Camp Pendleton Grounds Site of Acjachemen Natives Conversion

What California Indians lost under Junipero Serra, soon to be saint 
LA Times
Karin Klein
January 16, 2015

Through those records, many of today’s Acjachemen know which villages were their ancestral homes. Some can trace their roots back to Panhe, which means they know where their ancestors stood 9,000 years ago.

An early photo of Mission San Juan Capistrano
one of the missions overseen by Father Junipero Serra
(Los Angeles Times)

Is there a word for the extinction of cultures? Not the people of those cultures, but the cultures themselves?

I ask because one of the notable consequences of the California mission movement founded by and overseen by Father Junipero Serra was the loss of various Native American cultures, to the point where many Indian groups cannot now get tribal recognition.

It seems odd that Pope Francis, known for his cultural sensitivity and appreciation for diversity, has chosen to confer sainthood on Serra, who played such a big role in obliterating indigenous culture in coastal California.

Several years ago, I was honored with an invitation to attend a traditional Acjachemen ceremony in San Onofre State Beach, just south of the Orange County border.

The members were celebrating the fact that the Coastal Commission had put a halt to a massive toll-road project that would have encroached on the site of the ancient Acjachemen village of Panhe, which their ancestors had inhabited continuously for 9,000 years, until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish. In fact, it was at Panhe that the first christening took place in California; the actual spot is on Camp Pendleton.
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Vietnam Vet appears in PBS series We Shall Remain

Vietnam vet from Columbiaville plays Tecumseh's grandfather in PBS series
by Brenda Brissette Mata | The Flint Journal
Monday April 20, 2009, 9:40 AM

Wayne Jackson of Columbiaville speaks softly as he describes the shooting of the PBS history series "We Shall Remain" last year in Indiana.

The 68-year old Vietnam veteran and cancer survivor portrays the grandfather of legendary American Indian Tecumseh in "Tecumseh's Vision," 9 p.m. Monday on PBS, the second in the five-part PBS series that uses historians and American Indian experts and actors to portray American history from the American Indian perspective.

The first three episodes of the "We Shall Remain" series are shot as dramatic recreations and directed by Ric Burns, brother of PBS documentarian Ken Burns and American Indian director, Chris Eyre.

"Tecumseh's Vision" focuses on the famous Shawnee leader and his brother, Lalawethika (also known as Tenskwatawa or The Prophet), who in the early 1800s attempted to unite independent tribes into a single powerful Indian state.
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Vietnam vet from Columbiaville plays Tecumseh's grandfather in PBS series

Blizzard at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation leaves Wanblee suffering

Spread this around so that the government will get their act in gear and take care of our fellow Americans who are suffering! Five days! This is not acceptable!

Blizzard hits Wanblee residents hard
By Scott Aust and Barbara Soderlin, Journal staff
Monday, November 10, 2008
Spending five days without electricity or running water has been an ordeal for people in Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Up to 200 people have been spending the night at the Crazy Horse school, at first without blankets or beds, cooking the school's food, diapering babies with old clothes, and trying to stay warm through power from a generator.

The makeshift shelter is being run by Pastor Gus Craven, who has also been helping residents make runs between their homes and the shelter, and who went to Kadoka Friday night on newly opened roads to get cots and blankets from that community's Red Cross.

He said he isn't sure when Wanblee will get power. On his trip to Kadoka he saw perhaps 20 downed power lines.

Most Wanblee residents don't have the gas or money to make the 56-mile round trip to Kadoka themselves, he said.

And some are afraid to leave, since there have been reports of people looting empty homes, he said. Craven said several families have dropped their elders and children off at the shelter and returned to their cold, dark homes to protect them from thieves.

Some relief came Saturday for the people at the shelter when the Black Hills chapter of the Red Cross sent blankets, water and toiletries. The state emergency management department planned to send food and diapers Saturday, said Russ Korzeniewski with the Red Cross. Craven didn't know Saturday evening if those supplies had arrived. He said the school was not out of food but there was not an excess, either.
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linked from RawStory

PTSD on Trial:Bounty Hunter blames PTSD

Bounty hunter says stress disorder, memory loss hinder testimony in 2004 shootings on Soboba reservation
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, August 21, 2008

By TAMMY J. McCOY
The Press-Enterprise

A bounty hunter Thursday told defense lawyers he has post-traumatic stress disorder and memory problems when questioned about discrepancies in his testimony and statements to police in 2004 after more than 20 shots were fired on the Soboba Indian Reservation.

Matthew Hernandez said he suffers from the disorder as a result of his wartime service in the Army. He said he has problems with short-term memory when asked what he saw and heard before gunfire erupted at a mobile home Aug. 25, 2004.

Hernandez is one of the fugitive-recovery agents, commonly called bounty hunters, who went to arrest defendant Dino A. Moreno after the Coachella resident failed to show up for court in a felony evading case.

Moreno, 42, and his 29-year-old girlfriend, Shaundeen Theresa Boniface, are on trial at the Southwest Justice Center. Both are convicted felons who face life in prison if convicted of charges that include attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic weapon.

