Community Leader

Charlie Toledo

By Craig Smith

Charlie Toledo re-organized the Suscol Intertribal Council as its Executive Director in 1992. In her early days of contact with local tribes she asked Native American elders what the most important need was for California tribes. Many had the same response, “Find a safe place where we can have ceremony and gather to share our indigenous culture.” Charlie imagined such an undertaking would take at least ten years. It’s been closer to forty.

Twenty acres for the Suskol House Land Project was purchased in Chiles-Pope Valley in 1998. Napa Valley is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in North America. The building is entirely off-grid, with its own water supply and low impact development plan. It’s taken a million dollars to get to this point. The interior construction of main building is all that remains for completion. “We still need to raise about $250,000,” said Charlie. Please donate to the effort by visiting suscolcouncil.org. “This allows us to continue the preservation of Native American Culture for future generations.” The Suskol House has become a permanent land base for Native people to safely gather. It’s the first such place in centuries. Napa Valley is one site of the euro-invasions and subsequent genocides.

Charlie, originally from New Mexico and a descendant of the Towa tribe, moved to Napa in 1972. One of the first questions she asked when she got here was, “Where are the tribes?”

The answer, often accompanied by a shoulder shrug, was “they moved north.” “’Where North?’ was always my question.”

Charlie continued to ask questions. She finally met Jim Big Bear King, local Native American Crow elder whose family made a voluntary migration from Montana. He started the original Suscol Indian Council in 1972. In 1986, she made her first visit to the Four Corners (the area where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah come together) to visit the Dine’ (Navajo) People. She learned about the history of Native Americans, and how to become an effective advocate. During the following years, she traveled to the remote, marginalized tribes of California with a local Wappo medicine woman. She organized and mentored many young Native leaders, all over California. “I really consider that experience to be where I got my leadership training,” Charlie said.

The four tribes of Napa; the Patwin, Onasatis Wappo, Coast Miwok and Pomo, where largely killed and forced out by Spanish and then English invaders in the 1870s. When the invasions began, the tribes had never experienced such brutal warfare. They were compassionate people who knew nothing of warfare. No treaties were ever made with the tribes in California.

Governor Gavin Newsom became the first U.S. politician to acknowledge this. He made a formal public apology “for the genocides of California. This was funded by the state of California and the US government to kill Indians,” he stated.

What Charlie learned about compassionate leadership had a profound and healing impact on her. “During a circle near the end of our time on the road, I expressed that I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay in ceremony with these people for the rest of my life. Other people in the circle agreed.” The respected Elder just smiled, after a few moments said, “You can’t. You all must go home and help the people in the places you live. That is where you are needed.” Charlie returned to Napa, and within a few years, reorganized the Suscol Intertribal Council.

Over the decades, Charlie has worked and served on multiple State, Regional and local boards advocating for Human Rights for Native people, women and children. During her years of leadership, she’s often heard, “No,” which she sees as the message needing to be modified or directed to different people. She has often been confronted with outright hostility from people who are unsympathetic to Native American history. She never shouts back, just quietly listens.

Charlie is an open, intuitive, deeply spiritual woman. “We’re here for such a short period of time. Why wouldn’t we let the Divine be expressed through us?”

Support the Suskol House land project with a donation to help people build a better future for all by learning from the past.