California and its Legacy of Rebellion: From the 1800’s to the 1900’s

The great Frederick Douglass once said, “the thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion” . What causes people to rebel? California is a state that has seen its fair share from the beginning of its development. During, my lifetime the worse rebellion most have known of was the L.A. Riots of 1992; and yes this was a rebellion of the people. However, this was not the first rebellion the state of California has seen. At different centuries of this state people have chosen to fight back. In 1824 the Chumash uprising in Alta California, in 1846 there is the Bear Flag revolt, and in 1851 there is the Indian Tax rebellion; so when you see the L.A. Riots of 1992 it is another example of the people of California rising up for their rights. The causes of these rebellions continued to be the treatment of the people’s rights. California is built on rights and respect of the people, if you lose this, rebellion is the natural recourse.

The Chumash revolt of 1824 was caused by the clash of cultures. Chumash Revolt was the largest organized revolt in the history of Alta California. Alta California as you can see in the map below was close to current-day Placer California. The other parts are now part of Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. In 1824 The Spanish arrived forcing the Chumash into missions, to live in labor camps. They started to deplete their resources and brought many diseases with them. The Chumash had been a peaceful people living a hunter and gatherer lifestyle. The Spanish Sacristan which was a paper or note arrived that threatened the Chumash people, it stated all would be beaten and that women and men would be punished a like. This is when the Chumash decided to revolt. “The Chumash burned most of the Santa Ines mission complex. At, La Purisima they drove out the mission guard and one of the two priests in residence” (Beebe, 1996). After much violence the Spanish decided to make peace with the Chumash.

To make peace Father Vincente who was revered by the Indians for his virtues and Father Ripoll from Santa Barbara acted as negotiators; and the result was the Chumash Indians submitted and were pardoned for their acts of violence. After this incident their was always a fear among the Missionaries to watch themselves with the Chumash Indians. The Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 was small but important. California was growing, and Mexican leaders were concerned that settlers had no interest in becoming Mexican subjects. At 0000one point the Mexican leaders wanted all foreigners out of the state including the settlers who had already been there for some time. By this time there were approximately five-hundred settlers compared to eight to twelve thousand Mexicans. Once the tension was realized settlers began to form militias to prepare for rebellion against Mexico, they were also persuaded to do so, by John C. Fremont.

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Fremont an officer and explorer had been upset that the Mexican government wanted him to leave the state; this would appear to be his motivation toward rebellion. “In the spring of 1846, the American John C. Fremont arrived at Sutter’s Fort. That area would be considered modern-day Sacramento (see map) with a small corps of soldiers. Whether or not Fremont had been specifically ordered to encourage an American rebellion at that time is unclear. Apparently, he and his men were in the area strictly for the purposes of scientific discovery” (History.com). During this time another man left at Sonoma by the name of William L. Todd painted what he intended to be a representation of a grizzly bear and a star on the Mexican flagstaff with the words California Republic and raised it, not much was thought of it at first. The painting was supposed to represent some form of proclamation, of what is yet to be discovered.

During this time the settlers won a few standoffs between them and the Mexicans, a Mexican General by the name of Vallejo and his family were even taken into custody, but Vallejo wanted the Americans to acquire the state as well. Other parts of California including Monterey and Los Angeles had turned over control. Apparently the United States had declared war on Mexico, but Fremont and his men had not received word of it. When they finally did hear the news, of California being apart of the United States they realized the battle was over and let go of their pursuit of California being its own republic. The California flag is a symbol of the revolt and helped influence the design of the California flag hung today; but also reminds you that the settlers wanted their independence from Mexico. Once again the fight for freedom continued on.

The Indian Tax rebellion of 1851 was no different than the other upraising’s that occurred. The Indian Tax rebellion started because the politicians of the San Diego area decided to put a 600 dollar property tax on the nearby Indians. Politicians decided the tax was needed simply out of greed, and the fact that they thought the Indians were complacent and just do what they were told. Indians were already living in poverty and definitely did not have the money to give. The Indians did not receive any services from the county, so why should they have to pay a tax for something that belongs to them and for county services they didn't receive. When the auditor made his first trips out he warned the Indians that if they did not pay, he would come back with more men and round up their cattle to be sold. This did not move the Indians at all.

Politicians told the local Auditor to collect the fees by whatever he could take from the Indians. This did not sit well with the Indians; word went out about the tax and Indians started to prepare for rebellion. “It was on November 22, when the attack came. At first light, about 50 Indians and a white man rode in and started firing on the John Warners’ two-room, adobe ranch house. Warner was a Senator who owned a ranch in the Chuenga's valley east of San Diego (see map below). Warner and a few men loyal to him returned fire…. but it was not enough, left unchallenged; the attackers pillaged and burned the ranch house down” (Historynet.com). The rebellion continued on months but in the end many Indians were captured and killed at this time it was not a crime to murder Indians. It still is yet revealed if any of the Indians paid the tax.

On March 3, 1991 all of America watched as an unarmed black man named Rodney King was viciously beaten by Los Angeles police officers. 070231000 Amongst the black citizens of the U.S. this was already a way of life and known that it took place often. The only difference was finally they had actual proof of the mistreatment by Los Angeles police officer. The thought was finally justice will rain. That did not happen and the four police officers were acquitted of all charges. The officers who stood around and watched the beating were not charged at all only, only Officers Koon, Powell, Wind and Briseno were indicted; these are the officers seen on the video assaulting Rodney King. The jurors felt there wasn't enough evidence for an excessive force conviction.

How could this happen with it being on video, all of America had seen it; Mayor of Los Angeles at the time Tom Bradley said 'today that jury asked us to accept the senseless and brutal beating of a helpless man'(Time.com) Black people had enough of their mistreatment and hence a rebellion began. “The riots start at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles (see picture above). Reginald Denny, a white truck driver the most notorized victim, is pulled from his truck and beaten” (CNN, 2013). The citizens begin to burn down buildings and loot local businesses. Due to this, already tense situations with the Korean store owners also escalated. Certain people in the black community saw Korean store owners as someone else who was mistreating their community.

They felt the Koreans were taking jobs from them; and disrespected black patrons when they shopped in the Korean stores. Part of this stems from the language barrier between the two ethnic groups. Many Korean store owners were attacked and they also used guns to defend their stores, even with this hundreds of Korean shops were destroyed. On May 3, 1992 Marines, Army, and National Guard soldiers are brought in to patrol the streets of Los Angeles, and the riots came to an end. The riots lasted four days with 50 people killed and close to 2,000 people being injured. Thousands of people were arrested, over 1,000 buildings were damaged, and the estimated damage of the riots was about one billion dollars. This made the Los Angeles riots one of the most devastating disturbances in history.

All of these rebellions share a common thread, rights. We all want the right to freedom, the right to be treated fairly, and the right to not be abused by those in authority. It's unfortunate that lives had to be lost for change to come. It's also sad that still some of these issues exist in the state of California as well as the United States. Why are people still being beaten and killed by Police Officer? Why are people stilled being taxed to death on every thing while still living in poverty? Why is California so crowded that people want the state divided into three states? Hundreds of years later and we are still tackling the same issues. The saying 'you have to know your past to know where you are going is more evident today than ever'. The people of California are strong and will continue with the history of rebellion whenever someone threatens their rights.

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