CALIFORNIA #6

I'm afraid the story of California's handling of it's Native American population was just as bad if not worse than the other states I have covered so far.

The first thinning of the population had to do with Eurasian diseases which the indigenous population had no immunity to.  That really was not anyone's fault.  However, many native inhabitants were forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers.  And under the law ACT FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND PROTECTION OF THE INDIANS passed in 1853 any white person who saw an Indian who did not appear to be gainfully employed, could charge them as vagrants, take them in front of a Justice of the Peace who would have them SEIZED AND SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION.  The person who bought them would then have their labor for four months without compensation. 

God Bless America.  

Things are pretty bad now but so far at least we don't have laws like that.

The Salinan People

On a lighter side here is the Simpson'g version of California Here We Come.