Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.kcra.com/article/native-american-tribal-elder-marshall-mckay-dies-covid-19/35135876#
Prominent Native American tribal elder Marshall McKay dies from
KCRA Updated: 7:13 AM PST Jan 6, 2021
Stephanie Lin
Reporter
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Marshall McKay, a Northern California Indigenous leader who dedicated his life to the preservation and promotion of Native American arts and culture, has died at 68 years old. He passed on Dec. 29 at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center from COVID-19.
McKay was born in Colusa near his tribal home within Yolo County’s Capay Valley. He was the first of his tribe to attend college, at Sonoma State University. He spent 15 years repairing and maintaining nuclear submarines for the Department of Defense, ultimately supervising those work crews.
For 31 years, from 1984 to 2015, McKay served as a member of the Yocha Dehe Tribal Council, elected to lead the tribe as its chairman for nearly a decade. He continued to serve on many of the tribe’s governmental bodies, including the Board of Directors for Cache Creek Casino Resort. Marshall’s leadership was instrumental in helping Yocha Dehe achieve economic independence and greatly expand the tribe’s land holdings within Yocha Dehe’s ancestral territory.
The Yocha Dehe Tribal Council issued the following statement:
“We know our pain is shared by so many families facing the devastating effects of this pandemic. We know also the pain of Marshall’s loss is shared by the many who loved him and learned from him. We will miss his strength and wisdom. He was a resolute protector of Native American heritage here, within our own homeland, but also throughout California and Indian Country.”
KCRA 3's Stephanie Lin spoke with Virginia Hedrick of the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health on the significance of McKay's death and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on Indigenous people.
Can you describe the scale of the damage COVID has left on the California Native American community?
Hedrick: The CDC issued two really critical reports, one in December that indicated that American Indians and Alaska Natives were contracting COVID-19 at a rate of 3.5 times that of our non-Hispanic, white counterparts. And dying at rates as high as two times, and for specific age ranges, up to 10 times greater than non-Hispanic, white counterparts. Those are impactful numbers, but really what we are seeing is the loss of our elders, our loss of our tribal leaders ... these are the kinds of losses we have feared since the beginning...
Prominent Native American tribal elder Marshall McKay dies from
KCRA Updated: 7:13 AM PST Jan 6, 2021
Stephanie Lin
Reporter
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Marshall McKay, a Northern California Indigenous leader who dedicated his life to the preservation and promotion of Native American arts and culture, has died at 68 years old. He passed on Dec. 29 at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center from COVID-19.
McKay was born in Colusa near his tribal home within Yolo County’s Capay Valley. He was the first of his tribe to attend college, at Sonoma State University. He spent 15 years repairing and maintaining nuclear submarines for the Department of Defense, ultimately supervising those work crews.
For 31 years, from 1984 to 2015, McKay served as a member of the Yocha Dehe Tribal Council, elected to lead the tribe as its chairman for nearly a decade. He continued to serve on many of the tribe’s governmental bodies, including the Board of Directors for Cache Creek Casino Resort. Marshall’s leadership was instrumental in helping Yocha Dehe achieve economic independence and greatly expand the tribe’s land holdings within Yocha Dehe’s ancestral territory.
The Yocha Dehe Tribal Council issued the following statement:
“We know our pain is shared by so many families facing the devastating effects of this pandemic. We know also the pain of Marshall’s loss is shared by the many who loved him and learned from him. We will miss his strength and wisdom. He was a resolute protector of Native American heritage here, within our own homeland, but also throughout California and Indian Country.”
KCRA 3's Stephanie Lin spoke with Virginia Hedrick of the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health on the significance of McKay's death and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on Indigenous people.
Can you describe the scale of the damage COVID has left on the California Native American community?
Hedrick: The CDC issued two really critical reports, one in December that indicated that American Indians and Alaska Natives were contracting COVID-19 at a rate of 3.5 times that of our non-Hispanic, white counterparts. And dying at rates as high as two times, and for specific age ranges, up to 10 times greater than non-Hispanic, white counterparts. Those are impactful numbers, but really what we are seeing is the loss of our elders, our loss of our tribal leaders ... these are the kinds of losses we have feared since the beginning...