Before my family arrived in California’s Central Valley, this land was not farmland. It was home to the Yokut and Wintu peoples for thousands of years. Their society was among the most linguistically diverse in North America. When this land became part of the United States, the first governor of California armed local militias and sanctioned the extermination of all indigenous peoples. Scalp bounties were posted, some for $5 a head. Men, women, and children were hunted like animals. The indigenous population of California fell from 150,000 to 30,000 in just twenty-seven years from 1846 to
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