Native Americans Deserve More Respect

Re “New Church-Indian Divide,” Nov. 27:

On behalf of our Tribal Council, representing many members of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, the Acjachemen Nation, we wish to thank you for your insightful editorial on our efforts to preserve the remaining 29 acres of the Putiidhem sacred site.

The site is at the intersection of Camino Capistrano and Junipero Serra in San Juan Capistrano. The Putiidhem site is the location proposed by a developer, the Pueblo Serra LLC/JSerra Initiative, to build a Catholic high school, ironically to be named after Junipero Serra. As you point out, state law has to date talked much but done little to protect the rights of the Native Americans, rights that are easily cognizable but also easily and often conveniently overlooked in the march for development and profit.

We need more people to recognize the contributions made by Native Americans and their tribal governments and the respect that should be given to the original people of California. We also need more people to recognize that tribal sovereignty is not all about gaming, but about the protection of fundamental human rights and dignity. Your editorial is an important step in that direction.

Ironically, the Catholic Church early on was confronted with a similar dilemma of disturbing the dead buried on the hills rising from the river Tiber in Rome at the present site of St. Peter’s Basilica. At that time, only the emperor could permit the basilica to be built upon Peter’s tomb. To this day, Catholics are taught that the “bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection.”

Despite this, the Pueblo Serra LLC/JSerra Initiative continues to push to build a gymnasium, performing arts center and playgrounds on the Native American burial ground, even as there are other viable locations in south Orange County that do not require the dead to be disturbed. The dead at the Acjachemen Putiidhem village site should be left at rest and undisturbed.

Basic common sense dictates that cemeteries are not playgrounds.

Damien Shilo

Tribal chairman

San Juan Capistrano