Kumeyaay Natives protest construction of border wall desecrating burial grounds
EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - “We are still here” are the words the Kumeyaay people repeated as they protested the construction of the border desecrating burial grounds.
The Kumeyaay people are native to the Southern border of California and Baja California.
Their home transversed borders long before they even existed.
"We shouldn’t have to be asking for permission to the U.S. government to go back home back and forth I think the government should be asking us to be here they should be respectful of our people we are here thousands and thousands of years,” said Gloria Rodriguez, said Kumeyaay native.
As you can see this is the border wall that’s under construction and being built on sacred land.
“A lot of our land and a lot of our culture has already been desecrated and taken from us so much that I’m tired of it. I’m tired of us being on the back burner these projects where they can desecrate do whatever they want and we just have to deal with it,” said Cynthia Parada, Tribal Council member.
They are asking for more Tribal monitors.
Monitors are people that make sure no monuments or historical artifacts are destroyed. There is currently 3 on-site.
They are also asking for soil testing because there were human remains found in the area.
“I’ve heard so many white Americans talk about statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and these other confederate monuments well this entire dessert is a monument to the Kumeyaay people their ancestors are buried here they look at a lot of the landscape as a being testament and monument of their struggle which is they survived four genocides I ask the United States government how is it ethical to send troops to protect white enslavers while at the same time desecrating sacred land,” said John Sepulvedo, Activist.
CBP told us they are working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its environmental monitor to accommodate the Nation’s request for additional tribal monitors.
“It’s hard to see our people separated by this wall because for us it’s only an imaginary border," said Rodriguez.
