Santa Barbara, Annex This Land!

With all due respect to your culture, Mr. Pommier, but what duty does the City or the County of Santa Barbara, or any government agency for that matter, to purchase land for the sake of preserving your history?

What's makes this "idea" even less palatable, even laughable, is this: if the Chumash are interested in preserving their own culture, rather than furthering their business interests, perhaps the land grab in Santa Ynez from Fess Parker's Estate would not have occurred.

No one owes you restitution, Mr. Pommier, least of all government purchased property, with taxes your people don't pay, for your exclusive use.

Dude:

Some harsh words there... that are also misguided.

Before this becomes a huge "The Chumash are all getting rich and destroying the Santa Ynez Valley" extravaganza, please note:

The Barbareno Chumash Council and its members are *not* the same as the Santa Ynez Chumash that own and operate a casino.

The Santa Ynez Chumash tribe is 155 people. Chumash in California number around 2,000.

They don't all have the same ideas, beliefs etc. This article represents one person's opinion speaking on behalf of one Chumash group.

Your first point on the government's role in preserving our (read as "all Americans") history is silly. It implies you are opposed to national parks, historical registry, zoning ordinances, the Smithsonian, the National Academy, etc.

I just wanted to thank Paul Pommier for writing this article and for doing so much to protect our land and heritage. It takes a lot of dedication and bravery to unearth and expose the "cans of worms" that he speaks of. It is clearly more comfortable for most people to leave those "worms" denied and buried. I feel that, at the very least, the current governments (local, state, and federal) owe us protections of our remaining sacred sites. The fact that "Dude" is so offended about the idea of restitution and the government's responsibility to aid in the preservation of our history, just shows how much our history has been erased and suppressed. Thank you to cj138 for reminding us of the government's role in preserving the history of all American people (including America's First People). I want to re-emphasize the fact that the majority of Chumash people are not members of the Santa Ynez Band. I also want to point out that while people seem to enjoy criticizing them, the Santa Ynez Band does quite a lot to preserve Chumash culture. There are at least six different Chumash tribal governments in addition to the many unaffiliated Chumash individuals. In fact, according to the year 2000 US census, there are over 7,000 of us in the country and, by the way, we do pay taxes.

What I am offended by is the suggestion that the government play a role in facilitating sole and exclusive access of any band of Chumash to, what would amount to, public land. While you allude to national parks, historical monuments, etc, cj, these resources are available for all to enjoy. They are not restricted to those who number in the thousands.

I also believe it to be a cop-out that, while various tribes of Chumash do exist, the various tribes feel no need to preserve the cultural heritage of the entire nation. Or does there exist that much segregation that those not fortunate enough to have a casino are out of luck, so to speak?

It is not the duty of every citizen to have set foot, owned property, or made a home in santa barbara county to pay for the transgressions of the past. To charge every person who lives in santa barbara county with the responsibility of funding this proposition is ridiculous, as it would visit a burden on those who aren't even remotely responsible. The past can be preserved without punishing those of the present.

This, on it's face, is a thinly veiled social commentary at best, and a poorly conceived idea of preserving history at worst.

Nowhere in his article does Mr. Pommier request "exclusive access", Dude. Put your hate aside long enough to pick up a dictionary. "Unfettered" means free and unrestricted, not "sole and exclusive". Crawl back under your rock please.

Dude, where is your information? Why do you believe that
"the various tribes feel no need to preserve the cultural heritage of the entire nation." You seem to have a very strange view of us that is not based in reality. We have many tribal members who are veterans, historians, educators, medical professionals, lawyers, mediators, social workers, elected officials, local artists, clergy people, etc. who all serve the public in general, not just the tribe. Many of us do volunteer work in the community and are advocates of preserving and celebrating the cultural heritage of the entire community, not just ourselves.

Dude:

You're offended and pissed off. I get it.

Your latest response makes a lot of assumptions that are false.

