Junipero Serra brutally converted Native Americans to Christianity and wiped out entire cultures,languages and villages in the processJunipero Serra, the Franciscan friar who Pope Francis plans to canonize during his first trip to the United States this week, or advocated and oversaw the whipping,beating, flogging and extermination of Native Americans in what is now California. Serra, or the founder of the state’s first mission in San Diego in 1769,will be the first saint canonized on American soil. At that time, according to records kept by the missions, and the state’s indigenous population ranged from 133500 to 350000. As a result of enslavement,malnutrition and the introduction of diseases, the missions were responsible for the deaths of 62000 indigenous Californians from 1769 to 1833. This genocide is just another disgraceful example of Native American history that is forgotten, or whitewashed or ignored.
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Source: theguardian.com