Stand in Solidarity and Support of the Tongva, Juaneno, & Luiseno Tribal Nations

Stand in Solidarity and Support of the Tongva, Juaneno, & Luiseno Tribal Nations



Your help is needed to stop the development of a building that will desecrate burial grounds-



It only takes 5 minutes to copy & paste and click on send

Why? Because the needs of First Nations People in California have to start coming FIRST

Before development and before greed-

Do the right thing today and stand in solidarity and support of the

Tongva, Juaneno, and Luiseno Tribal Nations.



AIM So California-



From Angela Mooney Darcy

http://www.facebook.com/angelamooneydarcy



This is regarding the construction of the Mexican American Cultural Center at the La Plaza Cemetery in downtown Los Angeles . During the course of project construction, over 100 human remains have been uncovered. One third to one half of the Ancestors are from local Tribes, including the Tongva, Juaneno, and Luiseno Tribal Nations.



Several news stories went out about the issue in late January and Early February.

A copy of the sample letter is available for download here. http://sctei.org/La%20Plaza/La%20Plaza%20y%20Campo%20Santo.html





Sample Letter to L.A. County Board of Supervisors Regarding La Plaza and Native American Burials
____________________________________________________
March 9, 2011

Michael D. Antonovich Mark Ridley-Thomas
Chair, County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Supervisor, Second District
Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
500 West Temple Street, Room 869 866 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
Los Angeles, CA 90012 500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Gloria Molina Zev Yaroslavsky
Supervisor, First District Supervisor, Third District
County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
856 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 821 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street 500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Don Knabe
Supervisor, Fourth District
County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
822 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: Respectful Treatment of Human Remains and County Tribal Consultation Requirements Regarding the Repatriation and Cultural Resource Management Plans at La Plaza de Cultura y Arts

Dear Supervisors Antonovich, Molina, Ridley-Thomas, Yaroslavsky, and Knabe:

I am writing to urge the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to honor its obligation to consult with impacted Tribal Nations on a respectful government-to-government basis regarding the unearthing of over 100 sets of human remains at the La Plaza project site in downtown Los Angeles.

The County should also consult with all descendants of the individuals previously laid to rest at La Plaza and now disturbed by construction of the La Plaza de Cultura y Arts.

Tribal Sovereignty and County Legal Tribal Consultation Obligations

The La Plaza site is within the ancestral territorial boundaries of the Tongva people. The La Plaza cemetery is known to contain Native American burials from the Tongva/Gabrielino, Luiseno, and Juaneno Tribes and Indigenous communities of Baja , California . These Tribes have called the coastlands, valleys, and mountains in southern California home for over 10,000 years.

Estimates place the total number of Native American burials at La Plaza at anywhere from one-third to one-half of all the burials at the cemetery. Despite this documentation, to date the County has not engaged in respectful government-to-government consultation with any California Tribes to discuss and assess the potential negative impacts of previous, ongoing, and proposed activities on the remains of their Ancestors, and of the religious rights of burial descendants and the citizens of impacted Tribes.

As the California Native American Heritage Commission and others have previously stated, when Native American graves are present, certain federal and state consultation laws apply. Because the La Plaza project is the recipient of federal funding, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act applies and federal tribal consultation obligations and National Register eligibility review processes are triggered by the project.


Recommendations

1. The Ancestors and their belongings should be reinterred to the land from where they were removed.


2. Impacted Tribal Nations should have the right to determine how and when the Ancestors are reinterred.


3. Impacted Tribal Nations should have access to the remains at the project site and museum.


4. The County should immediately initiate respectful, government-to-government consultation with all impacted Tribal Nations.


5. A cemetery is not an art project. The long-term cultural resource management, conservation, and interpretation plan for the Ancestors at La Plaza is not something that should be developed by an arts institution. Impacted Tribes and the County should work together to develop repatriation and cultural resource management plans.


6. Tribal Nations should have right of prior approval over any reference to their Nation, Ancestors, culture, or religion, that is created as part of any interpretive and/or public education materials produced at by, or displayed on La Plaza de Cultura y Art property.


7. The County should make a list of all the names of the people buried at La Plaza available to the public and establish a monument to those Ancestors, in consultation with the descendants of the people buried at the cemetery, to be permanently displayed on the grounds of the La Plaza de Cultura y Arts.


8. Tribal Nations with Ancestors at cemetery should be clearly acknowledged in all educational and interpretive materials produced by and about La Plaza.


9. Any additional ground disturbing activities must have a Native American Monitor present and an open door policy for representatives from all impacted Tribal Nations to access information, the project site, and space where Ancestors are presently located.


10. The County should hold a public comment process for the cemetery so that all descendants of individuals buried at La Plaza have an opportunity to advise the County on the best method for respectful treatment of their Ancestors.

Sincerely,

NAME, ORGANIZATION, TRIBAL AFFILIATION

wopila tanka (many thanks)

Corine Fairbanks
American Indian Movement Santa Barbara, CA
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