Even by the harsh standards of the pioneers, said historian Kevin Engle, the Kelsey brothers stood out for their sadism and rapacity against native people.
Cynthia Hart-Button and husband Charles are the Guardians of the Sacred White Bison. They have cared for and nurtured a small herd of these rare creatures for nearly two decades. This couple’s dedication to each other and their bison is, as the Navaho expression goes: A Walk in Beauty. And this is how it all came to be.
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Spirit Olevia and her son Anaiah listen to speakers during the Bloody Island Sunrise Ceremony near Upper Lake, California on May 15, 2021. Spirit is a singer, often dedicating her work to her ancestors.
(Beth LaBerge/KQED)
O
ne-hundred seventy-one years ago, the small island of Bonopoti in Lake County was still a haven for the people who had lived here for centuries: the Pomo. It was where many people gathered to fish, and to collect plants and medicine at a time when the Gold Rush and colonial policies were already rapidly transforming Indigenous people s way of life.
On May 15, 1850, a U.S Army regiment arrived on the island and killed every Pomo man, woman and child they could find there. From then on, Bonopoti became known as Bloody Island.