Humanities Speakers Series Launches

On Monday, October 17, Bay School community members were treated to a talk by the owners of Cafe Ohlone, Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino. The cafe is located on the UC Berkeley campus, and is perhaps the most public representation of a renewed growth in American Indian tribal cultures in the Bay Area. 

The family histories of Medina and Trevino serve as a symbolic record of sorts: In their personal stories, we travel from the richness of indigenous communities that have been in this area for thousands of years to the swift and severe impacts of colonization and the mission system to peoples who are becoming visible once again. “Our history is one of abundance, not just pain,” Medina said. “We’re survivors.” 

Louis Trevino is a member of the Rumsen Ohlone of the Carmel Valley, and Vincent Medina is of the East Bay Ohlone. In addition to their restaurant, both are speakers and teachers of their respective languages, Rumsen and Chechenyo. This exciting endeavor has borne fruit in the form of young people who are growing up as speakers of the languages. Their organization also does cultural education within their communities as well as local schools.

The restaurant itself is the culmination of many years of study with their elders in traditional foodways. The menu relies on the plants, trees, and animals native to the area, and the location on the UC Berkeley campus could be seen as the start of a truth and reconciliation process. The university has a history of dismissive and misleading scholarship on the subject of local indigenous communities, and the Hearst Museum has long held the remains of members of various tribes as well as many objects, both sacred and everyday, that rightfully belong to tribal members. The process of repair will be long and not without frustration, but a step has been taken.

Like their forebears and the members of their communities, Trevino and Medina are patiently, persistently tending and growing the ecosystem that offers sustenance for body and spirit.