The information below was compiled by Chalice’s Green Sanctuary Team in 2021.

Ownership of Chalice land encompasses a long history of oppression of Indigenous People. This convoluted story begins along Felicita Creek at Felicita County Park, part of a larger tract of land that includes Chalice. The park is thought to be the site of the largest pre-European contact village of the Kumeyaay-Ipai people, who called the land home for millennia.

This also overlaps land where bands of the Quechnajuichom (part of a larger group also called Luiseño after Mission San Luis Rey) were at the southern limit of their territory.
Source: https://www.sanpasqualbandofmissionindians.org/about

First contact in the Felicita area was by Spanish explorers in 1776. They claimed the entire area and established missions up and down the coast (1776-1810). To escape forced religious conversion and enslavement at the missions, many Native People escaped to the inland areas of their territory. (Robert Archibald in San Diego Historical Society Quarterly, V. 24, N. 2).

Without consulting Indigenous People, Mexicans took the area from the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821) Far from improving the situation for Indigenous People, the Mexican Period (1832 – 1848) inflicted further social, cultural, economic, and political limitations, including forced relocation to newly established ranchos.
Source: https://www.slrmissionindians.org/about

Once more ignoring the original inhabitants, The Americans took the territory from the Mexicans in Mexican American War (1846-1848). If anything, matters got even worse. The United States added restrictions on Indian movement and precluded civil protections, denying the vote, and banning testifying in court against any white person. California Statehood required a formal relationship with native peoples, so treaties were signed by Indigenous People in 1851−52 that set aside 8.5 million acres for 18 California Tribes. While reducing the ancestral homeland, treaties granted the Kumeyaay-Ipai, much of the Felicita Creek watershed. All other land was claimed by the United States. Under these treaties, the Chalice property and the surrounding area belonged to Indigenous People.
Sources: www.viejasbandofkumeyaay.org
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ramona-sentinel/sdrs-on-the-trail-of-our-ancient-past-indian-2009aug05-story.html

The U.S. government failed on their end and did not sign the treaties, even keeping them secret. Instead, a systematic and genocidal extermination of native people continued, including State-sanctioned massacres that further reduced the population. By the 1880’s when the U.S. government finally acted to establish reservations, the lands granted were greatly diminished in size and poor in natural resources.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Indian_Reservations_and_Cessions

From this point, things began to slowly improve. Today, civil rights are supposedly guaranteed and gaming has afforded more economic security. Land and cultural rights are not always respected, as evidenced by the construction of the border wall with Mexico that bisected Kumeyaay peoples and bypassed cultural requirements. The dominant culture of white supremacy continues to abridge the dignity and rights of Indigenous People.

From 1776 there have been settlers from all over the world joining Indigenous Peoples here. U.S Census-designated “Hispanic” People, and especially non-citizens, experience significant discrimination and violation of civil rights. Locally the ACLU has fought for legal representation and due process for asylum seekers, the bulk of whom are currently Central American. There recently were illegal efforts to exclude undocumented people from the U.S Census. In the midst of anti-immigrant sentiment, all people of color are overrepresented in negative measures of health and welfare.  In our County, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Covid 19 numbers show people of color consistently over-represented in number of cases and deaths.

In 2022, Escondido was approximately 51% Hispanic, 35% White, 5% Asian, 4% Multiracial, 3% Black, 0.2% American Indian, and 0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and mixed race.
Source: http://www.city-data.com/city/Escondido-California.html

Looking at the demographics of Escondido, Chalice is a predominantly white congregation in a sea of people of color. Chalice draws congregants from surrounding communities whose demographics more closely resemble the Chalice community. We hope to overcome the history of white supremacy and to evolve to reflect the demographics of our physical location.