From The Sacramento Bee:
State lawmakers and local tribal leaders shared details Monday on the plan to replace the toppled statue of missionary Junípero Serra in Sacramento with a monument dedicated to Native American tribes upon whose land California’s state Capitol grounds were built. The new monument will feature William Franklin, a Miwok leader whom Assemblyman James C. Ramos called a “fierce protector and preservationist” of cultural dances and other ceremonies, and who also helped build three Northern California roundhouses.
“This monument that will be constructed and put forward here on the state Capitol will start to pave the way for the voices of all California Indian people to be heard in the state Legislature and in the educational arena,” Ramos said at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning, which included a 7-foot-tall cardboard cutout depicting Franklin’s likeness. Ramos, D-Highland and the first California Native American elected to the state Legislature, penned Assembly Bill 338 in 2021, authorizing construction of the Native American monument to replace the Serra statue that protesters ripped down on July 4, 2020. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 338 into law last year.
The new monument will honor Northern California tribes, including six on whose ancestral lands the Capitol currently stands: Wilton Rancheria, Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, Ione Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians, all of which co-sponsored AB 338.
