Mexican Americans seek atonement for ancestral lands that were taken over generations
"America owes us the opportunity to take care of our own communities." By
,
and
September 30, 2020, 6:22 PM ET
• 17 min read
Mexican Americans are still fighting for land they were promised generations agoThe Southwest was once part of Mexico. When the U.S. took over, families there were promised citizenship and protection of their land. Their descendants are still fighting to reclaim what’s theirs. ABC This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation.
In some ways, what happened to Mexican Americans in the happened time and again throughout American history. Promises were made to the community, but many were never kept.
“I just don't think people get the passion that's attached to this,” said Rita Padilla-Gutierrez, whose community has lost tens of thousands of acres of ancestral land over generations. “It's the history, for God's sake. Plain and simple. Your language, your customs, your food, your traditions. But for us, it's being a land-based people.”
What we now consider the Southwest wasn’t part of the United States at all 172 years ago -- it was the northernmost part of Mexico. In 1845, the U.S. annexed Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory. This spurred a long and bloody war with Mexico and, ultimately, Mexico ceded half its country to the U.S.
Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:05 a.m. ET on ABC
The agreement between the two countries was immortalized in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave around 100,000 Mexican nationals living in those territories citizenship if they decided to stay. More importantly, the agreement protected the rights of any Mexican whose land was now a part of the U.S.
“When Mexico negotiates the treaty in good faith, assuming that all of its citizens' rights will be respected, what it doesn't understand is that for the United States, only whites have the rights to full citizenship,” said María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, author of “Indian Given: Racial Geographies Across Mexico and the United States.” “[Shortly after the treaty,] territorial governments systematically go about disenfranchising all Mexican citizens who they deem to not be white.”
Dr. Maria Saldaña-Portillo spoke with "Nightline" about the promised land grants.ABC
Indeed, when the treaty was sent to Congress, the Senate removed the article that laid out the process by which the land would be protected.
In 1848, there were 154 communities in New Mexico to whom the U.S. government guaranteed land. But most of those agreements, or land grants, were never honored. Today, only 35 communities remain.
While the country prospered, the treaty would forever change the fate of generations of Mexican Americans to come. Heirs to land that’s been owed for generations
“There's a huge disparity here in terms of poverty and [in] terms of education,” Arturo Archuleta, a land grant heir in New Mexico, told “Nightline.” “These communities have been left behind.”
Heirs like Archuleta are working to get reparations for the land that was taken from their communities, which existed long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was even created, according to Jacobo Baca, a historian with the University of New Mexico’s Land Grant Studies Program.
“It's beyond [a] sense of place,” Baca said. “Our identity is tied to place, but we don't see that place having an identity without us, either. So it defines us just as much as we define it.”
“It's beyond [a] sense of place,” Jacobo Baca said. “Our identity is tied to place, but we don't see that place having an identity without us, either. So it defines us just as much as we define it.”ABC
At the University of New Mexico, a collection of documents shows how a variety of land grants were vastly diminished over the years. One of the documents showed how an agreement for over 40,000 acres was reduced to less than 1,400 acres.
“I think for land grant heirs, there's this recognition that this treaty was a promise that was made that wasn't kept, and that the federal government owes the recognition of these communities,” Baca said.
Archuleta is an heir to the Manzano and the Tierra Amarilla land grants.
“We come from Spanish communities that came over, [and from] Native American communities as well,” Archuleta said. “So we really are sort of mestizo. We're mixed… We're a land-based people. Half of our soul was here before Columbus ever hit the sand.”
Archuleta says that these communities should be able to thrive where they are.
“It's not just surviving, but thriving. Our cultural connections are still in place,” he said. “The land grant and the treaty issues is probably what you consider the first Latino issue in this country, and it's still unresolved.”
Heirs like Arturo Archuleta are working to get reparations for the land that was taken from their communities.ABC
Padilla-Gutierrez’s family in New Mexico has also seen its land vanish over time. For centuries, she said the family has been living in the area near Tomé Hill in Valencia County. Now a hiking trail and site for religious pilgrims, its hillsides are filled with petroglyphs and its summit contains several large crosses.
“We have very deep, deep native roots here,” Andrea Padilla, Padilla-Gutierrez’s sister, told “Nightline.”