Exlusive access for the Chumash? - Not mentioned by Mr. Pommier and legally impossible if it became public land.

Chumash not preserving their own history? - The point of these various Chumash is historical preservation. And before you get on your high horse about them asking for public funds to help them do that, consider how many historical societies depend opn public support (daughters of the golden west to civil war reneactment societies).

Pay for past transgressions? Put your white guilt aside for a minute and just consider my original point about historical preservation and the role of government. Its not about that - its about whether this property is important enough historically or culturally for a government entity to help acquire it. I don't know the answer by the way. I am not Chumash and I am not familiar with the Naples property in that context - but I do recognize that this is what the discussion should be about.

One other thing...
This idea that all Chumash should band together (pun intended) for a common purpose to prove the worth of Naples. Is unanimity a limus test for historical preservation? If so, we might as well start bulldozing now.

This land needs to be preserved plain and simple. If not out of respect for the Chumash then definitely for the sole purpose of keeping our beautiful coastline untouched and out of the hands of nonlocal developers!!
Let's embrace what natural beauty we have left and do what is necessary to maintain it and keep it that way.

Save Naples!!!

Let's make this real simple. Why doesn't the City and County run out to the fields and pick the money from the money tree to buy the land. I hear it's growing nicely in fairytale land next door to the gingerbread house.

News Flash to all the clueless....Govt is BROKE.

No offense to the Chumash. I much respect them. But go to your neighboring tribe in Santa Ynez for the money. At least they have some.

I very much respect and appreciate Mr. Pommier's sentiment. However it is not realistic to imagine that the city of Santa Barbara would or could "annex" Naples. At any event it would have to be Goleta which is the next contiguous city. The solution is to continue to support those groups currently fighting the massive and inappropriate development at Naples and then help in the fund raising effort to eventually buy most or all of the property and or most or all of the development rights.

Dude-
Let's say a good friend of your family was murdered 40 years ago and had his property stolen, with the case unsolved and ignored, paperwork filed away. Now, some new evidence comes to light. Wouldn't you or other family members want justice to be pursued, and some restitution?

2 centuries or so ago, many brutal murders were committed against the Chumash. Also, land was stolen. Mr. Pommier has done some research to bring the details to light. Clearly, justice was not done.
Maybe his requests have to be viewed in some of that light.

Funny how Montecito_Rat, whose comment is full of hate, accuses someone else of hate. And cj138 writes "Pay for past transgressions? Put your white guilt aside for a minute" when it was Mr. Pommier who referred to restitution; cj138 would better address that comment to MacMahler above.

Great injustices were done -- to people now dead, by people now dead. If you are opposed to injustice, there is plenty going on right now; that's where I prefer to put my energies, not toward spirits and ghosts.

...its interesting to note from the derogatory comments toward the Chumash, ...that the current generation of Santa Barbara residents who speak here on this post, ...care nothing about honor or heritage...
...their soullessness is their legacy as was their likeminded ancestors...

Haku, Mr pommier

I know you have received my newsletter I sent out a few years back. I hope to start printing again. With that said, I would like to include some of your concerns in the next printing.

I also want to offer my support in further protection of the sites in that area. I have been very successful in recent major development projects and the prevention of development on village sites. The past three years have been very long hours and hard work.

This Naples land is only one piece of the puzzle in this area, several projects are currently in progress, the Makarr property, Arco pipeline removal and many others. I am working on all of them and if we could combine our forces it would be advantageous to all Chumash.

Most of what is said on this posting is filled with peoples comments on things they actually do not know anything about. One can only educate those who are willing to listen. As for unfettered access, yes all chumash should be granted this but they can also be granted exclusive access by way of AIRFA. No one ever uses it.
Also the Attorney General just put out a position paper as to the rights of Native Americans and the establishment of a political responsibility to Native Americans as opposed to racial favoritism. The Nutshell is that Native Americans can be given special considerations because of the political responsibility governments are required to adhere to. It is not treated as one group of people given any favoritism because of race. As a federal mandate it is part of local government to work towards theses governmental positions in law. All part of the big silly game. So yes, the local government should purchase the land and hold for the chumash place for preservation. The local regulations and CEQA process allows for this very thing.

