Comments on: A Frame for Mission Dolores http://www.sfflierculp.com/?p=86 Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:40:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Guire Cleary http://www.sfflierculp.com/?p=86&cpage=1#comment-1649 Guire Cleary Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:40:44 +0000 http://www.sfflierculp.com/?p=86#comment-1649 My complements on a perceptive view of the California Missions. I was curator of Mission Dolores from 2000-2004. I completely concurr that a reframing has occurred. The plaque, which I composed, speaks to this reframing. Originally the monument was going to be framed by a Franciscan cord, but I was talked out of this by Ohlone descendant Linda Yamane who told me that the Franciscan cord reminded her of the beatings her ancestors experienced at the hands of the Franciscans. I was a Franciscan borther at the time and was deeply moved by her observations. There was another reframing of the California Missions that I had placed in the museum at Mission Dolores. Unfortunately, the successor I recruited, Andrew Galvan, decided to remove it. It was a panal asking the question: Was Mission Dolores a Spanish Village or an Indian village? Less than 1% of the mission community was Spanish or Mexican and the majority of the work accomplished at the missions was by Indian labor. According to a doctoral dissertation by Marie Duggan, Ph.D., the majority of the industrial and agricultural output of the missions during the Spanish period was eith consumed by or for the use of the Indian population. Should they be called Spanish missions if the Spanish component was limited to a handful of administrators? Having largely stripped native peoples of free choice, sovereignty, language,culture and even existence, are we to further strip away any dignity of accomplishment by failing to ackowledge their achievements? If I could go back to the year 2000 I would have even more strongly addressed issue of "pride and pain." We do what we can and hope the future judges our limitations with greater truth and a degree of compassion for our failures. My complements on a perceptive view of the California Missions. I was curator of Mission Dolores from 2000-2004. I completely concurr that a reframing has occurred. The plaque, which I composed, speaks to this reframing. Originally the monument was going to be framed by a Franciscan cord, but I was talked out of this by Ohlone descendant Linda Yamane who told me that the Franciscan cord reminded her of the beatings her ancestors experienced at the hands of the Franciscans. I was a Franciscan borther at the time and was deeply moved by her observations.

There was another reframing of the California Missions that I had placed in the museum at Mission Dolores. Unfortunately, the successor I recruited, Andrew Galvan, decided to remove it. It was a panal asking the question: Was Mission Dolores a Spanish Village or an Indian village? Less than 1% of the mission community was Spanish or Mexican and the majority of the work accomplished at the missions was by Indian labor. According to a doctoral dissertation by Marie Duggan, Ph.D., the majority of the industrial and agricultural output of the missions during the Spanish period was eith consumed by or for the use of the Indian population. Should they be called Spanish missions if the Spanish component was limited to a handful of administrators? Having largely stripped native peoples of free choice, sovereignty, language,culture and even existence, are we to further strip away any dignity of accomplishment by failing to ackowledge their achievements?
If I could go back to the year 2000 I would have even more strongly addressed issue of “pride and pain.” We do what we can and hope the future judges our limitations with greater truth and a degree of compassion for our failures.

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