Padilla-Gutierrez said their land used to encompass 123,000 acres but that it has since been reduced to only 400 acres.
“America owes us the opportunity to take care of our own communities,” Padilla-Gutierrez said.
"It's the history, for God's sake. Plain and simple," said Rita Padilla-Gutierrez. "Your language, your customs, your food, your traditions. But for us, it's being a land-based people.”ABC
“I think regaining some of our land back would be justice,” her sister added.
The family still has the patent it was given to honor the land grant.
“It's signed by Ulysses Grant, who was president at the time -- seal and everything -- granting us that our land grant will continue to be ours again,” Padilla said. “But then later, they stole our mountains.”
The Tomé land grant lost 50,000 acres to the federal government in 1906. Like many others who held land grants, the family later had to sell their land.
“It hurt my father deeply, because he fought to the very end, telling people, ‘You can't do this. … Once you sell your land, that's it, you're nothing. You lose your culture. You lose everything,’” Padilla said.
“We have very deep, deep native roots here,” Andrea Padilla said of Tomé Hill in Valencia County, New Mexico.ABC
Her sister says their family’s land should’ve never been sold. The community lost more than acreage, she said. They “lost their way of life.” The betrayal of these land grants sowed racism that still exists today
Mexican American culture has been maligned for generations, and the racism born out of that continues to be espoused at the highest levels of government today.
The president himself famously kicked off his bid for office by saying Mexican immigrants are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” And as recently as June, The that travel from Mexico was contributing to COVID-19 infections rather than states’ efforts to reopen their economies.
“It does hit me in the heart,” Padilla said. “We always worked hard... And we did the right thing. So when they talk about lazy Mexicans or, ‘These Mexicans are all drug dealers and murderers,’ I'm, like, ‘Where? I haven't seen that. I'm not [one].’ You know?”
Saldaña-Portillo says this bigotry results from Mexican natives’ land being given to white settlers.
“[It helped create] the representation of Mexicans as these barbarous Indians,” she said. “That's annunciated every day when we hear Mexicans described as rapists, murderers and thieves.”
"America owes us the opportunity to take care of our own communities." By
,
and
September 30, 2020, 6:22 PM ET
• 17 min read
Mexican Americans are still fighting for land they were promised generations agoThe Southwest was once part of Mexico. When the U.S. took over, families there were promised citizenship and protection of their land. Their descendants are still fighting to reclaim what’s theirs. ABC This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation.
In some ways, what happened to Mexican Americans in the happened time and again throughout American history. Promises were made to the community, but many were never kept.
“I just don't think people get the passion that's attached to this,” said Rita Padilla-Gutierrez, whose community has lost tens of thousands of acres of ancestral land over generations. “It's the history, for God's sake. Plain and simple. Your language, your customs, your food, your traditions. But for us, it's being a land-based people.”
What we now consider the Southwest wasn’t part of the United States at all 172 years ago -- it was the northernmost part of Mexico. In 1845, the U.S. annexed Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory. This spurred a long and bloody war with Mexico and, ultimately, Mexico ceded half its country to the U.S.
Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:05 a.m. ET on ABC
The agreement between the two countries was immortalized in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave around 100,000 Mexican nationals living in those territories citizenship if they decided to stay. More importantly, the agreement protected the rights of any Mexican whose land was now a part of the U.S.
“When Mexico negotiates the treaty in good faith, assuming that all of its citizens' rights will be respected, what it doesn't understand is that for the United States, only whites have the rights to full citizenship,” said María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, author of “Indian Given: Racial Geographies Across Mexico and the United States.” “[Shortly after the treaty,] territorial governments systematically go about disenfranchising all Mexican citizens who they deem to not be white.”
Dr. Maria Saldaña-Portillo spoke with "Nightline" about the promised land grants.ABC
Indeed, when the treaty was sent to Congress, the Senate removed the article that laid out the process by which the land would be protected.
In 1848, there were 154 communities in New Mexico to whom the U.S. government guaranteed land. But most of those agreements, or land grants, were never honored. Today, only 35 communities remain.
