TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1999

Activists push Puvungna survival

By John Putman

On-Line Forty-Niner

To most, the stretch of open land near the west entrance of Cal State Long Beach may just be another passing sight. However, for a core group of Native Americans and their sympathizers, it is the basis for an unremitting spiritual vigil.

The Save Puvungna Coalition knows it must remain vigilant after the 22-acre site was slated for construction six years ago. It is working to preserve the last remaining undeveloped soil of the historic Tongva Indian settlement known as Puvungna, "the place of the gathering."

"We try to pray to keep the land from being developed and destroyed," said Richard Silva, a Juaneno Indian. "We want to keep the land the way it is. We've got ancestors buried out here, and it's been our holy place for thousands of years."

The group meets on the lush site, now overgrown with green grasses and wild flowers from recent rains, every Monday to express its devotion to this sacred place, as well as to re-establish its unity and commitment.

The coalition begins its meetings with an evocation to the spirit of grandfather and grandmother earth, to bring peace and health to those in need. Members then conduct a spiritual walk through the grounds, stopping at an ancestor's pole in the shade of an eucalyptus grove to offer a prayer to their spiritual ancestors.

Silva credits the sacred grounds of Puvungna for bringing him back to life when he lay in a coma at the Veterans Affairs Hospital some years back.

Many Native Americans throughout North America consider Puvungna to be sacred because it is here where Chungichnish, the Tongva Indians god and prophet, revealed himself to his people.

The Puvungna settlement once stretched across the entire CSULB campus into Rancho Los Alamitos, but most of the ancient village has been developed. It was with much dedication and indignation that Native Americans converged on the site in 1993 when university officials threatened to conduct an archaeological excavation as an initial step toward developing the property. The proposed West Village construction would consist of a hotel, condominiums and retail space.

The American Civil Liberties Union entered the confrontation, filing an injunction which prevented the excavation and allowed Native Americans access to the site. It acted on a state statute which prevents a state agency from damaging, or preventing access to, land that is unique to Native Americans for religious or cultural reasons.

The coalition, consisting of Native Americans and community members, many of whom cultivated the organic gardens on the site which were torn asunder by the University, has its beginnings in this early struggle.

"It's a good group of people that like each other and regard each other as family," CSULB anthropology professor Eugene Ruyle said. "The purpose of the meetings is just to maintain that [presence] there, to make sure that nothing happens. So far we've accomplished our major goal. There's nothing built there."

At their weekly meetings, the coalition also discusses other pertinent issues, such as the threatened development of the Los Cerritos and Bolsa Chica Wetlands and the repatriation of Native American ancestral remains and artifacts.

"[The meeting's] serve not only [as a forum] to talk about Puvungna, but also other issues of concern, both environmental and Native American," Ruyle said.

The coalition takes as its cue the tireless efforts of its 82 year-old spiritual leader Lillian Robles, a Juaneno elder who helped ignite the defense of Puvungna and whose ceaseless activism on behalf of her people belies her advancing age.

The group consists of five to fifteen core members from week to week, but it can mobilize hundreds of people for special events, such as the Poly to Puvungna Walk for Peace taking place Saturday.

While the university has temporarily abandoned its proposed development of the site, it remains in litigation with Native American plaintiffs, and the two sides maintain an uneasy truce over the volatile issue.

Some members of the coalition are concerned with what they perceive to be harassment by University Police, who maintain a presence in the adjacent parking lot during their meetings, and with the university's tepid response to illegal dumping on the site. Robles said that while University Police are there when the coalition meets, they are nowhere to be found when the illegal dumping of concrete, debris and dirt occurs.

Having been personally harassed by administration officials and Cal State University lawyers in the early period of the struggle, coalition members are wary of what may happen when CSULB President Robert Maxson eventually leaves office. Maxson has emphatically stated that Puvungna will not be developed as long as he remains president.

"There's a threat as long as [the lawsuit] is not finalized," said Robert Leon, a Chumash Indian.

Perhaps that is what gives the coalition impetus to meet year round, every week, despite darkness, winter chill and other commitments.

As Leon expresses his frustration with the university's mowing of overgrowth on the site, which invariably destroys precious native vegetation, he sees a parallel between nature's spring renewal and his peoples' determination to save their revered land.

"In nature, if you leave something alone, it keeps growing back," Leon said. "No matter how hard you push us down, we'll keep fighting back."