Tribal Truths and Modern Myths: Why California Is Not "Stolen Land"

The slogan is simple, the sentiment sweeping: "No one is illegal on stolen land." - @amuse

It festoons placards, hashtags, and classroom walls from Sacramento to Santa Cruz. 

But as with most slogans meant to end debate, this one also seeks to preclude history. 

• It presumes that California was once peaceful, indivisible, and unjustly snatched from its rightful stewards. 

But history, and a robust respect for indigenous agency, tells a far more complex story, one in which conquest, conflict, diplomacy, and trade all played a part. 

• To claim that the land was "stolen" and never rightfully acquired is not only historically inaccurate, it infantilizes the very indigenous groups it purports to defend....