Posted on 03/30/2015 6:02:39 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
The Kumeyaay people (Mission Indians) are still around today. They are very prosperous today and well educated. They have several reservations in San Diego County. They make a lot of money from the casinos and resorts on their reservations and they give a lot of money to charity. They appear to be far better off than the Indians I have seen in Montana. They have a school where they teach their young people the old language and customs. The Spanish missionaries probably treated the California Indians much, much better than their contemporaries in other parts of of North America.
When I was growing up in CA in the 1940s and 1950s, Fr. Serra was taught as a California hero — and this was in public school.
San Juan Bautista was my favorite Mission. I have visited it many times.
Even in 1970s my school teaches that Father Serra was hero I agree
Nowww Leftists I think they want scrub out his contribution of founding California because he was Cathoic priest that was big no no in today PC society
Trust me there was Latinos has fondess for Father Serra
There was no money, because neither the California Indians nor the Franciscans had a money economy: they had a customary exchange-based economy.
The Spanish military wanted the Indians to get into a money economy, because he wanted them to pimp their own sisters, wives and daughters to the soldiers for money and liquor. When Serra opposed this, they agitated to the governor to get the system taken away from the Franciscans.
Eventually the Indians ended up like serfs on the haciendas, and sexual consorts for the soldiers, but this was not Serra's doing. He strove, labored and suffered to obtain the well-being and redemption of the California Indians all his life.
In this tumultuous contact of two civilizations (Spanish and Indian) the Spanish ascendancy was inevitable; but the way they did it was unconscionable. Serra was an opponent of the colonial military power structure and did everything he knew how could to protect the Indians and to safeguard their human dignity.
If we were in the exact same situation, with the same range of options, we would have done nobly indeed to do the exact same thing.
Ping
Excellent information. Thanks for posting!
Thanks.
Lol.
I hate the God-hating leftwing monst e rs -soulless ghouls.
Well balanced article.
Thanks
When he did his love opus to America in 1972 Alistair Cooke openly regretted that NBC made him cut his segment on Fr. Serra because of time considerations. He did include it in his companion volume to the TV series. Serra, he said , was one of the truly great and important figurers in the history of the lands that became America.. But then Cooke also lavished praise on the Puritans and Winthrop which would not be countenanced today.
I used to live, in the late ‘70’s, on Camino Real in Carmel-By-The-Sea. Population then right around 4,000. Great little place then.
Father Junipero Serra died in this mission and is buried under the sanctuary floor
The Mission in Carmel-By-The-Sea
Yea in CA in the 60’s too.. we all learned about father Serra and we even built model Missions ..
think of that making models of a Church as a project in a public Elementary School...
Now they teach about Harvey Milk and make models of San Francisco bath houses in elementary school
lol you poor people. the Spanish were to the American Indian what Hitler and the Nazis were to the Jews. In N. and S. America they killed thousand upon thousands with arms and disease. Only you Catholics would fall for this sham of “history”.
From what I can tell, while Serra was revered, his administration of the missions was not as crucial as is portrayed here. There were a great many fine men who did the best they could under very difficult circumstances. Still, the damage they did to California ecologically was and continues to be enormous. Be sure to check the bibliography at the end of the chapter. I am in the process of adding to it now, but have yet to complete about four more books before I do.
There were big differences between the secular and mission systems in California, particularly insofar as regulating the behavior of the soldiers was concerned. So for you to lump these two administrations together is in this case unfair. For the most part, most of the damage to the tribes that the Franciscans did was due to cluelessness.
As to overt genocide, the Americans who came to California were worse to the Indians than the Spanish ever thought of being.
I’m looking at the bottom line, pretty well know that the Nazis were responsible for the death of 6 million jews. The Spanish , in N. and S. America were responsible for way more than that. I’ve seen estimate of up to 70 million but the number vary but no matter , the end tally is way more that 6 million . They’re motto was kill the indian to save his soul. So I lump.
In over 5,000 pages of research into translated documents from that period I have never seen such a motto. I can't possibly fathom Crespi, Palou, Boscana, Costanso, or Fages for example saying such a thing. Could you please point me to an authoritative source?
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