Conscious Tourism: Napa - Something to Wine About

Located about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, Napa Valley is known for some of the best wineries in the world. With an abundance of top shelf wine and beautiful landscapes, at first glance Napa appears to be a picture of romantic paradise painted with grape juice and herbed olive oil. Internationally, it's name is well known. However it's only locally known that it’s named after the Napa River, which actually runs the length of the valley. And an even smaller number of people know that the river was named after the indigenous people who originally lived there. This is the part of the story where we do a little history lesson to make it all make sense.

Before Napa Valley was known for its wine it was known for its agriculture and natural resources. Over 500,000 indigenous Americans called this place Talahalusi. For well over 10,000 years it was their home uninterrupted. A man by the name of Jim Big Bear King, a indigenous american engineer and activist describes this place as"...a cultivated paradise where one only had to reach out their hand to eat. A place rich in beauty, water and food…”. These hunter-gatherers established large villages with pole houses, used clamshell beads and magnesite cylinders for money and jewelry. They even had obsidian shafts, spears and arrowheads for hunting. It’s crazy that our history books describe these people as savages. Especially since it’s clear that the way Indigenous Americans dressed, ate, and lived was based on where they stayed. They knew they couldn’t harm the environment without harming themselves. They loved the land and knew the land loved them back, which makes the crimes against them even harder to stomach.

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) started when an employed carpenter by the name of James W. Marshall found gold while digging to build a mill in Coloma, California. This news brought over 300,000 invaders to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.They wanted gold and could care less about the people who lived there and even less about the environment. Very rarely do we talk about the environmental destruction done during this time. They carelessly carried out hydraulic mining operations in California,destroying forested landscapes, altering the course of rivers, clogging river beds and lakes, all the while releasing enormous amounts of mercury onto the landscape. There is still high levels of mercury embedded in the water and fish in the area to this very day. And if abusing mother nature wasn’t enough they simultaneously waged war on indigenous americans, offering five cent per native american head and twenty cent per scalp. Over the course of two years 80% of indigenous americans in the region would be murdered and over 1 million US dollars were paid out by the US government to their murders. And the present apple don’t fall too far from the past colonial tree.

When most people read KKK they think about your typical down south working class white person. Well they made it all the way to the west coast. Napa’s history is riddled with KKK business. During the roaring twenties a KKK chapter in napa valley began growing, but these were not your stereotypical klansmen and women. They were people of power like politicians, doctors, bank owners, and government officials. The first Klan sponsored funeral on the books for Napa was in 1924. These klansmen and women were different from what one might think of when you read KKK. But it’s a version that should be recognized and acknowledged. On the east coast, and especially down south, racism is bold and in your face. It’s out and in the open. It explicitly marks its territory by smothering it with confederate flags. It is loud and proud. Southern racism is the nationally known poster child for white supremacy and that's on purpose. It is the perfect distraction to accompany the more effective west coast racism. This type of racism is friendly, well dressed, and well respected. It looks like politicians, doctors, bank clerks, and everyday essential entreupeners. It is an invisible empire effectively moving behind closed doors. It is the type of racism that gladly moves in the shadows for more long term effects. And as I look closer to the picture of paradise that is painted about Napa I begin to see the sweat of immigrant workers on those glistening grapes and the mix of native blood and mercury in that herbed olive oil.

When I went to Napa I partook in the abundance of top shelf wine and beautiful landscapes. While the drunken laughs and charcuterie boards are nice there is a reason I knew why I didn’t see many businesses that aren’t owned by white people.

It’s the same reason a documented close date for the Napa KKK chapter has never been recorded. It’s a reason I felt uncomfortable as the sun went down. And there is definitely a reason I let my money do the talking for me while I was there. A locally famous piece of artwork called Alan Shepp's mosaic fountain is located at the Historic Napa Mill downtown shopping development for all to see. This beautiful formation of colored glass is said to describe Napa Valley's role in the settlement of the West. To lightly describe it, you will see a railroad and train. You will see fields of vines and workers with no faces. To the right of the mural you see an enlarged dark skinned male worker working the fields and if you look closely right above his head you will see KKK members amoungst a burning cross, well hidden in the shadows, not meant to be noticed, but there to be acknowledged. That's the type of unspoken racism the west coast is known for., and the type of gaslighting racism Napa has perfected. The kind you never hear about. The kind that is not meant to be noticed, but there to be felt…and that's for sure something to wine about.about.