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Reparations insult California’s native Americans

May 13, 2023

OPINION by JAMES R. HENRY

California has not yet acknowledged tribes that have applied for state and federal recognition. So reparations? Hahaha, I doubt it.

Hearst Castle, Camp Roberts and Fort Hunter Liggett all sit on Salinan Tribe land. One hundred years ago, Hearst was allowed to remove Salinan families by whatever means.

Many natives were charged with crimes such as consuming alcohol or consorting with a white woman. They were forced to work on white owned farms and ranches “until their handler felt they had served their punishment.” Often those terms really meant until they died.

California never ratified the treaties with many tribes because white industrialists used their influence to gain control of valuable land. Now those lands are so valuable the state doesn’t even want to touch those issues. It’s even more complicated when federal entities occupy the land.

It gets even better. There are tribes like the Chumash that interface with the government far outside their tribal boundaries. They approve development on sensitive lands and confuse the issue of which tribe existed in a specific area.

To outsiders it’s like, “We already have approval from the Indians, why do we need more?” This allows developers to shop for apathetic approval.

Anyhow, it’s the time of year when kids take field trips to missions. The lies are perpetuated, and another generation grows ignorant.

James R. Henry is a Salinan American Indian and Creston resident who finds it insulting how once again Native Americans are being ignored or at least not being given equal consideration.


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What would it hurt?


-2

Slavery is as old as Mankind. I have family members who were slaves and indentured servants in the Old World. Because I’m not Black, does that mean the sins against my ancestors are any less worthy of consideration? BTW, the only thing I ask in the way of consideration is that history be faithfully preserved and told truthfully as a means of honoring the hardships that all of our ancestors endured. Reparations? To me, reparations represent First Degree Felony Pandering and Virtue Signaling and they a great way to create festering animus and racial division.


27

Nicely put!


6

All good points! But the issue here is California and reparations. I don’t use the word my in my article because it isn’t about me.

In hindsight I think the most important thing here is that the state of California has really failed us for generations and that we don’t teach much about our state in schools. And if you don’t know anything about your state how can you possibly have an opinion on your state.


1

Reparation is political flush, another excuse to avoid reality.


18

My question is what does reparations for the descendants of American slavery have to do with Native Americans and their plight? Both groups can take up their issues with the US without one group, Native Americans, punching down on a bottom caste group, descendants of American slavery. This isn’t an argument you want to pose because this won’t go well for Native Americans being that the 5 civilized tribes spent decades erasing the fact they too owned black slaves in this country and have been distancing themselves from that very history. As a matter of fact black Creeks sued the Muscogee Creek Nation to be recognized as having lineage to that tribe by way of Native American slavery forced upon those black descendants. And let’s not get into the conversation about how Natives treat the black residents on of those Native reservations as well. This was a poorly written fluff piece that lacks data or historical context to justify your stance. You simply wanted to punch down on an already systematically oppressed group.


-20

Irrelevant. We are talking about California specifically after 1850 when we became a state. Nothing else matters in this discussion.


4

These issues will become moot when we all learn to love one another as if we are all part of the same Worldwide Family. We need to pursue unity among all people. We need to love each other, including those who seem different from us.


-4

Newsom has ignored the Shasta Indian Nations quest for recognition for years now. Siskiyou County is their aboriginal lands since time immemorial. It’s on all historic maps, yet he chooses to recognize tribes that have taken the Shasta Treaty. Now he wants to destroy the Klamath Dams where the Shasta Burial grounds aboriginal villages are under water. That will open the area for souvenir seekers and destroy any hope of recognition. And he’s using CA tax dollars to do it!


6

Wow I’m impressed, some good points made thanks to James.

We can’t undo the sins of our ancestors, but we can acknowledge them and move forward.

We cannot force the standards and laws of today on the past and correct them by paying off descendants. Should we punish the descendants of the slave owners, Government officials, law enforcement, soldiers who fought and died for the south, and citizens who did not try to stop these acts. That would be insane.

We must move forward and quit whipping ourselves for the actions of our historic governments and clean up what’s going on today.


29

The whole reparations conversation shows how dumb Newsom is. He only started the reparations panel to appease a certain voting block. He thought they would not actually submit the bill until after he became President. Now he just wants a way to postpone the issue until after he becomes President.


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