Fractured Relations at Home: The 1953 Termination Act's Effect on Tribal Relations throughout Southern California Indian Country

Indians who oppose termination [should not] be terminated until problems of surveys, land divisions, water rights, mineral rights, and liens on Indian allotments and lands are solved.

Max Mazzetti (Luiseño, Rincon), "Some Points to Look for in the 280 Report"

Abolish the Indian Bureau Now Make People of the Indians

Purl Willis (non-Indian, Mission Indian Federation), "Mission Indians Demand Removal of Restrictions: Candidates Speak at Indian Meeting," San Diego Union, May 15, 1954

In 1953 California Indians watched as the U.S. Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 108 to effectively terminate federal trust protection of American Indian reservation lands. Included in the wording of the Termination Act is the following:

It is the policy of Congress, as rapidly as possible, to make the Indian within the … territorial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same … privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to other citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and … prerogatives pertaining to American citizenship; and the Indians within the territorial … limits of the United States should assume their full responsibilities as American citizens: … it is declared … that, at the earliest possible time, all of the Indian tribes and the Individual … members thereof located within the States of California, Florida, New York, and Texas … should be freed from Federal supervision and control.¹

This article illustrates how termination affected Southern California Indian Country and the challenges of working from within familiar Indian communities or from home. Ideas of self-determination and independence were significantly different on San Diego County Indian reservations. The threat of the termination of federal trust protection produced a rift within Southern California's Indian tribal communities. Factions were already divided into two main groups, the Mission Indian Federation and the Spokesmen and Committee Group. Between 1934 and 1953 members of these groups clashed over the Indian Reorganization Act, the Court of Claims, the Indian Claims Commission, and everyday tribal politics.² Now the Mission Indian Federation and the Spokesmen and Committee Group have consolidated their memberships to support and condemn, respectively, House Concurrent Resolution 108 in the public arena.

San Diego County is home to sixteen Indian reservations of Diegueño, Luiseño, Cupeno, and Cahuilla descent. These reservations are within close proximity to each other; therefore, so are the people. It is common to have kinship ties between Indian groups even though each tribe has its own culture, language, and tribal governments. Tribal membership is important to gain access to tribal archives and records. The most important aspect of growing up on the reservation is the access to the tribal elders. Members from local tribal communities are usually welcome to delve into their histories. However, termination is another story; this subject is as delicate today as it was over fifty years ago. It created an atmosphere of fear and contention that survives to this day.

Working from home sometimes involves delving deep into history, which some feel should remain buried, while others want their story told. With the advent of the lucrative gaming industry, the subject of termination, especially with elders, has become a topic of both pride and shame. The concept of working from "home" is more challenging when addressing a subject that is controversial and has been buried for half a century. Termination has affected intra- and intertribal relations for decades; thus, it is critical to address these controversial topics in a sincere and professional manner and attempt to understand the time period and issues at hand. Factionalism and familial fragmentation were very real consequences of the federal termination policies for the Indian tribes of Southern California.

Thoughts of termination became reality with the publication of the Hoover Commission Report, which recommended the elimination of federal trust protection of Indian reservation land bases.³ In 1953 the 83rd Congress, acting on President Truman's executive order for termination, passed House Concurrent Resolution 108 to end all federal responsibility for...