Bill Text: CA ACR202 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Native American atrocities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - Died at Desk. [ACR202 Detail]

Download: California-2015-ACR202-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 202	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Alejo

                        AUGUST 17, 2016

   Relative to Native American atrocities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 202, as introduced, Alejo. Native American atrocities.
   This measure would acknowledge that the State of California
engaged in atrocities against Native Americans within the state and
would profusely apologize to Native Americans in California for these
inexcusable actions.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, In 1850, one of the first acts performed by the
Legislature was to prevent Native Americans from accessing and
participating in the legal and political system by prohibiting them
from voting, serving as jurors, or serving as attorneys; and
   WHEREAS, In 1850, the Legislature also essentially allowed the
enslavement of Native Americans by legalizing custody of Native
American minors, and in 1860, the Legislature went further by
legalizing the indentured servitude of any Native American; and
   WHEREAS, The State of California collaborated with vigilantes and
the federal government in forcibly transferring Native American
children from one tribe to another, which fractured native families;
and
   WHEREAS, In 1851, California Governor Peter Burnett declared that
"a war of extermination will continue to be waged ... until the
Indian race becomes extinct"; and
   WHEREAS, Multiple governors of California authorized at least 24
state militia expeditions between 1850 and 1861, which killed an
estimated 1,340 Native Americans, demolished Native American villages
and agricultural centers, and displaced many tribes from the
California locales they had inhabited for thousands of years; and
   WHEREAS, The state-sponsored killing of Native Americans also
enabled and encouraged vigilantes to kill at least 6,460 Native
Americans in California between 1846 and 1873; and
   WHEREAS, California's native population fell dramatically, from
nearly 150,000 in 1846 to 30,000 in 1870; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature acknowledges that the State
of California engaged in atrocities against Native Americans within
the state, and profusely apologizes to the Native Americans in
California for these inexcusable actions; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the various Native American tribes that reside
within the State of California, the Governor of the State of
California, and to the author for appropriate distribution.