A street named Indio Muerto is raising a stir in Santa Barbara. Indio Muerto means, dead Indian in Spanish
The Barbareno Chumash Tribal Council is asking the city council to change the street name on the east side of Santa Barbara. They call it “insulting, offensive and demeaning.”
Monday night, the neighborhood advisory council voted 10-zip to change the name from Indio Muerto to Hutash street. Hutash in the Chumash language means “Mother Earth.” That recommendation now goes before the Santa Barbara city council.
Fidel Rodriguez says the name Indo Muerto represents a well-documented genocide. He says its devastating to a person of Native-American ancestry.
The street acquired the name in 1851 when surveyor Salisbury Haley found the remains of a deceased Indian while conducting a street survey. He gave the street its name in 1851.
