Noyo Bida Truth Project Presents Essay Winner and Guest Speaker, Nathan Rich

The Noyo Bida Truth Project sponsors a special program on Tuesday, June 10, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Fort Bragg Library, 499 East Laurel Street.

Our third annual Essay Contest winner will receive his prize and read his winning essay on the subject “The Name of Fort Bragg Should/Should Not Be Changed”. Chosen by judges unaffiliated with TNBTP, the winning essayist is a Fort Bragg High School graduating senior who will receive a prize of $2,000.

We’ll also present a special Guest Speaker, Nathan Rich.  Rich is of Dakota / Muscogee / Filipino / Irish descent. Born in Oakland California, Nathan will share his family’s history, their challenges and triumphs to build community and maintain a healthy cultural identity in an ever changing world.  Nathan’s experiences of being raised in a Native Community  in the diversity of the Bay Area provides a glimpse into the value of indigenous commitment to healthy communities. 

This program is free and open to all.

For further information: www.thenoyobidatruthproject.org

A local grass roots non-profit, The Noyo Bida Truth Project is dedicated to an educational process in which we acknowledge the ecological diversity of our California Coast and encourage our true history to be preserved and acknowledged. To date the city of Fort Bragg is named for a Fort associated with the Mendocino Reservation where acts of genocide were committed against California tribal communities. The Fort was named for a general who had no connection to the Mendocino Coast; we have chosen to cease the glorification of Confederate General Bragg and the erasure of the Tribal communities. 

Our goals include holding healing ceremonies, supporting Land Back to Indigenous peoples, a memorial to the victims of the Mendocino Indian Reservation, a cultural center, truthful historical signage, and improvements to California history education in our local schools which are also named for this Confederate general.

Philip Zwerling, Ph.D.

The Noyo Bida Truth Project