Native Americans want a more accurate history of Sacramento's founder

Native Americans want a more accurate history of Sacramento's founder¹

Transcript²

California tribes are working with state parks to retell the story of Sutter's Fort. They want to include the history of John Sutter's violence toward Native Americans during Sacramento's founding.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This next story takes us to a tourist attraction in Sacramento, Calif. Sutter's Fort, now in the center of the city, was settled by the Swiss immigrant John Sutter. And park staff there are now trying to more accurately³ reflect the complexity⁴ of Sutter's life and the effect white settlers had on Indigenous⁵ people. Here's CapRadio's Pauline Bartolone.

(CROSSTALK)

PAULINE BARTOLONE, BYLINE⁶: California schoolchildren shuffle⁷ into this adobe⁸ fort in the center of Sacramento each year to learn about the Swiss settler John Sutter.

DEVIN MCCUTCHEN: All right, everyone, I want to tell you where you are. You're in the orientation⁹ room right now.

BARTOLONE: Park guide Devin McCutchen wears a dark green ranger¹⁰ uniform. Until recently, some park staff dressed up in 19th century attire¹¹. And kids reenacted characters from the era. But the education here is starting to change.

MCCUTCHEN: What I was just talking with the kids here about is this space is the carpenter shop, right?

BARTOLONE: The wood shop now provides a teaching moment about colonialism.

MCCUTCHEN: The very wood that a carpenter would work from here in Sacramento Valley would have likely have been an oak tree. That oak tree would have been the food source for the Native Americans.

BARTOLONE: While Oaks gave the tribal¹² Nisenan and Miwok people acorns¹³ to eat, Sutter saw the trees as a source of lumber¹⁴.

MCCUTCHEN: When you cut it down and value it as a commodity, it's at the expense of the Native people, who have been here since time immemorial.

BARTOLONE: The lessons here weren't always so well-rounded. Until recently, they were more focused on a heroic narrative¹⁵ of Sutter as a founder of Sacramento and a gold rush-era pioneer. But after the George Floyd protests, park officials started working with local Native American tribes to create a more accurate picture of Sutter's legacy¹⁶.

RHONDA POPE FLORES: He destroyed so much of our culture and history and just took over, you know, lands.

BARTOLONE: Rhonda Pope Flores is the chairwoman of the Buena Vista¹⁷ Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians. She wants fort visitors to know Native people lived here first. And John Sutter violently disrupted their ways of life.

POPE FLORES: Many people lost their lives. Many women were raped¹⁸ and enslaved, and families torn apart, as a result of his, you know, dream.

BARTOLONE: Sutter's frontier dream was a nightmare for the local tribes. One historical account describes hundreds of Native people working for him in slave-like conditions, eating out of troughs meant for livestock¹⁹. Sutter's biographer, Albert Hurtado, says he attacked and trafficked Indigenous people.

ALBERT HURTADO: He had no compunction about taking some men and a cannon²⁰ and shelling an Indian rancheria, killing²¹ people indiscriminately.

BARTOLONE: However, Hurtado says, John Sutter was a complicated man. He preferred to use diplomacy²² before violence.

HURTADO: You have to show him in all of his different facets²³.

BARTOLONE: The state of California is evaluating dozens of sites to determine if a new name or updated information is in order. Communities around the country are doing this work, too, says Autumn Saxton-Ross of the National Recreation and Park Association. And it's necessary for racial healing.

AUTUMN SAXTON-ROSS: If we are going to tell history, it needs to be accurate. So we have to actually recognize that things sucked for a really long time.

BARTOLONE: California parks started with native groups and will now invite the public to chime in about reinterpreting Sutter's Fort. The state park agency hopes it will soon be a place to learn more about the people who were here long before John Sutter arrived.

For NPR news, I'm Pauline Bartolone in Sacramento.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "DYE")

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

4 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

8 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

9 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

10 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

11 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

12 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

13 acorns   

n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Great oaks from little acorns grow. 万丈高楼平地起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Welcome to my new website!It may not look much at the moment, but great oaks from little acorns grow! 欢迎来到我的新网站。它现在可能微不足道，不过万丈高楼平地起嘛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

15 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

17 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

18 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

19 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

20 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

21 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

22 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

23 facets   

n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面

参考例句：

• The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》