The following comes from an August Amah Matsun article by Cathy Castillo:
A proposal by the California Mission Foundation to have the state’s famed El Camino Real route declared a UNESCO Heritage Site is being bitterly opposed by state Indians who said it would only “honor and glorify the brutal conquest” of Indian lands.
“Our tribe and many other California Tribes impacted by the California Mission system oppose this effort,” said Valentine Lopez, chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Costanoan/Ohlone Indians. El Camino Real originally linked California’s 21 Franciscan missions, that were a day’s horseback ride apart.
He was joined in his opposition by Antonio Gonzales, the regional representative for the American Indian Movement, who stressed that in too many cases the foundation has undermined the credibility of ownership of the “original peoples of those lands and trails.” The foundation also supported sainthood for Serra without considering the brutality that he imposed on California Indians.
Also joining the protest was Elias Castillo, author of A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions. “Unless the truth is clearly explained,” Lopez stressed, “El Camino Real should not become a World Heritage Site. Too many Indians died from the inhumanity of Serra and the Franciscans.”
Well, my pagan ancestors in Europe practiced polygamy until they were Christianized, at least for the most part. I bet a lot of American Indian tribal women were glad polygamy was outlawed by Fr. Serra, too. As for me, I will honor Fr. Serra and the El Camino Real and the Lord Jesus Christ. As for anyone else, that is up to them.
Those Indians should take a flying leap.
Regardless of any feelings towards the Indians, I certainly don’t want anything to do with the United Nations.
We are agreed on that. I meant I would honor it in my own way.
It’s well established, by the journals of the early explorers themselves, that El Camino Real wasn’t a “new” road, but that the Spanish followed existing native trails. That would of course be recognized in any interpretive materials or signage that would accompany this project. Let’s present the history as objectively as possible, the positive and the negative, rather than try to bury our history because some object to how it turned out. It is what it is – take the good from it and learn from what went wrong. It’s my personal hope that eventually El Camino Real in parts of both Baja California and the State of California could evolve into a pilgrimage route(s), our own take on the great pilgrimage walks of Europe.
I dislike using the term “Indians” simply because Columbus didn’t understand that India was a continent and a huge ocean away from where he landed, but we seem stuck with it.
To romanticize those who were here before Europeans is as wrong as to denigrate them – as they were no better nor worse than the rest of Humanity, which is a mixed bag at best.
Warrior Cultures that enslaved others were here before Columbus, and the blame game only avoids discussion of the Civilizing effect of the Missions – as the land could not remain untouched by the rest of the expanding nations forever.
Michael Mc Dermott, both of my sons-in-law have Native American tribal blood — some from the United States and some from Mexico, so do my husband and all my grandchildren. After taking a DNA test, I have traces of it too, though not very much.
I use the term Native American Indian because one of my sons-in-law said to me one time, “They gave us the name Indian, and now they are trying to take it away.” He seemed disappointed. I use the term East Indian for those here from India or who are of East Indian descent. It is confusing thanks to Columbus who was confused at the time, too. Ha! Ha! My ancestors fought against the Natives and fought with them against the British.
The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a criminal and subversive organization. They got their start in the late 60s, fittingly, with a federal grant, modeling themselves on their idol the Black Panthers, another band of murderous thugs.