Indians Protest Navy Building Site They Say is Sacred Burial Ground
By: Debbie Baker
UT
Rosa Marquez joins members of the Kumeyaay Nation who gathered near the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado to protest the Navy's construction of a new SEAL training center on 'sacred burial ground.' — Misael Virgen
Dozens of Native American Indians staged a protest Wednesday morning over the building of Naval Base Coronado’s new SEAL training center on what they say is a native burial ground.
The 12 tribes that make up the Kumeyaay Nation want the $1 billion project south of Silver Strand State Beach to be moved a short distance so as not to desecrate what members call a sacred site, said Cynthia Parada, a councilwoman with the La Posta Band of Mission Indians.
The 60-acre campus will add 1.5 million square feet of buildings to the base that includes spaces for SEAL Teams, logistical support buildings, training facilities, classrooms and more.
IIn 2002, human remains of a young boy said to be 7,000 years old were found in the area south of Silver Strand State Beach, Parada said.
The tribe was allowed to re-inter those remains, which included a part of a finger and of a tooth, and they believe that there are many more.
Parada said the Indians were told at the time by military officials that remains “would not be disturbed for another 7,000 years,” Parada said.
“They are going back on their promise,” she said.
Tribal representatives have met with military officials several times over the last year and a half and their requests have been denied. She said they were told that the site in question had been bulldozed in the 1940’s and did not fall under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
She said tribal members were allowed to visit the military property in January and she said they could see remnants of tools and shells used by their ancestors. When asked how long the Kumeyaay had lived on the sandy beach next to the Pacific Ocean, Parada said, “In our creation stories it’s forever.”
She said disinterring Indian remains to them is no different that if someone came along and tried to dig up bodies at Arlington National Cemetery.
“Those people are the reason why we are here,” Parada said. “They gave us our life, they gave us our knowledge, they gave us our spirituality, and they fought for us to be here. We owe everything to them. They are our heroes. “
“It’s Kumeyaay land,” said Kenny Meza, the Vice-Chairman of the Jamul Indian Village. He said when you bury a loved one, you take them home and you do not disturb them. Meza, 70, is a Marine veteran who did two tours in Vietnam.
“They were human beings like everybody else,” he said. "They grew up here, they sang songs here, they had celebration here, and they had funerals here.”
The group started their protest at 4 a.m. and were expected to conitnue into the night.
In response, Navy officials release a statement that said it had already provided a 100-foot buffer around "all eligible archeological sites and environmentally sensitive areas." It also said that officials had asked for names of Native Americans who could work alongside cultural resource monitors during the digging but the Kumeyaay declined.
"Following nine months of extensive leadership meetings, subject matter expert information exchange and on-site visits with technical experts designed to enhance the Kumeyaay's confidence in the Navy's environmental planning for the Coastal Campus, the Navy finds itself in the unfortunate position where the Tribes will not accept the technical analysis, regulatory compliance posture or the offer to work in cooperation using their own identified Native American Monitors," the statement said.
A meeting between the parties is scheduled for Friday.