CSULB administrators have appealed Superior Court Judge Stephen O'Neil's restraining order which halted their development plans for the Puvungna land remnant along Bellflower Boulevard; a hearing is scheduled for late December. Meanwhile the former Organic Garden area must be open on a 24-hour-a-day basis to Native Americans and their guests and the university is barred from proceeding with its proposed archaeologic dig or from commencing any development.
The university faculty's Financial Affairs Council has requested a complete accounting of both state general funds and foundation funds which have been and are being expended in the administration's endeavor to construct the proposed mini-mall and low-cost, high-density rental housing complex on the Bellflower land. The Neighbor will carry those results in the next issue.
Meanwhile the Coalition to Save Puvungna continues to be involved in many activities including a Puvungna "Teach-In" held on the CSULB campus earlier this month and has joined Gabrielino/Tongva peoples at the site for gatherings which have included honored indigenous leaders from across the nation and around the world.
For more information on coalition activities and progress, call the Puvungna Hotline at (310) 985-4619.
July's Neighbor carried a history of the first people of this region who were subsumed under the missions, and hence called Gabrielino, Juaneno, Luiseno, Fernandeno. And we promised sketches of the descendants who are active in the struggle to save this remnant of Puvungna. Space limitations have delayed the start of these publications which will include stories about Long Beach residents Lillian Robles, the Juaneno elder who initiated the prayer vigil, and Richard Silva, Juaneno descendant who has walked the Bellflower site perimeter every evening since the prayer vigil began.
Our first sketch is of Gabrielino/Tongva elder Bernie Alvitre whose knowledge and roots run deep in a culture many people have considered extinct. Bernie has attended nearly all coalition meetings, offering prayers and guidance at such gatherings. He is the father of Cindi and Jim Alvitre who have worked extensively to save Puvungna and who will be featured in future issues.
Bernie's parents were both born at San Gabriel and he himself grew up in Garden Grove. He has lead a remarkably broad and interesting life. He spent ten years in service as a Marine including work with the famous WWII Navajo Code Talkers unit where he was one of only three non-Navajo members. His current retirement occupations include entertaining with a small band at retirement homes and hospitals where he sings requests like "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and "Hello, Dolly."
Bernie's father, baptized a Catholic, nevertheless practiced the Indian way of worship, as does Bernie now. Although his father discontinued all ties with the church after a priest molested a member of his family, Bernie continues an association at St. Edwards in Corona where he enjoys singing with the choir. Most of Bernie's reminiscences about his childhood are uplifting. His father took him on trips to the mountains for fasts and told stories around campfires. Although his father could neither read nor write, he had an extensive knowledge of herbs and other plants and was often sought out for medicinal advise. One of Bernie's fondest memories of his mother's activities were the California-style tamales she made with olives and raisins!
Other of his recollections underscore the sadness and frustration which continue to touch even today's Native Americans. As a child in Orange County, Bernie saw giant plows ripping open the ground containing Indian burials and saw people race to collect the unearthed and scattered skulls, bones, and artifacts. He spoke of how sad and angry those actions made his father; of how much his father wanted to speak out or do something about such wrongs, but was afraid to in those days. To emphasize how much his father had to fear, Bernie also told me of his father's showing him the exact spots where two of his uncles had been hung by a group who were referred to as "The Texas Rangers."
Bernie came to the Bixby Ranch (as Rancho Los Alamitos had then become known) often as a child with his father and another man who picked up loads of manure there to transport back for use as fertilizer on the orchards in Orange County. He recalls that his father and his friend always talked about Puvungna on such trips, but that he was too small to pay much attention. In fact, because as a young adult he was practicing the Catholic religion, it wasn't until the 1970s when his own children began to explore their Indian religious roots more deeply that he himself started to really learn particulars about that part of his Indian past.. His son Art had done some work as a monitor then at San Juan Capistrano which helped initiate the family's expanding their knowledge, an activity which they continue and share to this day.
This document was posted in July 1995
eruyle@csulb.edu