Making Amends with the Tongva Tribe

 

                                                        Making Amends with the Tongva Tribe

“The History Department of USC acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Tongva people and their neighbors: (from North to South) the Chumash, Tataviam, Kitanemuk, Serrano, Cahuilla, Payomkawichum, Acjachemen, Ipai-Tipai, Kumeyaay, and Quechan peoples, whose ancestors ruled the region we now call Southern California for at least 9,000 years."

 

 

I have learned a lot from the readings that we have done this past week about the Tongva tribe, who lived in what is now Los Angeles to Orange County and on the Catalina and San Clemente islands. They were forcibly moved out of their homes by the mid-1840s and both USC and UCLA now occupy their territories.

 

Are land acknowledgements such as the one quoted above enough to make a difference? How can we repay these natives who were treated so unfairly? I think remuneration and a tax break are in order. If the land is public, it should be returned to the Tongva people. Lastly, I think that these universities should offer scholarships for the descendants of those families.