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Chief Charlie Cooke Receives Prestigious Award  The Society for California Archeology presented its prestigious California Indian Heritage Preservation Award to our Chief Charlie Cooke at their annual meeting banquet on April 19, 2008.Past Native Californian honorees of this award have been recognized for their exceptional contributions made to the preservation of our Native heritage. These exceptional people have given a clear voice to our survival and autonomy, giving a greater understanding of our rich Native American culture and history to mainstream America. Recipients of this award participate on the federal, state and local levels to safeguard the respect of our ancestors and are recognized as bridging the gap between academic and traditional understanding, in a spirit of rekindling our rich Native California heritages. The California Indian Heritage Preservation Award recognizes recipients' great efforts in maintaining traditional ways and knowledge by creating Culture Centers, demonstration sites, presenting workshops, publishing and documenting traditional stories, songs and history, and by educating mainstream archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians. Honorees are awarded for improving the social, economic, and cultural well-being of our Native communities. It is these great efforts and accomplishments that the Society for California Archeology has presented this prestigious award for the past eight years. This year, Charlie Cooke was formally honored for his many contributions to the preservation of our Chumash Culture and Heritage. Charlie's accomplishments span a long-time involvement in Native American issues and activism since the early 1960s. Along with his support and involvement in tribal affairs, he has been council to the Santa Monica Mountains Planning Commission and has served on the Santa Monica Mountains Citizens Advisory Council for the Department of Parks and Recreation. He also participated in the Conejo Future Foundation and the City of Thousand Oaks in the planning for the Satwiwa Culture Center. As a scholar on the local history of the Santa Monica Mountains from a Native perspective, he has been on the forefront of promoting and sharing cultural awareness for close to 40 years. Chief Charlie is the primary visionary and a tireless advocate for our Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center. Charlie Cooke continues to support Chumash concerns and issues and with his on-going efforts, our Chumash history, heritage, songs, oral traditions, and our Mother Earth will re-blossom and live on for generations here at the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center in the Santa Monica Mountains. A-ho, Charlie!  Photo right: Eva Larson and Charlie Cooke.Noted dignitaries at the ceremony included: Stephen Horne (President SCA), Wendy Teeter (UCLA Fowler Museum), Phil Holmes (NPS), Eva Larson (Friends of Satwiwa), Ed Krupp (Griffith Observatory), John Johnson (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History), Ted Garcia Sr., Ted Garcia Jr., Lynn Gamble, and Charlie's wife Linda. |
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