While the country prospered, the treaty would forever change the fate of generations of Mexican Americans to come. Heirs to land that’s been owed for generations
“There's a huge disparity here in terms of poverty and [in] terms of education,” Arturo Archuleta, a land grant heir in New Mexico, told “Nightline.” “These communities have been left behind.”
Heirs like Archuleta are working to get reparations for the land that was taken from their communities, which existed long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was even created, according to Jacobo Baca, a historian with the University of New Mexico’s Land Grant Studies Program.
“It's beyond [a] sense of place,” Baca said. “Our identity is tied to place, but we don't see that place having an identity without us, either. So it defines us just as much as we define it.”
“It's beyond [a] sense of place,” Jacobo Baca said. “Our identity is tied to place, but we don't see that place having an identity without us, either. So it defines us just as much as we define it.”ABC
At the University of New Mexico, a collection of documents shows how a variety of land grants were vastly diminished over the years. One of the documents showed how an agreement for over 40,000 acres was reduced to less than 1,400 acres.
“I think for land grant heirs, there's this recognition that this treaty was a promise that was made that wasn't kept, and that the federal government owes the recognition of these communities,” Baca said.
Archuleta is an heir to the Manzano and the Tierra Amarilla land grants.
“We come from Spanish communities that came over, [and from] Native American communities as well,” Archuleta said. “So we really are sort of mestizo. We're mixed… We're a land-based people. Half of our soul was here before Columbus ever hit the sand.”
Archuleta says that these communities should be able to thrive where they are.
“It's not just surviving, but thriving. Our cultural connections are still in place,” he said. “The land grant and the treaty issues is probably what you consider the first Latino issue in this country, and it's still unresolved.”
Heirs like Arturo Archuleta are working to get reparations for the land that was taken from their communities.ABC
Padilla-Gutierrez’s family in New Mexico has also seen its land vanish over time. For centuries, she said the family has been living in the area near Tomé Hill in Valencia County. Now a hiking trail and site for religious pilgrims, its hillsides are filled with petroglyphs and its summit contains several large crosses.
“We have very deep, deep native roots here,” Andrea Padilla, Padilla-Gutierrez’s sister, told “Nightline.”
Padilla-Gutierrez said their land used to encompass 123,000 acres but that it has since been reduced to only 400 acres.
“America owes us the opportunity to take care of our own communities,” Padilla-Gutierrez said.
"It's the history, for God's sake. Plain and simple," said Rita Padilla-Gutierrez. "Your language, your customs, your food, your traditions. But for us, it's being a land-based people.”ABC
“I think regaining some of our land back would be justice,” her sister added.
The family still has the patent it was given to honor the land grant.
“It's signed by Ulysses Grant, who was president at the time -- seal and everything -- granting us that our land grant will continue to be ours again,” Padilla said. “But then later, they stole our mountains.”
The Tomé land grant lost 50,000 acres to the federal government in 1906. Like many others who held land grants, the family later had to sell their land.
“It hurt my father deeply, because he fought to the very end, telling people, ‘You can't do this. … Once you sell your land, that's it, you're nothing. You lose your culture. You lose everything,’” Padilla said.
“We have very deep, deep native roots here,” Andrea Padilla said of Tomé Hill in Valencia County, New Mexico.ABC
Her sister says their family’s land should’ve never been sold. The community lost more than acreage, she said. They “lost their way of life.” The betrayal of these land grants sowed racism that still exists today
Mexican American culture has been maligned for generations, and the racism born out of that continues to be espoused at the highest levels of government today.
The president himself famously kicked off his bid for office by saying Mexican immigrants are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” And as recently as June, The that travel from Mexico was contributing to COVID-19 infections rather than states’ efforts to reopen their economies.
“It does hit me in the heart,” Padilla said. “We always worked hard... And we did the right thing. So when they talk about lazy Mexicans or, ‘These Mexicans are all drug dealers and murderers,’ I'm, like, ‘Where? I haven't seen that. I'm not [one].’ You know?”
Saldaña-Portillo says this bigotry results from Mexican natives’ land being given to white settlers.
“[It helped create] the representation of Mexicans as these barbarous Indians,” she said. “That's annunciated every day when we hear Mexicans described as rapists, murderers and thieves.”
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