The California Missions -- Rethinking An Icon

The California missions have been a controversial subject since their destruction in the middle of the last century.  For many, the missions have been idealized as a lost paradise built as a selfless act that would bring God and the benefits of Western civilization to the indigenous peoples of California.  For others, they have come to serve as an icon of the worst of the colonial experience, representing tools of imperialism, intolerance and genocide.  But what were the missions really like?  After more than two hundred years, can the fragmented reality of this collision of the Old and the New Worlds be even partially understood or appreciated in an objective way?

I wanted to make  documentary, The California Missions: Buried History, that would  uncover the true story of the missions.  Instead of the traditional point of view of most documentaries and popular histories, that have focused on the mission experience through the eyes of the new-comers, this program will attempt to explore the missions through the experiences of the people the Europeans came to transform. I've never been able to raise the money.  I submitted my proposal to The History Channel and heard the head of programming was dancing in the hallways shouting "Missions."  Unfortunately, he decided to award a series to another production company.   That often happened at History.  I've decided to post my proposal here since I've never found an outlet for this story,

While no one can deny that the missions evoke lovely images, a consideration of the work of innovative scholars in the fields of history, anthropology and archaeology has begun to show us that the romantic images and generalizations mask a complex, often tragic, story.

Living descendants of the Mission Indians can tell us  why many of them are working to correct what they believe are distortions of their own people's history.  One of the most common and worst distortions is that there are no living descendants of Mission Indians.  They will endorse our view that it is important for us to have an awareness of the role the missions, California's most powerful icons, played in our past. 

While much has been written to promote the missions as icons of utopia, other voices have questioned the benevolence of these institutions.  Even while the mission work was being undertaken, the ethics and purposes of the missions were challenged.  Since the elimination of the missions, a debate has raged between mission critics and apologists.  It's time to offer new insights into the origins of this often rancorous debate and search for a clearer understanding of what happened and why.

I wanted to directly address the views that the missions were penal colonies or slave labor camps.  We'll find out why people came to live at the missions and why they stayed.  And  explore the role of coercion and enticement in the creation and continuation of the settlements.  I thought it was time to examine what opportunities the Indian people had for self determination at the missions.  What physical means of control were used by the Europeans and why?  Once they were converted to Christianity and living at the missions, were the Indians prisoners or were they junior partners in the colonial empire? 

 Since the end of the last century, these questions have been overshadowed by the drive to promote a mythic past.  This largely complimentary vision of the mission's role in history has produced an influence that has permeated our culture.  Wherever we go, we see the distinctive red tile roofs and simulated adobe walls on countless civic, commercial and residential buildings.  National attention turns to the missions every spring when 15,000 people flock to Capistrano to see the swallows return.  California's school children are introduced to the missions in the fourth grade when they're asked to build sugar cube replicas.  City emblems often include mission bell towers and the facades of mission churches. 

I wanted to find out how this powerful and attractive romantic image was created and to discover what propelled painters, photographers, poets, historians, playwrights and civic leaders to take up the mission's cause and whip up support for restoration.

Along the way the public would discover that this view of history has neglected to tell the full story of the missions and their effect on the Native Americans of California.  Instead of hearing only from the soldiers, padres and explorers, we will uncover the stories of the individual Indian people who served as important actors in this drama.  Their reactions to the missions will bring a human face to the program and help the audience see the missions from a different perspective.

I proposed to conclude the program with scenes of the dedication of a fitting memorial to their memory.  In the summer of 1999, a simple marble wall inscribed with the names of Indians who died in the Missions will be unveiled at the Sonoma, Mission.  Inspired by the Vietnam Memorial, this wall will be the first official acknowledgment of the death and conflict that occurred at the missions.  This monument, along with all the other contradictory messages conveyed by the mission story, argues more than anything else for the need for peoples of diverse backgrounds to come together with mutual respect, understanding and tolerance.

Synopsis:  Project Overview

THE MISSIONS:

BURIED HISTORY

Next to Disneyland and the wild, outdoor circus known as the Venice Beach boardwalk, the beautiful Missions of California are the biggest tourist draw in the state.  Millions of people annually tramp through the adobe halls and marvel at the rough hewn architecture of the 21 California Missions in hopes of connecting with a time long past.

While viewing the beautiful buildings and lush gardens they miss the hidden story of the struggles of California's Native American population.  It is a story that has been buried in time. This one-hour documentary for television will use the recent work of anthropologists, archaeologists and historians to create a more complete picture of what life in the Missions was truly like.  This new scholarship will bring to the viewers the provocative story of the Missions from the Native American perspective.

