On a Thursday afternoon at Lincoln Elementary School, about 15 fifth graders are standing in the front of the classroom. There’s a nervous energy and some giggling. “Hands at your sides. Nice and loud,” says their instructor, Maribel Lopez. She encourages them with a smile. One by one, they step up and say their names. They’re part of a new after-school program at the school that teaches students what it’s like to speak in front of a room full of…
Flag bearers entered Richmond Auditorium carrying an eagle staff adorned with feathers, marking the start of Grand Entry at the 15th Annual Richmond Powwow on Saturday. Behind them, dancers followed as All Nations, one of the oldest drum groups in the Bay Area, sang a flag song that filled the space. Under the theme, “Richmond Santa Fe Indian Village,” the powwow honored Laguna and Acoma Pueblo families who came from New Mexico in the 1920s to work on the Santa…
Local artist Julia LaChica guided the hands of eager kids at the Richmond Art Center on Saturday as they pulled a squeegee across a stencil: “LAND BACK, THIS LAND IS HUICHIN.” Huichin refers to the land of the Ohlone people, what is now commonly called the Bay Area. LaChica helped youth attendees peel paper away from the wooden screenprint frame to reveal the bold words on a take-home poster. “In designing this, I was thinking about the land, the Indigenous…