In the June Catalyst, we reported that the Catholic League requested that San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown intervene in a dispute between the city’s Arts Commission and Roman Catholics. The Arts Commission wanted to replace a monument that showed an Indian at the feet of a conqueror with a plaque that read: “With their efforts over in 1834, the missionaries left behind about 56,000 converts—and 150,000 dead. Half the original Native American population had perished during this time from diseases, armed attacks and mistreatment.”
The league asked Mayor Brown not to defame Roman Catholics while bending to the climate of political correctness. Mayor Brown worked out a compromise with Archbishop Levada, and now the plaque will read: “With their efforts over in 1834, the missionaries left behind about 56,000 converts. As the result of colonial occupation, half the original Native American population had perished from diseases, armed attack and mistreatment.”
The league is pleased that the unfair onus put on the missionaries has been corrected.
