This past April, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians formally reclaimed its ancestral name, now identifying as the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation.
The tribe highlighted its reclaimed name on a billboard along Interstate 10, a heavily traveled corridor, to raise awareness of the change.
Early on Thanksgiving Day, the billboard was vandalized with an anti-Indigenous message and an American flag draped over the left portion. The message read: “America is not on stolen land. Your ancestors were conquered. Happy Thanksgiving.”…