A statue of Junipero Serra was toppled from its post at Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, images and video shared on social media showed.
and would have it “moved to a more appropriate non-public location.”
Serra, born on the Spanish island of Mallorca in 1713, is a controversial figure in California, particularly among indigenous tribes. The Franciscan priest founded nine of 21 missions throughout the state and is perhaps the person most responsible for spreading Roman Catholicism into the Western United States, which then was Spanish territory.Serra’s mission system was responsible for the destruction of several tribes, often through the introduction of foreign diseases. Tribes that did survive, such as the Chumash, still suffered greatly and were often forced into building the missions.
The mission system not only pressured indigenous peoples into becoming Catholic, but pressured them to assimilate and lose their cultural ways. Despite this history, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez referred to Serra as one of his “spiritual heroes.” Pope FrancisStill, the legacies of the priest and other historical figures are being freshly reevaluated in the midst of a cultural reckoning that has led many to criticize such monuments as tributes to colonialism and white supremacy.
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