by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
Passersby
are now sharing their thoughts on large sheets of plywood, painted
black, an ad hoc memorial wall to the victims of the Shooting,
standing on Pardall Rd., near Anisq’oyo Park. The name is Chumash
for the area just north from Goleta and Santa Barbara. Translated
it means, Paradise of Gold.
People
pause to read, think, then write, coping with grief and shock. Also
present is hope and promises to remember.
Violence
has touched this beautiful area many times.
10,000
Chumash lived there when the Spanish arrived to establish Mission
Santa Barbara around 1786. The Chumash were a peaceful people,
putting serious thought into customs to moderate conflict and
violence.
The
head of a village, called a Wot, was a very different kind of leader.
Chosen by consensus, the person was expected to help everyone who
was in need along with providing advise and leadership. They
remained Wot as long as they were respected.
A
woman could be a Wot and we know the local village's leader was a
woman when the Spanish arrived.
A
hunter-gatherer people, there has been intense study of Chumash
customs through studies of historians and anthropologists.
Astonishingly, it appears nothing became extinct during the thousands
of years the Chumash occupied the area.
The
Chumash themselves are reticent about sharing today.
They
were an easy target for the arriving Spanish. In just a few years
there were few Chumash left, though today the several Bands still
keep their memories and traditions and are relearning the original
Chumash language, the oldest in California.
The
Chumash have always maintained they came to the area 40,000 years ago
in large boats, directly across the sea. The discovery of San Miguel
Woman, a burial dated 14,000 years ago, on San Miguel Island just off
the coast.
Until
after WWII Isla Vista remained undeveloped and quiet except for
becoming a target for a Japanese torpedo, aimed at the Marine base
which occupied what is now the University of California at Santa
Barbara. No damage was done. In 1953 a growing student population
caused a housing boom as rentals sprang up.
With
the highest concentration of population in Santa Barbara County, most
of these students, there is a tradition of activism. In the
aftermath of the Isla Vista Shooting many students are talking about
violence. A good beginning would include understanding the Chumash
and see the world through their eyes.
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