“This is Chumash Land” spray-painted near Old Mission Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - "This is Chumash Land" could be seen spray-painted in red on a wall near Old Mission Santa Barbara Friday morning.

It is unknown at this time who vandalized the wall on private property or when it happened.

Drivers could see the vandalism near the corner or Laguna and East Los Olivos Street.

News Channel has reached out to Santa Barbara Police for more information but has not yet heard back.

This is not the first time vandalism in red paint has been seen around the Mission. In October 2018, "Never forget the lives and land stolen" was spray painted on the side of the parish church. The words "rape and "genecide," likely a misspelling of “genocide," was also painted on the front of the Mission.

In September 2017, the Junipero Serra statue outside the Mission was decapitated and covered in red paint. Serra was a Roman Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order who founded many missions along the California coast. Santa Barbara's Mission was founded in December 1786, two years after Serra died.

Serra is viewed as controversial by many due to the oppressive treatment of native people in order to establish the missions and convert those to Catholicism.

According to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, five missions were constructed on Chumash territory: San Luis Obispo, Lompoc Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. These missions were established between 1772 and 1804 and decimated the Chumash population due largely to the introduction of European diseases.

In 2020, the statue of Serra was removed from the front of Ventura's City Hall in the middle of the night but was later moved to the Mission San Buenaventura in February 2024 due to Serra's controversial history.