Rally & March to End Investments That Destroy Native Sacred Sites | Oakland, CA

Faith Communities Call for Religious Tolerance in Trump Era

Boycott and Protest Against Banks that Invest in the Destruction of Sacred Burial Sites

Oakland – On the heels of the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, hundreds of faith leaders, Native activists, and community members will protest against the destruction of sacred burial sites and call for religious tolerance. They will implore banks to divest from development projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) which is a Sioux Tribe burial site. The Resisters will also urge the public to shut down accounts with those banks as part of the #DeleteYourAccount campaign which is picking up speed nationally.

The Resisters will rally and hold a faith ceremony outside the First Congregational Church of Oakland, and then march in procession to Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank as well as a local Oakland Shellmound (sacred Native burial site) that was destroyed for development.

What: Rally and march to end bank investments in development that destroys Native sacred sites

When: 5pm, Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Where: Rally at First Congregational Church of Oakland: 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland 94612 and then march to Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank as well as a local Oakland Shellmound

Who: Roughly 300-400 Bay Resistance community protestors, faith leaders, and Native activists

“While Americans across the country have expressed outrage about the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, the Trump administration has given the green light to bulldoze the Sioux Tribe’s sacred burial ground to build DAPL,” said Reverend Sandhya Jha, Executive Director of the Oakland Peace Center. “To hold religious tolerance as a value, one must hold the same outrage for ALL sacred sites and protect them.”

In addition to DAPL, which is the most famous Native site being destroyed, there are many local shellmounds (sacred Native burial sites) which have or are currently facing the same fate. The largest is the Ohlone Shellmound which was about 6,000 years old and was destroyed to build the Emeryville shopping center. In Berkeley, the remains of five dead bodies were recently extracted as part of the destruction of that site. And in Oakland near Lake Merritt, the marchers will hold a moment of silence at the shellmound that was destroyed there to make room for development.

The gathering is co-sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Oakland, the Oakland Peace Center, and the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy as part of Bay Resistance’s ongoing #ResistTrumpTuesday campaign. For more info, visit bayresistance.org or contact David Brazil at david@workingeastbay.org

Facebook event is HERE