San Jose officials stall on Muwekma Ohlone Tribe recognition

Nearly two months after a handful of San Jose leaders requested federal recognition for an Indigenous tribe, the proposal appears to be dead in the water — with no political will to bring it back.

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe members and supporters say San Jose officials have no interest in supporting the tribe’s goal of federal recognition as time has dragged on. The tribe has been pushing for federal recognition for decades and says a show of support from a major city like San Jose could be the push needed to gain attention from federal lawmakers. But at least two Silicon Valley congressional leaders have opposed the move, saying the Bureau of Indian Affairs already declared the tribe ineligible for federal recognition.

Councilmembers Domingo Candelas, David Cohen, Dev Davis, Bien Doan and Peter Ortiz first brought a proposal in August to a city committee to push the federal government to recognize the tribe. The item was pushed off to a September City Council meeting. Then at the meeting, the proposal was dropped without further action.

A spokesperson for Mayor Matt Mahan told San José Spotlight another councilmember would need to bring back the proposal. No other councilmembers have refiled a proposal as of October.

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh said she was hopeful the city would support its fight after meeting with Mahan last year, but that hasn’t happened.

“Former Mayor Susan Hammer acknowledged our people 30 years ago, acknowledged that we were part of the community. It’s ridiculous what’s happening now,” Nijmeh told San José Spotlight. “Do the right thing Mayor Mahan. Do the right thing for the people whose homeland was where the city was built.”

Hammer recognized the tribe in 1994 for “its efforts to preserve its cultural heritage,” according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said in an Aug. 7 letter to San Jose leaders that the Bureau of Indian Affairs stated the tribe does not meet the necessary criteria for federal recognition. That’s why the federal government denied its requests and appeals in 2002, 2011 and 2013, she said.

“Congress has never granted federal recognition to a tribe that was denied by (Bureau of Indian Affairs) and exhausted all appeals,” she said in the letter. “While I supported the Tribe’s application to BIA more than two decades ago, I also believe it is important to respect fact-based decisions so that all tribes have a fair and equal opportunity to seek recognition.”

Ortiz, a longtime supporter of the tribe’s efforts, said more of his colleagues need to be on board before he can bring the proposal back.

“I have to meet with my fellow councilmembers under the Brown Act to determine the next steps, but it’s up in the air,” he told San José Spotlight.

Doan also said he does not have plans to revisit the resolution, but did not say why. Davis and Jimenez, who are both on the city’s Rules and Open Government Committee, also have no plans to reintroduce the issue.

“The complexities around federal tribal recognition are so much deeper than we knew when we introduced our resolution. Because of that, we think this issue is best left up to the federal process,” Davis told San José Spotlight.

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo echoed the sentiments of Davis in an Aug. 22 letter to city leaders where she warned that federal recognition of the tribe would mean they could engage in gambling operations. Eshoo said she believes the gambling industry exploits people with addiction issues.

“While I recognize that gaming has provided meaningful economic benefits for some tribes, I have concerns about the potentially harmful impact of gaming on the broader community,” Eshoo said. “Because other members of the Bay Area congressional delegation share my concerns about gaming, the Tribe’s position has left us at an impasse and prevented us from engaging constructively on the complex underlying question of whether legislative recognition should be pursued at all.”
The Sacramento Indian Agency of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs dropped the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s federal recognition status almost 100 years ago when a then-prominent University of California, Berkeley anthropology professor inaccurately declared the tribe extinct.

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe supporter Marisol Diaz told the city council at the Sept. 17 meeting she has relatives indigenous to the tribe, and the city’s lack of support shows that tribe members are still being treated as less than human.

“I’m just very disappointed they never get anything done,” Diaz told San José Spotlight. “So the fact that they keep dismissing us and pushing the resolution under the rug — we’re going to be back.”