Today is the 64th anniversary of a dark day in American history. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the Secretary of War the authority to declare any area of the United States a military area "from which any or all persons may be excluded"and authorizing the internment of what were called in sterile bureaucratic language, people of "Foreign Enemy Ancestry". In practice, this new power, combined with the racist tinged war fervor stirred up b
Forget that the Juaneno Indians helped build Mission San Juan Capistrano, or that they had a very real and very different name (the Acjachemem) before the Spanish renamed them after the Mission, or that they've been around for 9,000 years. The federal government just ain't buyin' it.
The blow came today, when the The Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected two separate applications for federal tribal recognition by members of the Juanenos, which were once scattered all over Orange County.
Recognit
This story details how the Gabrielino-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, among others, lost a round to prevent what they consider shoddy treatment of their ancestors' remains amid home building on the Bolsa Chica mesa. As Anthony Morales (pictured), the Gabrielino-Tongva group's most likely descendant, put it, "This action is an attack on our culture and considered a hate crime." But Morales can chalk up a win in a separate battle seeking quiet dignity for his ancestors' remains. With s
When the California Coastal Commission meets in Huntington Beach on Thursday, panelists will be staring into at least one familiar face: that of Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrielino-Tongva Band of Mission Indians (pictured).
While the commission deals with coastal development issues up and down the state, their monthly meetings bounce around from city to city so they can be closer to all the people whose interests they allegedly represent. Following them from town to town
As reported here, the tribal council of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation does not believe Chief David Belardes, who leads a rival tribal faction across town in San Juan Capistrano, is a Juaneño nor does chairman Anthony Rivera's group recognize other factions. So, naturally, the council also does not consider Belardes a chief.
It's an issue that hits home--literally--for the council's secretary-treasurer, Christopher Lobo, whose grandfather, Clare
When I wrote about Chief David Belardes and his beef with Mission San Juan Capistrano, some members of the tribal council that considers themselves the legitimate Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation, were upset. That disappointment was spun into a story where Juaneño Chairman Anthony Rivera laid out a case for cross-town group leader Belardes not being a Juaneño, as he claims (and a separate blog post where Chris Lobo, late Chief Clarence Lobo's grandson, laid out a case for Be
