Miwok Elections: Selected Suggestions for Tribal Leaders Real Talk You Miwoks and some of you reading know the story of us natives in California. Some 300,000 of us natives lived here in what is known as California prior to the gold rush (LOC, n.d.). After the gold rush there were only 30,000 natives remaining (AE, n.d.), I’ve heard other estimates of only 13,000 to 15,000 people. Perhaps you are wondering why so many of us all died? You likely know already, however in this moment let’s not dwell on this thought. We persist and now, we prosper in wealth, as for culture that’s another matter. In the present tense and without crying about our tremendous loss of the past, some 700 of us in this small Miwok tribe are thriving. I suggest we should look forward. Yes, forward despite the money guilt (perhaps you too) I have about being alive and receiving money based on the elders who have endured and those many who have passed on. One of whom signed the paperwork establishing our Ran