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http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_trial22.4a46145.html

Felons shot 21 times at bounty hunters in 2004 incident on Soboba reservation, jurors told
By TAMMY J. McCOY
The Press-Enterprise
Two convicted felons fired 21 shots at four bounty hunters who went to a mobile home on the Soboba Indian Reservation in 2004 to arrest a man already charged with evading arrest, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.
The lead bounty hunter kicked down the home's door Aug. 25, 2004, in an attempt to arrest Dino Allen Moreno, now 42, unaware that there was a small arsenal inside the home.
The bounty hunters took cover when Moreno and his girlfriend opened fire with semiautomatic weapons and Moreno was able to get away, prosecutor Chris Bouffard told jurors during opening statements in the trial of Moreno and Shaundeen Theresa Boniface.
"He was more than prepared ... Mr. Moreno was telling people he wasn't going back to jail this time around," Bouffard said.
Moreno had failed to show up for court in connection with a 2003 case for evading arrest, according to Riverside County court records.
Boniface, 29, was arrested at the mobile home while Moreno, a Coachella resident, was arrested two months later. Both are on trial at the Southwest Justice Center, facing life in prison if convicted of charges including attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic weapon, Bouffard said outside of court.
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http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_bounty19.4a8103e.html

Comanche Nation puts Fort Sill expansion on hold

Court stops Sill expansion disputed by tribe

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 21, 2008 13:02:04 EDT

LAWTON, Okla. — A federal court order has stopped work on an expansion project at Fort Sill that the Comanche Nation claims would be built on sacred ground.

U.S. District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti granted the temporary restraining order Monday that stops construction of a warehouse intended to be the new home of the post’s Training Service Center.

Col. Robert Bridgford, the Fort Sill garrison commander, held a news conference Aug. 14 claiming that the warehouse was about one-third of a mile from the Medicine Bluff National Historic Feature and that discussions with the tribe were ongoing.

The Comanche Nation filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma City federal court the next day to stop the warehouse construction, which is part of an expansion ordered by the Army’s Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 2005. The BRAC changes could add as many as 10,000 active-duty personnel, students and family members at the post.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_sill_injunction_082108/

McCain needs a Native American sweat lodge

Native American Veterans Support John McCain for President but Not His Party
Mike Graham
March 17, 2008
Native American veterans will join with active duty servicemen and women in addition to other veterans groups around the country to elect John McCain as our next president. Native American veterans have no cause to support Republican Party candidates running for state and federal office due to the parties' anti-native platform on issues and bills concerning the Native American community.

John McCain, during his time in the U.S. Senate has been at the forefront of making the American dream possible for millions of Native Americans. McCain serves on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and has made it his policy to stand up to fellow republicans wanting to slash funding of Native Americans programs. As president, John McCain would be the eight hundred-pound political gorilla against anti Native American groups.

During President Bush's two terms in office he has fully supported republican representatives in blocking bills that would bring about much needed change in the Native American communities. This action is proven with Bush's statement that he would veto a bill that would reinstate the Native Hawaiian government that was illegally over thrown by the U.S. Government.

For years republican representatives have used their committees like the Republican Steering Committee to hold-up funding on bills covering wide spread health, education and poverty issues within the American Indian and Native Hawaiian communities. Oklahoma's two senate republican representatives Tom Coburn and James Inhofe are at the top of the list of non-support of Native American issues. Oklahoma is in dire need of two new senators that will represent all of their constituents.

The American people should be aware of a national anti Native American group based in Oklahoma going by the name of "One Nation United." This group is supported and financed by many corporate companies around our country. One Nation United offers campaign support to state and federal candidates they feel will support their views against Native Americans.
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9601

This just made me cringe. One of the facts that I was not aware of in Chaplain training with IFOC was that 100% of people who have been tortured have PTSD. Considering McCain was held and tortured by the VC in Vietnam, that one is a given. The Native American's know full well the price paid by the spirit and have held cleansing ceremonies, put troubled spirits into sweat lodges to cleanse them for centuries. If anyone in this nation should understand what PTSD is, it is them.

Given the fact McCain has been called "Senator Hothead" along with reports of his outbursts, the last thing this nation needs is someone more stubborn and arrogant than Bush. McCain had many chances to stand up and fight for the wounded, fight for the troops and take a stand against torture, but he has not. I will never forget the YouTube video of McCain being asked about PTSD from a Vietnam veteran suffering from it and he was annoyed by the question so much so that he turned away from the veteran and made a speech instead of listening to the veteran. How the Native Americans can support McCain is really baffling.

My issues with McCain is that he did not stand up for veterans as a senator and one of them but wants to run as a combat veteran instead of addressing his poor record on veteran's issues. Knowing the problems PTSD can cause, none of them should prevent him from being a public servant but all of them should prevent him from being in charge of the nation. Being a veteran does not entitle him to a free ride when it comes to his record on veterans issues. He needs to be held accountable just like everyone else. Had he not been a veteran, I doubt he would be where he is today. People would be looking at his record more than remembering he was a POW.

Student chaplains guide and listen to vets in rehab

Circle of healing, learning

Student chaplains guide and listen to vets in rehab

By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News



As the stone is passed from hand to hand, there is a peace that permeates what has become something of a sacred space for those who have found themselves here, moving beyond the daily fix, the fidgeting and the shame that always appears once the "high" has worn off.

Adapted from American Indian spiritual practices, the "rock ceremony" signifies the quest for a permanent change in the lives and hearts of those who have been trapped inside drug and alcohol addiction, with an emphasis on truth-telling. It is one benchmark along the path toward a new beginning for those participating in residential substance abuse treatment.

Yet this day, at the Veterans Administration Hospital, there are participants who haven't been addicted, haven't been to war, haven't felt the despair that engulfs those who have entered the depths of hell on earth.

But they've observed it.
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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJAN08/nf012008-5.htm