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| Holes made by Indigenous women pounding acorns, at Ichxenta Point, Los Lobos State Park |
June 1, 2016
To Whom It May Concern: [emailed to secretary@resources.ca.gov (mark "Attn: John Laird),
I am writing to suggest that the original Indigenous name of
“Ixchenta” become the new name for the area currently called Point Lobos,
rather than “A.M. Allen Ranch.”
While it is true that Alexander M.
Allan purchased 640 acres of a former mining company’s property at Point Lobos
with an eye to preserving the land’s scenery and unique habitat, I do not think
that this is enough reason to change the name of the area to “A.M. Allan
Ranch.” Allan was a man concerned with
retaining the true nature of the area, and I
believe he would have been more than pleased to have the Indian word for that
area preserved in the same way that he worked to preserve the land itself.
I am a Professor of English at Washington and Lee University,
and enrolled member of the Esselen Nation.
I am currently working on a book of essays (under contract with U of
Nebraska Press) in which I assert that Isabel Meadows, an Indian woman whose
mother was born in the Carmel Mission, is far more than just “J.P. Harrington’s
Indian informant.” In fact, Isabel
Meadows was tribal historian, intellectual critic of missionization and
colonization, and cultural preservationist (languages, songs, religion, place
names, traditional foods and gathering techniques, family stories from her time
back to her grandmother’s as well as tribal creation myths and teaching
materials). She purposely placed her
wealth of materials in Smithsonian J.P. Harrington’s hands to make sure that
her knowledge, accumulated over a long lifespan and consisting of many
lifetimes’ worth of information, would be available to her people long after
she was gone.
I tell you all this because it is Isabel who tells us that
the land at Point Lobos is, very specifically, a Native village called "Ichxenta
Iwano" (Ichxenta village). At least
one, and probably more, of my Ancestors were documented by the Spanish priests
as coming from Ichxenta. My ancestral
roots go back to Ichxenta and forward to Los Angeles, where I was born, and
continue on as I teach in the State of Virginia. What this should tell you is that the story
of Ichxenta isn’t over yet; it isn’t past.
It is an ongoing story that flows from time immemorial right into this
very moment.
California has a rich history of
Indigenous culture and lifeways, and most of that is written on the land
itself. Today’s California Indian people
are still creating art, song, and literature.
You have the opportunity to acknowledge and encourage this richness by
giving space to an Indigenous place name and celebrating that originality. The Eselen Institute knew this when they used
one of our names for their space, and it
has worked well for them. Alfred Kroeber
made a special study of how California Indigenous place names had crossed over
into Anglo usage, and his list is a beautiful litany of one way that Indigenous
presence continues on California land: Ojai,
Simi, Cucamonga, Hetch Hetchy, Hueneme, Klamath, Lompoc, Malibu, Pacoima, Pala,
Petaluma, Pala, Saticoy, Tamalpais, Tomales, Topanga, to name just a few of the
more familiar (see Kroeber’s materials at https://archive.org/stream/californiaplacen00kroerich/californiaplacen00kroerich_djvu.txt).
People go to Point Lobos because of its
unique, spectacular, unparalleled environment, and a place like that deserves a
name that can speak to such beauty and reverence. Please, do not use the name of yet another
colonizer, or commemorate the theft of yet another piece of Indigenous
homeland. Naming is a powerful act. Ichxenta is a beautiful name, and would help
begin to heal many wounds in both land and Anglo/Native relationships.
Sincerely,
Dr. Deborah A. Miranda
Washington and Lee University
John Lucian Smith, Jr. Endowed Chair 204 W. Washington St.
Lexington VA 24450
mirandad@wlu.edu
Responses from officials will be posted below as they come in.
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