“My name is Vincent Medina, and I am Chochenyo Ohlone. My community is indigenous to the what is commonly called the “East Bay.” I grew up aware of my Ohlone identity, and grew up in my family’s indigenous tribal area of halkin (San Leandro/Southern Oakland). I am proudly aware that all of my direct family, including myself, has been born in our East Bay homeland; the bond to our homeland has been kept alive since ancient times, and it has survived in spite of forces that attempted to separate us from our land. While growing up aware of my identity – there were many aspects of my culture that weren’t practiced in my youth, not because my family didn’t care, quite the contrary, but because our family was severely impacted by three waves of colonization – Spanish, Mexican, and American – each actively working to suppress our culture and identity. In spite of this, my family wouldn’t give up those things that mattered to us, and our old timers shared what they could remember with linguists and anthropologists in the early 1900s.”

With a firm understanding of where “home” is, Vincent works respectfully with these forms of documentation to better understand their traditional ways and bring them back into the world around him; he works with his elders, his family, and his partner, Louis Trevino – who is Rumsen Ohlone, and members of the extended community to strengthen and bring back language, traditional foods, stories, and more. Vincent serves on the Board of Directors for the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, a statewide organization that works to strengthen and foster California Indian languages. He also is a member for Slow Foods Turtle Island, an international organization that works to protect traditional foods for Indigenous people across North America.