Who were the Indians of Old Los Angeles?

TongvaPeople.org; Xochitl (Kizh), Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tackles the myth that "All the Real Indians Died Off".

We should have documented ourselves in more of their photos so the White Man could believe.

Go West, children. It's the only way to survive the onslaught of whites landing in the East.

The once thriving Indigenous basin of the Tongva/Kizh is now a hyper-busy megalopolis of polluted skies, asphalt jungles, concrete features, and a ruined environment -- Earth's throat chakra.

Call us "Mexicans" because we're blended with whites.

Who was here when the Europeans invaded Southern California and the beautiful ringed basin we now call Los Angeles ("The Angels," short for the much longer Spanish-Catholic name)?

The imperial power at that time was peaceful Mexico, who left Upper California (Alta California) alone and natural with its original inhabitants. But the new imperial power, the European-Spanish drove north in search of gold, laying down the Mission System (a chain of concentration camps to subdue the inhabitants, force their conversion to Christianity, and to wash the "Indian" out of them under pain of death. Emperor/Saint Constantine would be proud).

We kept the [N-words] in check in the South.

This is still Mexico in many ways, (LA = Latin America/Los Angeles) but the new imperial power calling itself the true "America" (the North Americans of the nascent USA) drove out the Spanish imperialists and stole Mexico's land by divine rite and Manifest Destiny plus a charter and order from the Vatican that allows all European Christians to usurp land for the Catholic Church to regift to European imperial powers, unbelievably called the "Doctrine of Discovery."

Pre-Colonization – Anti Racism Committee of South Pasadena (arcsouthpasadena.org)

Who would we be with an invasion?

The name of the original Indigenous people is uncertain -- but Spanish missionaries working for the Spanish military called them Gabrielenos (the Gabriels or "Gabbies," as we like to say at WQ) after the local northern mountains of the Angeles Forest (Sierra Madre), which they named the Saint Gabriels (San Gabriel Mountains).

There were a variety of other related tribes nearby -- the Chumash (Venturenos) in Malibu (the place of the loud sound of the crashing of waves or Humaliwo), the Luisenos and Juanenos of the future Orange County, the Valley (the Saint Fernando Kitanemuk) people (the Tataviam), and others. Most tribes across the new USA were chased West, so that all tribes came to be represented in the area.

Gabrielino-Tongva (tongvapeople.org): Villages | TONGVA PEOPLE

I may look "Mexican," but I'm Native to here.

If this is or was Mexico, then we are Mexicans. What is a Mexican? In fact, almost all of us are really Mestizos ("Blends," mixed-race people fusing Indigenous and Europeans and to a lesser extent Africans and Asians).

One of the greatest things about being Latinos, Hispanics, Latinx, Browns, Reds, Mexicanos, Chicanos, Sur-Americanos is that we have everything and look like all people, only a little more beautiful. Most of us have an inferiority complex due to being abused terribly and colonized, but some react with a superiority complex for the same reasons.

Ancient Los Angeles before colonization

KIZH Nation | Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians – KIZH Nation (gabrielenoindians.org)

A world from the current Kizh Nation Chief

The Kizh Nation explains what existed before then: "The history of our people goes back thousands of years.

For millennia, we developed a complex and beautiful culture, which included religion, astronomy, rich and varied cuisine, economy, and complex social structures.

21 Myths About Native Americans

"We developed ingenious ways to live sustainably off the land of Southern California and its natural resources. The name of our tribe, Kizh, comes from the dome-like [wigwam not teepee] dwellings we lived in, primarily along rivers.

"We were one of two California tribes [along with the Chumash or "Beautiful People"] who mastered boat-building and traveled along the coast of Southern California.

"In the 1700s, Spain began to colonize California, and thus began the long journey of suffering for our people.

"The missions [concentration camps each set a day's travel apart] they established were like concentration camps, where our people were forced to live as slaves and abandon our sacred traditions and culture.

There were many peoples here, many tribes living in peace, lives in tune with Nature (WQ).

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"Having lost much of our land and sovereignty, we worked on the ranches [West Coast plantations akin to the South's slave centers before and after slavery] of prominent Spanish and Mexican landowners.

"Our people often intermarried with these [European] families, so today we have a mixed ancestry, though we have the documents to prove that we descend from the original inhabitants.

"Things did not improve for our people when Mexico won [back] its independence, nor when the United States took control of California.

"Under American [i.e., USA] rule in the mid-1800s, our people were denied basic rights and were often killed by vigilante violence [sponsored and rewarded by the new Los Angeles City Council with a price set at five cents a head paid to white murderers who redeemed our craniums like aluminum cans].

Who'll remember our ancient ancestors, and strive for our future? (tongvapeople.org)

"We worked as farmhands on the ranches of Los Nietos, Richardson, Temple, Bixby, and Rowland to name a few and lived with such famous Los Angeles families as BIA Agent and LA County Supervisor Benjamin D. Wilson and US military war hero George S. Patton." More

• The Kizh Nation | Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians (gabrielenoindians.org)
• Pre-Colonization – Anti Racism Committee of South Pasadena (arcsouthpasadena.org)
• Gabrielino-Tongva (tongvapeople.org) | TONGVA PEOPLE
• "All the Real Indians Died Off": And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (Myths Made in America) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker