shot, his philanthropic efforts, and the dramatic changes that the Kumeyaay nation in San Diego County has seen as a result of Indian gaming. 

Listen online now to our exclusive interview with Charlie Brown, originally aired earlier this month on the East County Magazine Radio Show on KNSJ with our Tribal Beat host, Leon Thompson:

Part 1:

http://k001.kiwi6.com/hotlink/0w48zx7ox0/TribalBeatCharlie_Brown_Part_1-revised_complete.mp3

Part 2:

http://k001.kiwi6.com/hotlink/z11socps5p/TribalBeat-CharleBrown-Part2-final.mp3

By Miriam Raftery

August 30, 2014 (Jacumba Hot Springs)—Two agave roasting pits  found recently in Jacumba Hot Springs have been carbon-dated, indicating Kumeyaay Native American occupation in the Jacumba region dates back at least 9,000 years.  Termed “an astounding recent archaeological find” by the Imperial Valley Desert Museum in Ocotillo, the agave roasting pits were unearthed during construction of SDG&E’s ECO substation project in San Diego’s East County.

Howard Cook, chair of Jacumba Hot Springs Sponsor Group (the town's advisory planning board) believes the find should have impacts on future develoment projects pending in the area. 

“This is highly relevant to the proposed Jacumba Solar project located next door and sharing roads with the under construction Eco project,” he told East County Magazine. “Certainly this calls for a cultural monitor and perhaps some preliminary excavating of the proposed site by [an] historical society and Native American historical/cultural experts."

Programs July 15 at Kroc Theatre, July 16 at Embarcadero Marina Park South, and July 17 at Lincoln High School

By Miriam Raftery

Concert details and RSVP for free tickets:  www.yoursongyourstory.org

Listen Friday at 5 p.m. on KNSJ 89.1 FM to our radio interview with Leonor Perez, artistic projects manager, San Diego Symphony

July 10, 2014 (San Diego)—The San Diego Symphony teams up with local artists and Academy Award-winner Bill Conti (composer of the themes for Rocky and James Bond movies) for a series of free performances in disadvantaged communities. “Your song, your story” is the culmination of a year of outreach in which the Symphony received over 300 submissions from local artists, chose 18 and asked Conti to create a composition inspired by the works celebrating diverse cultural perspectives.

The shows highlight the diversity of San Diego neighborhoods – and each will include a block party celebration complete with free food and entertainment. Performers include many East County groups, such as the Kumeyaay Youth Bird Singers, Soaring Eagles, and Luay Yousif of St. Peters Chaldean Catholic Church.

By Mimi Pollack

July 1, 2014 (Tecate)--There are only 70 to 80 people left in Baja California who speak Kumeyaay, according to Michael Wilken Robertson, an anthropologist who also specializes in ethno-botany. When Wilken-Robertson first started his journey studying the indigenous people of Baja California, he was told there were no indigenous cultures there.  

He believed something had to be done to preserve these ancient cultures and traditions before they were lost, especially those of the Kumeyaay [Kumiai] people. The Kumiai are the indigenous people on both sides of the border, starting from Carlsbad on the United States side, down to the Santo Tomas Valley in Baja California, Mexico.

The Museo Communitario de Tecate [Tecate Community Museum] and the Kumiai wing is a good first step towards documenting the life and history of these people. It is part of the Centro Cultural [Cultural Center] in Tecate, Baja California.

To hear our exclusive interview with Sycuan Chairman Daniel Tucker, click here. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 14, 2013 (El Cajon ) – History books in California schools teach a view of our past that focuses on Spanish missionaries , conquistadors and other Europeans while omitting the Kumeyaay Native American people who  had lived here for thousands of generations before the first settlers came.  A new documentary produced by the Sycuan band of the Kumeyaay nation aims to change that.

Our People, Our Culture, Our History  premiered this week and will be distributed to local schools.  The film reveals a side of San Diego history that most area residents have never been taught—the exploitation and near extermination of the Kumeyaay people.  This powerful film also documents a triumph of the human spirit, detailing the Sycuan band’s struggle to survive and thrive as a new generation rediscovers a heritage nearly lost.

By Paul  Kruze

July 23, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- After nearly a decade of wrangling between the State of California and Caltrans, Old Town State Park is set to be expanded and revitalized with approval of the new California state budget, which includes $436,000 in bond money allocated to demolish the old Caltrans building on Taylor Street.  Most significantly, the abandoned 115,735 square foot Caltrans building sits on top of an ancient Kumeyaay village which allegedly dates back to 500 AD, and which was once a thriving Mexican settlement.