The catch is that Goleta needs money so they are not going to be of any help. There is a state grant for American communities to help for such a thing, however I do not know of anyone group ever getting it. Lots of money for this land, $50 mil.

Every one should watch out for all the proposed developments down the line. They are coming.

Ksen Sku

oh one more thing...the painted cave on 154...chumash have exclusive access. That's public land, run by the parks dept. So it can be done. Just an FYI

Thank you Mr.P for this article.
I am confused at something though...
If cultural preservation is on the forefront of your concern,then WHY, when a Chumash man came to the Independent to announce that he had opened a CHUMASH TOUR of the city,to tell the real story of how SB came to be....
Why was he treated so very rudely?
Why was the story never run?
It seems that this story is run NOW to make it look as though the Independent is concerned with Chumash history, but if this were the case,Santa Barbara would KNOW that this company is available to the public, to learn the true history of Syuxtun.

Somehow I missed this story when it was first printed. I know this land, have been on it many times . I knew the history of Naples as the development by the first "buyer" has been written about by Walker Tompkins. Interesting town that never flourished. I have also known the family that owned it most recently, who kept it in a agricultural setting. I have also enjoyed some enjoyable times at the Dos Pueblo Ranch which is adjacent.

I never thought of its ancient history. Yet we all know that all of our lands did belong th the Native Americans. For those who deny this simple statement, please study some history.

PeterPeli ...
I have my reservations as to the Independents ability to support Chumash issues. I have seen several development projects only mention as a foot note on the Chumash issues that have been raised at hearings. Its like they are forced to give very little information on the topic and always find something else to expand on. But with all fairness the governing bodies of theses agencies do not talk about the Chumash issues either. I suppose it is a never ending conundrum. The news doesn't talk about it so the government doesn't talk about it and the only people talking about it is the Chumash who feel like they are talking to themselves, which most of the time in theses matters they are. Except for postings like this one where you get people who only express there opinion and really don't know anything about history or actually how it all works, you can usually tell when they start out talking about the Rez in reference to all Chumash.

I believe that the reason no one wants to talk about it is that they know nothing about the subject and are afraid to open that can of worms, but that might be giving them too much credit, they would have to be aware of this action in order to react appropriately to it.

Maybe it is shame, the feeling that they owe to the actions of there forefathers. That that ole topic of how the expansion of cultures devastated the Native American way of living.

No, I think that at this time, they don't care to hear the same ole topic....they are all more concerned at the bottom line of what sells advertisement and what brings in the donations from public support.

Who's going to remember an Indian talking about children s children asleep at night and the ghost of Natives at the door step. Or the thunder gods that bang on the windows asking for respect.

No they all want to be remembered for the compromise they made for helping to build a multimillion dollar project and sit back and wait for the recognition to come in. Not the things that are important to the Chumash, these things do not bring them fortune and fame.

This town is Not what it used to be and will never get it back. heritage is lost with the youth and the old start to forget.

I do not see the actions of the Independent helpful to Chumash goals. They are a newspaper and we aren't news worthy for them. I don't even think this article was even in the printed paper...? Maybe it was but sure didn't stand out.

KsenSku

Haku Dear "Messenger"...
I opened your response to my comment expecting a tongue-lashing from another Chumash,but what I read...
almost brought tears to my old eyes.
Thank you for being.
Thank you for clarifying.
Thank you for your support.
Ps....
The Santa Barbara Chumash Tour is up & running..
I pay my people $25 an hour to talk about themselves [tips are yours] so if you [as a Chumash] would like to join us on a tour,it would be wonderful.
PeterPeli