CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By JOE MOZINGO, MATT HAMILTON AND JEFF GOTTLIEB
He wandered beyond the edge of Christendom into a rugged land of “infidels” he sought to convert.
When Father Junipero Serra and his cavalcade arrived at la bahia de San Diego in 1769, between 225,000 and 310,000 natives inhabited the territory that would become the state of California. The string of missions he and his Franciscan order established would become an origin story for the state, a folkloric tale of vineyards and benevolent friars, taught to students from Modoc to San Ysidro.
Reality was much harsher. The Spanish flogged natives who disobeyed, banned their beliefs and customs, captured those who tried to escape. In the end, they converted less than a quarter of the population, while their livestock and disease destroyed native food supplies and decimated villages. …
Some say there is nothing wrong with highlighting the dark side of Serra’s legacy.
“During the Spanish colonial and the Mexican period we lost 90% of the Indians in California,” said Ron Andrade, director of Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission. “Serra was no saint to us.”
Others such as Ruben Mendoza, coordinator of California mission archaeology at Cal State Monterey Bay, say the canonization is long overdue.
“I’ve always felt the canonization process was stymied through misinformation and politicization, and laying blame and onus on one individual who was actually in constant conflict with governors and military commanders in New Spain over how they were treating Indians,” Mendoza said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.