HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-2016 Public Comment, MeyerLJNC'[L N1EiJING:_oQi �2.t� 2.ot6
ITEM NO,:-?Q\Ok% G
Re: the Chumash built Spanish era Aquaduct discovered at the Chinatown site.
Just think about that title for a moment....
CHUMASH slaves... built an aquaduct for the SPANISH missionaries... under what
is now known as the former site of CHINATOWN... where an underclass of Chinese
immigrant labor was later housed.
And this all happened just a few years ago really.
The Chumash People lived here in SLO for approximately 10,000 years.
250 years ago Spaniards came to this part of California and stole the Chumash's
land and converted them into slaves. 70 years later the Mexicans stole
California from the Spanish... and then a few years later the Americans stole
California from the Mexicans.
So here we are today are living on land stolen from the Chumash...
We white European/American people have lived here for basically 1% of the
time the Chumash lived here... and for the most part we don't think about it.
The site we call now call Chinatown... was the site of Spanish era Chumash slave
labor village before that.
After the Chumash died (mostly of western disease) many Chinese migrant
workers were imported to replace them (like the Indians before them... the
Chinese were not allowed to vote, to testify against a white man, to be a citizen
etc...)
We white European/American immigrant invaders argue now about the growth
of "OUR CITY"... either there is too much or not enough... our city review boards
argue for preservation of American buildings built just 100 years ago or so....
the blink of an eye really.
Why are we so selfish and arrogant. Why don't we see the longer history?
It is incumbent upon us to carefully consider how we treat the history of those
who came before us... the relationships of one era to another...
What seems insignificant to one party... may have been of tremendous impact to
another. We must not bury our past. We must carry the past forward with us...
within the changes we make.
I urge you to consider the tremendous social issues surrounding the
development of our city... and think about how little you may actually know
about actual history of this place. Consider that you may only know the history
written by the culture of the conquerors.
Within this context... you might come to understand the true meaning of an
aquaduct built by slaves to an invading culture... who were wiped out and
forgotten... their slave history covered by a new imported chinese lower class
who also had no rights.
Consider that the Chinese workers themselves created the train connections
that allowed this place to become the HUB of the Southern Pacific Railroad...
which is what put this town on the map just over 100 years ago. Without the
work of these Chumash and these Chinese... we might not live here.
So this story and many others like it are wrapped up in this aquaduct site... and
almost all of them are unknown to everyone who lives here now because WE
BURY THEM and abandon them.
I encourage you to direct staff to review mitigations CR -1a and CR -1b in the
Chinatown EIR and also CEQA guideline section 15126.4(b) (3) (a) with
reference to all this... and NOT allow it to be destroyed.
Eric Meyer, San Luis Obispo Resident