Native American Activists Topple Statue Of Canonised Catholic Missionary Who Led Colonization, Conversion Of California

A statue of Junipero Serra, the 18th century Catholic saint known for his instrumental role in Spanish colonization of California, was toppled in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday (Jun 20), Los Angeles Times reported.

Serra introduced the mission system which converted Native population to Catholicism and European culture. Catholic Church canonized Serra in 2015 despite opposition from American Indian groups for his role in aiding the Spanish settlement of the west coast.

The statue of Serra, holding aloft a cross and bearing a model of a Spanish mission, was installed in the downtown area by the Knights of Columbus in 1932.

Close to 100 indigenous activists tugged on ropes that were tied around the statue’s neck and toppled it.

In 2018, Stanford University removed Serra’s name from various campus buildings.

During another protest in San Francisco, a group of demonstrators brought down another statue of Serra that had been installed in the Music Concourse of Golden Gate Park on Friday (Jun 19) evening.

“As monuments are removed from our public spaces through cathartic action some impose a narrative of violence onto these actions but in reality, the violence occurred long before that and continues today,” representatives of the Tataviam and Tongva Tribal Nations said in a statement. “The violence has been memorialized in these objects. The violence occurred through the installation of these symbols of domination and dehumanizing actions.”