On July 10, a church signed the deeds transferring a half-acre of land hosting a community center in the heart of San Gabriel \u2014 less than a mile down the road from the Mission San Gabriel Arc\u00e1ngel \u2014 to an Indigenous tribe\u2019s nonprofit.<\/p>\n
On paper, it was a relatively ordinary transaction (except maybe for the $0 price tag); however, for the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians based in Los Angeles and Orange counties, it was anything but: For the first time in centuries, a piece of their ancestral territory belongs to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were books when my daughters were in grammar school and high school that stated we were extinct,\u201d said Art Morales, an elder and historian in the tribe. To Morales, persevering through that long, painful history is what makes the agreement so significant: The tribe is \u201cbasically on the map now.\u201d <\/p>\n
The lot, previously owned by the Presbytery of San Gabriel \u2014 a unit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), one of the largest Presbyterian denominations in the U.S. \u2014 hosts offices, a kitchen and a community space, as well as an outdoor patio and green space.<\/p>\n
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The Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Center at Siban\u2019gna in San Gabriel.<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Now, under the ownership of the tribe, led by the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council, the space will host cultural ceremonies, government meetings, programming for tribal youth and a community food bank.<\/p>\n
Unlike tribes with federal recognition, the hundreds without it have no direct legal means to negotiate with the U.S. government for reservations. Instead, they often set up nonprofit organizations to acquire land through agreements with private organizations or states.<\/p>\n
In California, many tribes have found it difficult to secure federal recognition. They had to survive through three different occupying governments: Spain, Mexico and the U.S.<\/p>\n
The U.S. government negotiated numerous agreements with California tribes that it has repeatedly failed to uphold \u2014 often because the state got in the way. In the late 19th century, a federal effort to send surveyors throughout the state to create reservations for California mission tribes began in San Diego but lost steam by the time it reached Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
The result is that even to this day, tribes without land \u2014 including the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians until this July \u2014 have had to find a venue (often local parks) and get all the proper permissions and permits any time they wanted to hold a public gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is very labor-intensive on our part just so that we can actually engage in our culture,\u201d said Kimberly Johnson, secretary for the tribe. \u201cThis breaks that barrier, and folks know they can go at any time and be together. I think, right now, people need each other more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Chief Anthony Red Blood Morales of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians walks through a former food pantry at Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Center at Siban\u2019gna.<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Long before the lot was a community center, it sat in Siban\u2019gna.<\/p>\n
Siban\u2019gna was a village of the First Peoples in the region. Nestled along the river, it was home to a few hundred individuals. Dome-shaped homes covered in tule, called ki, dotted the landscape. <\/p>\n
In 1771, Spanish priests tasked with establishing church footholds in the region decided to build what would become the San Gabriel Mission near the village. \u201cWhen the padres came through \u2026 they used the words \u2018a land of abundance.\u2019 They use words like \u2018water flowing\u2019 and \u2018food\u2019 and \u2018happiness,\u2019\u201d said Johnson. <\/p>\n
To execute the mission project, they exerted control of the Native communities and forced Indigenous people \u2014 many of whose descendants now refer to themselves as Gabrieleno, a term derived from the mission \u2014 into labor to construct and maintain the mission.<\/p>\n
After the United States took over in the 19th century, it began using a different method of control: Red-lining maps made it impossible for residents in low-rated areas to obtain mortgages and discouraged businesses from investing in the areas where Indigenous people lived. <\/p>\n