It is the story of the clash of two cultures.  The European and Native American.  It starts when pious Catholic priests and the mighty Spanish military, intent on forging the future in the California wilderness instead create a gruesome present for the Indians who already lived there. But our recollection of this conflict consists mostly of the tales of dashing soldiers, bold explorers, self-sacrificing padres and romantic ranchers.  The story of the Indians' experience has, up to now, been lost in the shuffle of time.

"Sonoma Mission Memorial"

Written by

Casey Kriley

Michael Rose

Carleen Couture

Michael Rose Productions, Inc.

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1.	Night sky, trees -- a timeless pastoral scene	SFX/MUSIC NARRATOR: The Sonoma valley was the home of the Wapo, Pomo and Coastal Miwok for thousands of years.
2.	Oak trees Grinding stone Water drips from fountain	Pinola Voice over: This is a very, very beautiful valley called valley of the moon.  What’s so beautiful to me are the majestic oaks trees as you come into town.  Which is the livelihood of my people and supported my people.  Beautiful but yet none of it remains that we can call our home.
3.	Archival photo:  Sonoma Indians with priests	NARRATOR: They lost their homes after the Europeans arrived.
4.	Archival drawings of the Spanish landing in San Diego	NARRATOR: Starting in 1769,  Spanish priests and soldiers pushed up from Mexico and began the colonization of California.
5.	Sonoma Mission Bell and Cross	The backbone of this effort was a chain of twenty-one Missions stretching from San Diego to San Francisco.
6.	Dissolve between old photo of many Native Americans to single Native American at reception.	A triumph for Spain, a tragedy for the Indians.  More than 80-thousand died at the Missions.
7.	Zoom out from single Native American woman to the crowd	How and why this happened has been hotly debated.  Today, there is an effort to get past the arguments.
8.	Shot of Professor Edward Castillo delivering speech. Cut away: to footage of crowd.	Castillo: It seemed only right to me we should do something to bring us together since we’ve been arguing about interpreting history in the past.  And the thought came to me, that we should erect a monument honoring the men, women and children.  Over 80,000 Indians were buried in the 21 missions along Coastal California.
9.	Prof. Castillo and others in the crowd	Narrator: Edward Castillo, and others, raised over thirty-thousand dollars to build something that would honor the California Indians who died at the Sonoma Mission.
10.	Prof. Castillo	Castillo: My experience at the Vietnam Memorial Wall was the true inspiration for this.  As we all can remember, that War tore our country apart and tore our families apart.
11.	Boy's hand running over the memorial People gathered look at memorial	Castillo, cont.: The reconciliation that occurs at that wall, no matter where you stood on that damn War, brought us all together.
12.	Shot of Edward Castillo delivering speech. Crowd shot	Castillo: Everybody agreed it was a pretty good idea to honor these men, women and children with a simple memorial.
13.	Shot of crowd during the prayer song	Narrator: At last, California's first builders, farmers, vaqueros and laborers were being recognized and remembered.
14.	Lanny Pinola delivering speech. Inter-cut:  child at ceremony	Pinola: Today unveils a historic moment.  The legacy lived long after we’re gone.  To be on the records in the books.  That my grandchildren can say, Grandpa I read your name.
15.	A woman reads the names	WOMAN: (READS NAMES)
16.	Shots of the unveiling. Inter cut with name readers. Singing of prayer song.	Narrator: For the first time in over 200-years, a spirit of unity prevailed at the Mission.
17.	Bishop B. Patrick Ziemann delivering speech.	Ziemann: If we are to learn anything from these names is that we are meant to be people together.  To come together with cultures and religion and motivations.   So, if we’re willing to say we’re sorry and if we’re willing to accept forgiveness we can build literally on the shoulders of those who lie beneath us.  We can build a community that is worthy of their legacy.
18.	Lanny Pinola delivering speech. Crowd at reception. Young dancers	Pinola: It was a historic day, a historic event.  And to be able to stand not only among you, but among my people and yet generations of my people to come.
19.	Lanny Pinola delivering speech. Valley at dusk	Pinola cont.: Now my ancestor is at home during the unveiling of this historic event. . . . Welcome to the land of my ancestors.
20.	Beauty shot of Valley	Narrator: It's your turn to carry on the legacy.  To create a Mission Memorial in your area, please contact the Sonoma Mission Indian Memorial Fund. ###