Legislative and tribal leaders will unveil a California Native American Monument in Sacramento’s Capitol Park at a dedication ceremony in November.
The monument will honor the Northern California Tribes and will be placed where a statue once stood, representing a Spanish priest involved in the colonization of what became California.
The unveiling and dedication ceremony will be held on November 7 from 10 a.m. to noon at Capitol Park, near L and 12th streets, according to Assemblymember James Ramos.
The new monument bears the likeness of William Franklin Sr., a member of the Miwok who spent decades preserving Native American culture in the state.
His statue will replace that of Spanish priest Junipero Serra, whose involvement in the establishment of missions in California beginning in 1769 led to the forced assimilation and death of thousands of Native Americans in the state.
In the summer of 2020, during nationwide protests against racism in the United States following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being detained and crushed by police in Minneapolis, protesters in Sacramento erected Serra’s statue, which was installed in 1967.
After the statue was removed from the site and placed in storage, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill from Assemblymember Ramos, the first Native American legislator in state history, to build a new monument in its place.
The statue will honor the following tribes from the Sacramento area:
• Buena Vista Rancheria of the Me-Wuk Indians
Chicken Ranch Rancheria of the Me-Wuk Indians
One Band of Miwok Indians
•Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians
• Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians
•Wilton Rancheria
As of 2020, there will be a national countdown to the commemoration of certain individuals and the use of their images and names that are considered racist or discriminatory.
At the California State Capitol, a statue depicting Christopher Columbus was removed from the rotunda, where it had stood since 1883.
