Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation (OCEN) is historically known as the Monterey Band of Monterey County as the results of the Congressional Homeless Indian Acts. These people are also often referenced as Mission San Carlos Indigenous. Currently, the tribe has completed all requirements to be reinstated as a Federally Recognized Tribe, and I sincerely hope they achieve that. There are over 600 people enrolled in this Tribe today. The author of this book is a member of this tribe, and discusses the history of genocide against them from the 1800s up to present day. Missions were built throughout the Western part of the country, and Indigenous people were used to construct them in what was basically slave labor. Children were snatched and sent to these schools to "Christianize" them. The story of the missions and the stories of the later residential schools are very similar. Forced labor, forcing them to only speak Spanish or English, ridding them of their customs, clothing, and beliefs, rape, beatings, deaths... The population of the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen declined to appalling levels, thanks to death, low birth rate, and high mortality due to disease and living conditions. The systematic eradication of a people is disgusting to me. If you read this book and do not find yourself disgusted and outraged at the treatment of these people, you have serious problems.

I have the Audible version of this book. It was approximately six hours of listening time. If you are interested in the physical copy, it is just over 200 pages. I had never heard of this particular tribe on Indigenous people, though I am sure there are hundreds more I could say the same about. I learned a great deal about the culture, which I loved. I think it is wonderful that the author was able to research her family so extensively and discuss the truth about what happened in the Missions. This was a very moving, and very enraging, book. The atrocities that Indigenous people in the Americas have faced are disgraceful, and they are ongoing. This book mentions the legacy of violence and various types of physical, mental, emotional, and substance abuse that many Indigenous still struggle with today. This is generational. The stripping away of a peoples' identity and culture is abhorrent. It is tragic. If you would like to learn more about the tribe the author belongs to, please visit ohlonecostanoanesselennation.org