Many people believe that the California genocide was not a genocide at all. The legal
definition for genocide is the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as
such.
The 8 stages of genocide:
Stage 1: Classification
The Europeans knew who they were targeting: the native people of California.
The Europeans shaped their views towards each other as the "us" and "them". The Europeans were the "us" and the native people the "them", thus being classified.
Stage 2: Symbolization
The native people were forced to wear blue clothing to know that they were slaves working for
the missions (History). Many tribes had different symbols there were many tribes and symbols across California but like I mentioned they were given blue clothing and that is how they were usually
Stage 3: Dehumanization
The native people of California were taken as slaves, this is dehumanizing them. They were forced to have new Spanish names and to be dressed in blue clothing and work as slaves to support the missions (History). Spanish men kidnapped these native people as they did not see them as humans since they did not know the gospel according to Father Junipero Aserra (History). These people were not treated as humans nor seen as one.
Stage 4: Organization
The Europeans were willing to pay for the heads of the native people of California (Gold, Greed and Genocide). The people were determined to kill these indigenous people for money thus creating organizations to eliminate these native people.
Stage 5: Polarization
Europeans had propaganda against the native people. Using this propaganda meant that people were influenced to kill these native people and cause mayhem throughout California.
Stage 6: Preparation
The native people were gathered or kidnapped and sent to missions. There they would be
treated brutally and be forced to work for the missions (History). During the years of the Gold Rush groups were made in order to kill off all Indians and kidnap their children (The Great California Genocide). The native people were taken and were not allowed to leave back to there homes says Heinrich Lienhard, one of Sutter's managers, "I had to lock the Indian women and men together in a large room to prevent them from returning to their homes in the mountains at night. Large numbers deserted during the daytime", (The Great California Genocide).
Stage 7: Extermination
Although many indigenous people died from disease, the Europeans did kill off many of the
California native people. The American and European people did exterminate the indigenous people. In the book A Little Matter of Genocide by Ward Churchill it talks about an incident
that happened in which 148 Indians were attacked and killed. Yreka Herald mentioned extermination saying, "We hope that the Government will render such aid as will enable the citizens of the north to carry on a war of extermination until the last redskin of these tribes has been killed. Extermination is no longer a question of time--the time has arrived, the work has commenced and let the first man who says treaty or peace be regarded as a traitor," (The Great California Genocide).
Stage 8: Denial
Have you ever opened a text book? Of course you have but have you ever read a section in
which they talk about the mass killings that happened to native people in California. This is
an act of denial the fact that they try as much as possible to hide what happened in California. Why do we try to hide the truth? Many people don't know about this genocide and the people who do they defend it saying it was diseases that killed them. For example, take a look on websites such as the California Missions Resource Center. They only briefly touch on the subject of these atrocities in a few sentences of what happened:
"Sadly the number of natives in the Bay area declined steadily after the mission era ended. Most of the neophytes became laborers on area ranches. In the 1840s there were a number of multiethnic Indian communities in the area, composed of the people who had lived at the missions. However, these shrank in size as the young people moved away. The Indian Scholar Richard Levy reports that the Costanoan languages were probably all extinct by 1935. No official Federal government recognition has ever been given to the Costanoans." (McLaughlin) (In addition, the site claims that the Native Californians were simply "recruited" to work at these missions. As we hear in the native American point-of-view video "Jacque Nunez explains beginning of genocide", we know this to not be true, as they were clearly forced to do what the Europeans wanted.)
As you can see the California Genocide falls within the eight stages of Genocide, which means
that what happened to the indigenous people in California was in fact a Genocide. This genocide follows the legal definition of genocide which consists of:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
This genocide consists of all theses points which means that what happened to the native people in California was in fact a genocide.