Showing the “true history” of Native Americans is top of mind for this Indigenous Temecula filmmaker as the United States is celebrating 250 years as a nation.
American Indian history is much older — and must be told in “the most compelling and accurate way possible,” the creative team behind a new, award-winning docuseries, “People of the West,” say. The 10-episode series, developed at the Pechanga Studios in southwest Riverside County with full support from the Pechanga Band of Indians, retells “California’s untold history entirely through Native voices,” according to a news release.
“We want people to respect Indigenous knowledge. We want our creation history to matter as much as the Garden of Eden story, or any other religion or cultures’ creation histories,” said Pechanga Studios director and series producer Bradley Munoa in a recent interview. “We want people to have the true history of California as foundational knowledge that informs all our decision making going forward. So when we decide which mountains to blow up, or where to run power lines, we do so from an informed perspective.”
The documentary film series — which premiered in Hollywood in late June — blends oral storytelling, reenactments, interviews with Native American voices, experts, and tribal archives to “tell the true story of the West, from first contact to modern sovereignty… tracing five centuries of oppression, genocide, survival and resilience,” the release said.
The docuseries gets its name from the Pechanga Band of Indians’ name, “Payómkawichum” or “People of the West,” a name many diverse California tribes refer to themselves as, leaders said.
Hour-long episodes take on periods of California Native history — including the growth of casino gaming in the Cabazon reservation and impact on tribal sovereignty, genocide and colonization under the California Mission system, and the reported kidnapping and deaths of thousands of students at American Indian boarding schools; mentioning schools in the Inland Empire.
Munoa is a member of the Toşoval clan in the Pechanga Band of Indians, and was raised on the Temecula Valley area reservation. He remembers being taught “a very romanticized version” of California history, and later watching his own children learn outdated, often inaccurate and even harmful depictions of American Indian history at school, Munoa said.
It was “the Disneyland version of California history… an awkward, clumsy representation of the truth,” he said. “It’s a lot to ask teachers and students to trudge through these thick, heavy, dense academic books to learn the history; that’s why ‘People of the West’ was made.”
After getting into filmmaking and going to USC film school, Munoa said he knew he wanted to help make quality content for the tribe to “benefit all people, not just Natives, if this history is known.” After developing the docuseries idea, he and his team began pitching the series, calling Indigenous leaders, historians, and experts; doing extensive research, building sets and filming over the next few years.
“Right about that time (in 2021), California signed AB101 into law, which mandates every high school student in the state take an ethnic studies class as a graduation requirement. It was then that I knew we had an in,” Munoa said. “In ethnic studies, usually they teach pan-native history where they teach about the collective history of Native people, lumping us all into one giant culture. The story of California Native people is rarely, if ever, taught on a large scale, and we’re almost never represented in mainstream media.”
“People of the West” was also developed to support the Native American requirement of the ethnic studies bill — authored by now Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina when he was a state assembly member. Pechanga filmmakers met with state Superintendent Tony Thurmond about the project, and are still working with education leaders to get an official state endorsement for the series and its 155-page corresponding curriculum, to bring to schools statewide, Munoa said.
Episode 8 of the series was also shown at Temecula’s Great Oak High School, in an international baccalaureate history class, which showcased the “Red Power” movement led by Native American student voices.
“The kids loved it. They hadn’t heard about the occupation of Alcatraz Island, and it fit perfectly into their civil rights discussion/coursework. We got great feedback from the students who said they loved the media and format of the lessons,” Munoa said. “As I walked around and heard the kids’ discussions, the things they were articulating brought tears to my eyes. They were saying all the things we wished everyone knew and would say — about why the Natives were treated this way, why they were protesting. How they were using media and awareness to create advocacy rather than violence. It was beautiful.”
And all of this work is especially important now, Munoa said, with the ongoing federal battle over (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs.
“When we first started, there was a different administration in power. DEI wasn’t taboo and there was a lot of momentum around representing underrepresented voices,” Munoa said, recognizing how that shift has impacted both education and entertainment.
But highlighting accurate, truthful representation “is the battle,” he said, especially in this 250-year milestone of American history.
“America wants to tell a pretty story about itself, a warm and fuzzy story that will instill patriotism and make everyone proud to be American,” Munoa said. “We can still be proud and patriotic and love our country, while being critical of it, holding ourselves to a higher standard, learning the full scope of history so we can truly understand our past… by doing so, we can build a way better future for our children.”
“California wants to tell a certain story about itself to instill pride in its citizens. But when we obfuscate the truth, that pride is baseless. If we reveal the truth, we can be proud of that transparency and collectively work together to never repeat the mistakes of the past. Until that happens, we can’t move forward.”
For more information, including future upcoming screenings of Pechanga Studios’ “People of the West,” visit https://www.peopleofthewest.org or @peopleofthewestseries.