Native Americans Will Get Iconic Land Back in California

We have been bombarded with bad news throughout this entire year. Even news stories that have largely been forgotten in recent months were, in fact, rather large news stories at the time, and usually, they were bad news. The Australian wildfires, for example. The Iranian General who was killed by the orders of Donald Trump.              

Then, of course, there have been the news stories that have dominated the headlines since, and which also have been largely bad news. Obviously, the coronavirus pandemic tops them all, having had a profound impact globally. The economic collapse was huge, as well. Tens of millions of Americans lost their job, and we have near record unemployment. On top of that, many of these same people also lost their healthcare, just in time for the worst pandemic in over a century. And obviously, the racial tensions and massive protests stoked by the death of George Floyd, and which too often turned into riots. Now, most recently, we have unidentified government agents arresting people and throwing them into unmarked cars, like a police state “disappearing” their citizens. Some scary stuff.              

All of this has been in the backdrop of what very well may be the most important, and frankly divisive, election in at least recent American history. There have been divisions stoked on many levels during these elections, as well, and even though Donald Trump has acknowledged that he does not have high approval ratings, he still has suggested that he might not accept the results of the upcoming election in the event that he loses. And some Trump fans actually wonder why so many of us were alarmed that the rise of Trump might usher in the encroachment of fascism? Really?              

Now, just as many sports fans were looking forward to sports leagues and action resuming once again, we have some scary news. Many members of the Miami Marlins baseball team tested positive for the coronavirus, putting their season into question. And that also makes baseball itself feel a lot more vulnerable. Using that logic, of course, that puts pretty much all of the major sports leagues in jeopardy. After all, did not Kansas City of the MLS get eliminated from this season without so much as playing a single minute of a game, because of the amount of players on the team whom had tested positive for Covid-19?              

Indeed,              

So, with all of this bad news. Perhaps it is time for us to focus on some good news, for a change?              

Just yesterday, the news was announced that one California Native American tribe got back some of their ancestral lands. And they are prominent, famous lands, too. They should be getting back the Big Sur, which is a scenic part of the California coast, which the tribe lost to the Spanish over 250 years ago.  

Both John Muir and Jack Kerouac wrote about the scenery of that region, which is noted for it’s beauty. It is north of the Little River Sur, and has some old redwoods on it. The property that they are getting back is known as Rancho Aguila. The negotiation of the purchase of the land was done by the Western Rivers Conservancy.  

Finally, Native Americans have gotten a break. After the ridiculous pipeline that was built despite some major protests that received headlines all around the world, as well as some other setbacks involving pipelines, this is at least a little bit of good news for Native Americans. A tiny bit of justice, even if it seems largely overshadowed by overwhelmingly bad news these days.




“The property is spectacular, and on top of that it repatriates land to a tribe that has had a really hard go of it over the years,” said Sue Doroff, president of the conservancy.  California Native American tribe gets back Big Sur ancestral lands  1.6K Shares    APUpdated: 6:27 PM PDT Jul 28, 2020:

https://www.ksbw.com/article/california-native-american-tribe-gets-back-big-sur-ancestral-lands/33447107?fbclid=IwAR3RQ871dNItzEN68zHtPRDbhoTXrMjJBwf6XMrqfKDMFP5e6pm1BGLWfXU