Preserving Puvungna for the Tongva & Acjachemen – write an e-mail!

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From our friend Michelle Castillo, who works alongside Rebecca Robles, a highly respected tribal elder. They are land protectors, and they’re asking everyone to write a letter to the Long Beach Press Telegram regarding the importance of the sacred site of Puvungna, which sits on CSULB property and is sacred to the Tongva (or Gabrieleño) people, who once populated what’s now OC & LA. as well as the Acjachemen, who roamed the same area.  Puvungna is pronounced with the last “n” silent.

Dear Supporters of Puvungna,

Rebecca Robles defending Puvungna

We are gaining momentum in our efforts to pressure CSU Long Beach to permanently protect Puvungna, the sacred site located on the university’s campus.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram recently ran an article about our efforts, including our lawsuit against the university. The article gives us a time-sensitive opportunity to write letters to the editor of the Press-Telegram and ramp up the pressure on the university to settle the lawsuit.

Can you write a letter to the paper today? It is important that you use your own words while conveying a unified message. Please emphasize one or more of these main points in your letter:

In its June 14 article, the Press-Telegram describes how CSU Long Beach dumped construction debris and trash last fall on Puvungna, the 22-acre parcel of land on the university campus that is the last remaining sacred land of a number of Native American tribal groups in Southern California.

– CSU leaders say they want to end systemic racism in academia. A critical first step toward that goal is to honor indigenous cultures by protecting Puvungna.

– Desecrating Puvungna is a form of cultural genocide to the Native American groups that consider this sacred ground.

– It is impossible to talk about solutions to racism without addressing the desecration of land sacred to Native peoples. Without honoring the original occupants of this land, anything the university says about wanting to end racism is just paying lip service.

– The university’s actions fly in the face of the basic rights of California’s Native people and a recent executive order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, in which he apologized on behalf of California’s history of “violence, maltreatment and neglect” of Native American peoples and urged the state to take steps to move toward healing and clarifying the historical record.

– For both legal and ethical reasons, it is imperative that CSULB take actions to reverse the damage done to Puvungna and to ensure that the site remains protected and treated with respect in perpetuity.

The technical details: Letters need to be no more than 200 words. Please provide your name, city, and telephone number (phone numbers will not be published). Submit your letter to: speakout@presstelegram.com and please cc : micheg13@gmail.com as well as rebrobles1@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Michelle watching the destruction.

More recent articles:
Dirt Dumped on Puvungna at CSULB Prompts Lawsuit
Puvungna Tribal-Ground Incident Spurs Lawsuit Against CSULB


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.