Declaration against the canonization of agents of the Doctrine of Discovery and the church engaged in colonization, genocide and deculturalization

Declaration by Marcos Aguilar against the canonization of agents of the Doctrine of Discovery and the church engaged in colonization, genocide and deculturalization

September 12, 2015

People's Tribunal Against Canonization of Juniper Serra

At the steps of the Juniper Serra Public Library

RECALLING, that in 1965, the United Nations adopted an International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination that entered into force in 1969 by international agreement, 

AFFIRMING, that Article 7 of the Convention called for the adoption by member states of, “immediate and effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information, with a view to combating prejudices which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnic groups, as well as to propagating the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and this Convention.”

EMPHASIZING, that almost fifty years later, we are in many ways even farther from the eradication of racism, and must now distinguish among the historical and global contexts we still confront to identify the sources, barriers, opportunities and junctures with which to construct an updated understanding of the realities of racism in all of its meanings, expressions and institutionalized forms,

NOTING that this Convention clarifies that: “Special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure such groups or individuals equal enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be deemed racial discrimination, provided, however, that such measures do not, as a consequence, lead to the maintenance of separate rights for different racial groups and that they shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved.”

RECALLING ALSO, that in 2001, The UN convened a World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related intolerance which issued a Declaration affirming among many other things a clear international commitment to the ongoing elimination of racism'

CITING, that we now live, “in an era when globalization and technology have contributed considerably to bringing people together,” the Declaration goes on to call for the materialization of, “the notion of a human family based on equality, dignity and solidarity,” (p.4).

CONVINCED, by the Declaration’s calls, “to make the twenty-first century a century of human rights, the eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the realization of genuine equality of opportunity and treatment for all individuals and peoples,”(p.4),

DEEPLY CONCERNED, that the Sovereign Nations and Indigenous Peoples of what is now known as the state of California have repeatedly affirmed their collective opposition to the canonization of Junipero Serra due to the negative historical impact and actual trauma caused by the system of Catholic missions imposed under his leadership,

Isalolisanawakan, an Indigenous Peoples’, community-based, non-governmental, autonomous organization of Azteca Peoples, hereby denounce the planned canonization of the 18^th century missionary friar, Junipero Serra, 

CITING crimes committed against humanity, Indigenous Peoples and the sovereign nations of what is now known as the state  of California carried out through acts of genocide, disappearing, extortion, invasion, pedophilia, rape, cultural genocide, assimilation, forced labor and slavery, fraud, and racism in the name of the King of Spain, the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy,

We further DECLARE TODAY that towards the eradication of racism particularly as this experience impacts Indigenous Peoples in relation to others drawing upon local, state, national and international standards of justice,

WE CALL UPON ALL PUBLIC AGENCIES and STATES in control of any public institution such as libraries, schools and colleges currently named after Junipero Serra or any other agent of colonization, immediately rename said institutions to advance towards the reversal of the negative impact of such offenses particualrly against Indigenous Peoples families and children.

XQUEMAN TIHQUITOS KA, MASQUEH TEPIZKANAUATILISTLE TICMATIS ITITLAN TIKA

“Nunca te rendirás, aun cuando sientas que se te acaba la vida.”

NOTE: MANY THANKS TO AIM/Corine Fairbanks for the invite and opportunity https://www.facebook.com/events/1625955881008324/