In December 2019, the Los Angeles Times published an article challenging the Chumash identity of Wishtoyo Foundation Founder and Executive Director Mati Waiya, relying on the opinions of non-Native anthropologists. We have taken the time to respond thoughtfully, because this matter deserves more than a simple rebuttal.

First and foremost, the records used to "disprove" Mati’s identity were created by non-Native scholars working within a colonial system. We acknowledge that Spanish mission registers, baptismal records, and ethnohistorical databases can serve as valuable historical resources, but they are imperfect sources and should never be relied upon solely to verify who is and who is not Indigenous. In fact, mission records did not even record Chumash and other California Indigenous peoples under the unified term "Chumash”, and often documented us by mission subgroup, the village where information was taken, or baptismal and/or birth name instead of the collective identity we’re held to today.

Furthermore, during colonial times, many Native Californians hid their ancestry for survival. The absence of a name in a ledger does not mean the absence of a people. To now use those same records as the definitive measure of authentic Indigenous identity is colonialism repeated. That does not excuse the fact that we must have actual accountability to our claims, but the real question is what is the standard and to whom do we owe accountability?

Identity is not determined by outside experts, and it never has been.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms what Native communities have always known—Indigenous peoples have the right to self-identification. That right does not require the validation of anthropologists or genealogical databases built by institutions that spent centuries trying to erase us.

Furthermore, California presents a particularly complex landscape. Eighteen treaties were negotiated with California tribes in the early 1850s, and then quietly buried in the U.S. Senate, never ratified. Unlike tribes in other regions, most California Indigenous peoples have no treaty status, no federally recognized reservation, and no government-to-government framework that acknowledges their continued existence. This political reality has created a system in which federal recognition (which is itself a colonial construct) has become the default standard for "legitimacy," even as it excludes thousands of Indigenous people.

There remains ongoing debate within Indigenous communities about the boundaries of identity. We respect that debate. Federally recognized tribes have sovereign authority to set membership criteria for their nations, and we honor that sovereignty. But that authority does not extend to erasing the identity of non-federally recognized peoples whose invisibility in federal records reflects the violence of history, not the absence of heritage.

What is not up for debate is the work.

For decades, Wishtoyo Foundation has fought for the protection of Chumash ancestral lands and waterways, educated and inspired thousands of young people about Indigenous stewardship, assisted in the advancement of the first-ever tribally initiated National Marine Sanctuary in U.S. history, and remains at the forefront of Indigenous-led environmental conservation on the West Coast. Its impact is documented, measurable, and recognized by Indigenous communities, legal institutions, and environmental organizations across the country.

Mati’s identity is not a claim made for convenience or capital. His family and tribal government possess historical records that verify his California “Indian” lineage. He was raised in an Indigenous multigenerational household and community in the small village of Sa’aqtik’oy, Ventura County, where his family continues to reside. He was apprenticed by five specific Chumash Elders from Santa Ynez Reservation and Ventura County in traditional ceremony, dance, and protection of the environment, to which he has devoted his life.

We understand that the question of what it means to be Indigenous in modern America is one of the most contested conversations of our time. Wishtoyo welcomes that conversation openly and honestly, but we reject the premise that the answer belongs to anyone other than us.

— Wishtoyo Foundation

‍ For press inquiries, contact Jake Yablonski at jake@plus4pr.com , (310) 948-9743