Landback in California with Brittani Orona
This in-depth conversation with Dr. Brittani Orona (Hupa, Hoopa Valley Tribe) on the Cal Ag Roots WELL podcast digs into the concept and practice of the Landback movement in California, including the deep history of Native resistance in the state. It also explores Brittani’s background and move to her new role as Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. The following are a few of Brittani's quotes from the episode. Listen to the full interview on the Cal Ag Roots WELL podcast.
"I became very interested in the ways the state has formed to remove Native people off their land, and how Native people have resisted that and continue to resist that through movement building and through pushing on the state. That's a long history that began with colonization into the area." (13:24)
"The concept of landback, and the hashtag #LandBack, has been used for the last maybe six years... While these are very important callings in the movement right now, they're actually based in a long history of land reclaimation and Native rights that has existed for a very very long time." (15:54)
What do you see as the future of Landback?
"I think that we will get our lands back. I think that the movement will grow and that Native people will reclaim their ancestral lands. I have a lot of hope for that. Our perspectives on land are needed now more than ever. They have always been needed, but I think with the situation that we're in with climate change that is very visible right now, with the drought which is very visible, I think the that solution needs to come from Native people, and has come from Native people. ... I see a future in which we reclaim our lands and we are able to live healthy lives for the benefit of everybody. Landback means everybody, and it means this interconnectedness with land which is nonexistent today." (41:36)
