Editor's note:
This is the first of a series of articles that will be written by Vernon Johnson, Director of the California Tribal Council on the history and plight of the American Indians of California. Our goal is not only to educate
ourselves and our readers about issues affecting California Indians, but also to begin to integrate the concerns of Indians with the concerns of those actively promoting civil rights and harmonious human relations.Indian people pass their history from one generation to the other through the teachings of tribal elders or family members. Our knowledge of what occurred is drawn from the teachings that extend back to the
beginning of time of our people. Indians have been taught that we were created by the Great Spirit or "Grandfather", and that our beginnings are in the American continents.
Nearly 300,000 Indians resided
in California before the arrival of the European in 500 tribal groups who are identified by the type of area where they lived. There were Coastal, Desert, Mountain and Valley People. Each tribe or tribelet honored
the territorial limits of the other and violent intertribal conflict was virtually unknown in California. Animal and plant foods were sufficient to feed the population and there was active trading between the tribes to
provide people with the variety of commodities they wanted or needed.
Each tribe had its own moral codes and young children were taught what the standards of conduct were by the tribal elders or members of the
extended family. The tribal council conducted the business of the tribe and also enforced the oral tribal code of conduct. When the code was broken the tribal council determined the type of punishment that would be
meted out.
Indian history is often at variance with the history written by Europeans and taught in public schools in a number of respects, for example; Indians who respect their oral history do not believe that their
ancestors walked across the frozen Bering Straits from Asia 10,000 years ago as taught in public schools, but that they were created here by the Great Spirit. They argue that their is evidence that was uncovered in
archeological find in San Diego indicating that man lived in California 48,000 years ago, nearly 5 times longer than is commonly accepted.
In other respects, Indian history confirms more recent versions of American
history, for example; Indian Elders tell us that their Elders told of light-skinned people visiting them prior to the period of Christopher Columbus. Indian history indicates that Columbus was preceded by others who were also
presumably from Europe. This tends to confirm the claims of historians that both Irish and Nordic seafarers visited the East Coast prior to Columbus.
Vernon Johnson can be contacted at the California Council of Tribal Governments, (916) 275-9192.
