Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and ranking member for bringing this bill here today.

Mr. Speaker, as Californians, our relationship with our Tribes and bands is different from that of many other places in the United States. The Kumeyaay Indians, including the Jamul band, were landless for decade after decade after decade. In fact, if not for the generosity of one landowner who allowed some of the Jamul Indians to get the 6 acres that they originally placed in trust, they might still be landless.

Those 6 acres were all they had to live on, and it wasn't enough for the various members because, unlike some immigrants, Native Americans lived here for thousands of years, and in those 13,000 years, they built a bond that could not be broken by the Spaniards and could not be broken by America as we annexed California.

In fact, as a landless Tribe, the Kumeyaay continued to practice their language and traditions even though they had to do so on whatever land they could find, usually not their own.

Since the 1980s, the Jamul band of Kumeyaay Indians has, in fact, clung to those 6 acres and amassed an ability to find additional plots of land.

It is ironic that one of the pieces of land we are considering today is, in fact, where they have been buried for more than 100 years, where they practice their Western faith taught to them by the Spaniards there on their land.

The other piece contains a farmhouse. It is a farmhouse where those Jamul Indians came to work in the fields of another man for decades. They have had the opportunity to buy that land now.

Many will say: But is there a conflict? Is there a reason for the Department of the Interior to take so long?

I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that there is no conflict about taking a cemetery where your dead are buried, or at least there shouldn't be.

The other piece of land was entitled by the County of San Diego to have more than twice as many homes on it as there are Jamul Indians. In fact, their intention is to preserve that farmhouse for all generations so that they can understand what life was like in San Diego County 100 years ago and so that their Tribal members will continue to celebrate those who treated them well when they had no land and no money.

Today, hopefully, we will put land in trust, but we will also celebrate the resilience of the Native Americans of California who stayed in the land of their birth even though they had their land taken from them for more than 600 years.

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