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| Minnie Ferguson, right, co-founder of the the Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory of North America, stands next to student Marie Chairez, 16, on the school campus in El Sereno, Feb. 2023 (Genaro Molina/LA Times). |
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L.A.'s only Indigenous school helps return land to California's Native population
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| Gabrielino Shoshone Tribe members Jaime Rocha, left, her mother Eileen Rocha, Jaime's sister Cheyenne Rocha, along with Tecpatl Kuauhtzin, Minnie Ferguson, Victorino Torres-Nova, Trinidad Ruiz, and Marcos Aguilar stand on a vacant site where an extension of their school will be built in Monterey Hills (Genaro Molina/LA Times). |
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When Jamie Rocha and her family first visited the swath of undeveloped land in the Monterey Hills late last year, the grass was dead, the ground muddy.
But on a recent Thursday, after drenching rains in Los Angeles, the grass was a rich green and purple lupine lined the path. Coyotes roamed nearby, sniffing the ground before disappearing below the hillside's sloping edge.
The afternoon calm belied the family’s excitement. On this day, they were walking on what would one day be their land, 12 acres that had been purchased by the region’s only Indigenous charter school and returned to the Gabrielino Shoshone Tribal Nation of Southern California, the area’s original inhabitants.
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| Students at the Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory of North America participate in a world history class in El Sereno, Feb. 2023 (Genaro Molina/LA Times). |
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“It’s mind-blowing, just to have a dedicated space [for] the Indigenous ways and education,” said Rocha, a member of the tribe, which has long struggled to find a place to practice its ceremonies in congested Los Angeles County.
“I wish my grandmother [were] here to see it.”
In August, the Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory of North America bought the land for $800,000 with the help of grants and nonprofit funding.
The K-12 charter school in El Sereno intends to act as a steward for the land and establish the Chief Ya’anna Learning Village.
The complex is named for Ya'anna Vera Rocha, a late chief of the Gabrielino Shoshone Tribal Nation and Rocha’s grandmother.
Having such a space “always seemed kind of impossible,” Rocha said, “because you know, our territory is prime real estate.” More
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