Native Americans in Central California Ring in Powwow Season

0:00From KQED. Support for KQED Podcasts comes from the San Francisco Marin Food Bank. The culinary event, one big table on October 3rd features celebrated Bay Area chefs, dancing and more, all to help end hunger. Tickets at sfmfoodbank.org slash one big table. A dark night, a quiet house, but inside danger was lurking. Oh, not really. We have Xfinity Shield, so we're not worried. What if protecting your home and devices could be drama free? Xfinity. Imagine that. Restrictions apply, not available in all areas. Good morning. This is the California Report. I'm Billy Cruz in San Francisco. California sea lion poisons are surging along the coast, and warm waters brought by El Nino could make things worse. KQED's Ezra David Romero reports. The Marine Mammal Center in Sol Solito is fielding up to 600 calls a day about sea lions

1:02that appear confused, lethargic, and in some cases dead. An algal bloom is poisoning mammals with a toxin called Demoic acid that can cause seizures and heart failure. Gian Carlo Ruly is a spokesperson for the center. There are a fair amount of cartridges out there we're seeing animals pass away, being brought back to the hospital. Ruly says that already warmer than normal sea surface temperatures and further warming from the climate pattern El Nino could exponentially increase the number of affected mammals. For the California Report, I'm Ezra David Romero. Researchers estimate that close to 6,000 unsheltered people live within a mile of venues for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. LAist reporter Liburaini explains. People officials expect that security plans for the 2028 Olympics will require unhoused people to vacate areas around competition venues. But exactly how many people isn't clear. The new report from academics at USC in UCLA indicates that potentially thousands of people

2:05could be displaced. UCLA professor Randall Koon worked on the report. The numbers just give us a good starting point. Write what really matters then as a people in those buffers. The 6,000-person estimate is more than three times higher than the number that LA County gave LAist earlier this year. That was LAist Liburaini. LA County says it's looking into the new report. Powwows are common in many parts of the country where Native Americans call home. But did you know some regions have Powwow seasons? California's Powwow season recently kicked off in Central California. And it brought tribes from as far as New York and Canada. KVPR's Crescensio Rodriguez del Gato was there at Table Mountain Rancheria Casino just outside of Fresno where the sound of a long tradition rang out. It's a Saturday evening and a steady drum is beating as dozens of people representing

3:07many Native American tribes circle a large patch of grass. The mock kids dance alongside adults, each and their own tribal colors and with their own rhythm. Dozens more watch intently from the sidelines. The grassy area is known as an arena. It's tucked into a golden hillside in Eastern Fresno County. This is a social gathering known as a Powwow. Although Native tribes have held ceremonial gatherings for centuries, Powwows are a 19th century tradition and late summer is California's busy season. These gatherings are formal ways of exchanging culture but what tribes really come here to do is dance with a consider as spreading medicine. Dancing is healing. You dance for your loved ones. You dance for someone who can't dance. Whale and Burrow organized a celebration. He's a member of the Chick-Chancey Indians. He says that Powwows everyone brings something special. Each different regalia has a different meaning and each dance has a different story behind

4:12it. Tribal members come from all over. There's Choctaw, Mono Indians, Seminole, Lakota, Navajo. But Burrow says where they come from isn't the story. It's what happens when they get here. We dance in a circular motion and clockwise motion and to the beat of the drum. So it's like dancing with time. Everyone moves to the same beat, like a heartbeat. Twirling in the arena is Murphy Barma Cloud. He's 17 years old and belongs to the Dunlap band of Mono Indians as well as a tribe in Oklahoma. He's wearing yellow and orange with two fans of feathers called bustles that look like fireworks on his back. The bustles used to be flat, not big and they used to be like a lot smaller than how they just got bigger because everyone wanted a flare. He shares more with me after his dance once he catches his breath. I do this powwow for a living. I've been dancing since I was like, when I was like, real young when I could walk and

5:13it's just been sticking with me the whole life. This time of year is his busiest. Usually I do it like week and after week and after weekend. Usually I'm never home for like weeks so I'm not going to be home until November. One of his fans interrupts our interview. This guy's going to be a superstar in life right here. You know why? Because he's got it by the best and he's got the best. And this is his uncle Craig Hackett speaking. And if anybody got something to say to this boy, you find me. And say what's up. That's what you call a proud uncle. Georgia, take your time. And also our flight, please. By nightfall it's time to compete for prize money. Lillian Shakespeare Largo is waiting for her turn. So I'm from the Dine Nation which is Navajo and then I'm also a part of Northern or Apohoe and Miss Galera Apache. She's 25 and came in from New Mexico. So we drove all night. She was about a 10 hour drive. She's performing the women's Northern Bucks' Kind Dance. A large feather points up from her head and curtains of white, Bucks' Kind Fringe hang from her brightly colored shop.

6:15My favorite color is blue so I made my whole beadwork blue and then their family design. Here we go. For some good luck ladies. In the arena Largo and the other women take one step and then another. Walk around, bend and walk around. Their Bucks' Kind Sways in the Wind almost in slow motion. Then time is up. Here's your champion. The winner Largo, she's taking home $1,000. This is a special win for her. I'm five months post-partum so it's a lot harder for me but I feel happy when I do her form well. Her dad is holding her five month old baby as a celebrate. Here three generations point to the spirit of these powers. Tribal members don't just come to dance for themselves but also for their ancestors and the next generation who will one day learn to dance to their own beat. For the California Report, I'm Crescencio Rodriguez delgado.

7:20And that's the California Report for Monday, September 7th. We are a production of KQED News. I'm Billy Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day. Support for the California Report comes from Paint Care, making Paint recycling easy at more than 800 sites in California, PaintCare.org. The James Irvine Foundation, committed to a California where all low income workers have the power to advance economically. Learn more at Irvine.org. And Eric and Wendy Schmidt, whose philanthropy works to create a healthy, resilient, secure world for all on the web at the Schmidt.org.