Ancestral land returned to tribe

A church turns over a half-acre plot to the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.

- BY NOAH HAGGERTY

JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times ART Morales, left, is shown with other members of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians on Monday.

On July 10, a church signed the deeds transferring a half-acre of land hosting a community center in the heart of San Gabriel - less than a mile down the road from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel — to an Indigenous tribe's nonprofit.

On paper, it was a relatively ordinary transaction (except maybe for the $0 price tag); however, for the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians based in Los Angeles and Orange counties, it was anything but: For the first time in centuries, a piece of their ancestral terri tory belongs to them.

"There were books when my daughters were in grammar school and high school that stated we were extinct," said Art Morales, an elder and historian in the tribe. To Morales, persevering through that long, painful history is what makes the agreement so significant: The tribe is "basically on the map now."

The lot, previously owned by the Presbytery of San Gabriel — a unit of the Presbyterian Church (USA), one of the largest Presbyterian denominations in the nationhosts offices, a kitchen and a community space, as well as an outdoor patio and green space.

JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times MONA Recalde brought up the return of land with the Presbytery of San Gabriel.

Now, under the ownership of the tribe, led by the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council, the space will host cultural ceremonies, government meetings, programming for tribal youths and a community food bank.