Broken Treaties, Crimes of History

by Wendy M. Fong/Race, Poverty, Media Justice Intern

White smoke rises to the metal ceiling like lost ghosts from their
cement graves, the cleansing smell of burning sage, dancing to the
beat of three drums. Echo, echo, echo. It vibrates, calling the
ancestors in Re-union. I scanned a 180 around the shadowy, wide,
square room. I heard my heart beating with the heart beats of other
Xicanos/as from every generation as they filled the room-- elders,
teenagers, adults, children-- bowing their heads, raising their hands,
and absorbing the spirits of mother earth. Echo, echo, echo. My brown
eyes slowly began to swell with tears. This was a ceremony of apology
to the lands, as people of all ages danced in sync and rhythm. An
apology of lands stolen, it was an intoxication of the elements,
flowing like waterfalls flooding the room with lost stories.

I am Chinese-American and have never experienced this before, taking
my first baby steps into the history of California. I was born and
raised in California and was not aware of how deep the culture was
rooted here. I began to think about stories my mother and father used
to tell me when I was younger. I come from a family of migrants. My
grandparents migrated from China to Burma during WW2 for survival, as
the Japanese invaded their land. I remember my father telling me how
my grandparents and his two brothers swam across the river as they ran
away from raining bullets and the Japanese. They were not immigrants,
who have the luxury of moving from land to land, but migrants chased
out of their native homes in hopes to live and have a better life.

Echo, echo, echo, they were dressed in the rainbow colors of mother
earth-- blue feathers, brown leather, red clay-- they danced to the
beats and the souls of the Rasa ancestors that once lived on this
land, Xicanos/as joined together in Re-union. Not only was there
Re-membrance, but there was celebration, celebrating their history and
the unity in their struggle. Delicious aromas of pollo taquitos,
Spanish rice, crisp vegetables, constant spoken word flows, laughter
and vibrating instruments filled the room in honor. Live Californian
history lessons unveiled before me like tulips opening to the warm
rays of the sun, hungry for more. "Mother, father, I whispered, "Tell
me more of your stories of China and Burma." I was curious to know
more about the heritage, the history, like those of my ancestors.

"Do you eat food from the Bay?" Jose Luis, an educator and activist,
asks at the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Xicana Reunion" event at the
East Side Arts Alliance in Oakland, CA. It was an "education concert"
that took place on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at four o' clock in the
evening.

As Luis continues, he explains that contrary to general knowledge, for
hundreds of thousands of years; indigenous peoples sustained
themselves from the Bay and all its resources. The Spanish enslaved
the native peoples on plantains. They were military generals by the
names of Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Rafael, and San Francisco, to name
a few. The rich Spanish families like Castro and Valencia were offered
power by the U.S. in exchange for land. Even the famous General Santa
Ana purposely did not send enough troops to defend the land during the
Alamo of Texas to keep this exchange. In 1848, the U.S. government
violently occupied North Mexico, also known today as Sonoma County,
and they signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, turning over the land
to the U.S.

The treaty states that there shall be guaranteed citizenship in both
U.S. and Mexico, the freedom to move across borders between California
and Mexico, the retention of Spanish language and culture, and land
grants given to families that held land under their control.

But the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was soon to be broken: The land
was stolen. The land grants were disregarded. During the Gold Rush,
only Anglo Saxons were allowed to mine for gold, and people who lived
there for centuries were denied access to their own lands. "The 49ers
(aka gold miners) discriminated against them. It is like calling a
football team the KKK or the Nazis," says Luis.