{"id":609454,"date":"2018-08-03T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=609454"},"modified":"2018-08-16T10:04:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T16:04:35","slug":"new-mexico-finds-its-way-toward-racial-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/new-mexico-finds-its-way-toward-racial-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico finds its way toward racial reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Don

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

A statue of Don Juan de O\u00f1ate in Rio Arriba County.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>I was taught as a child growing up in Santa Fe that the Spanish reconquest of my hometown 12 years after the 1680 Pueblo revolt was peaceful.<\/p>\n

Not until college did I begin to understand the complex truth of colonization that hid underneath that superficial falsehood. And it wasn\u2019t until a few years ago, when I discovered that my Montes-Vigil ancestors were sent from Zacatecas in 1694 to help reinforce the Spanish presence around Santa Fe, that I realized I\u2019d been robbed for much of my life of the ability to grapple with a painful truth about my ancestors.<\/p>\n

That truth is that the Spanish invaded this land in 1598 when Don Juan de O\u00f1ate proclaimed that it belonged to Spain, and our Spanish ancestors, like the Americans after them, committed brutal atrocities against Native people.<\/p>\n

O\u00f1ate\u2019s army, for example, slaughtered hundreds of people in 1599<\/a>. We enslaved Natives. We built Catholic churches on top of their pueblos and forced conversions. My ancestors stole crops from Natives during a bad winter. I\u2019m certain people starved to death.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

And the colonizers, led by Don Diego de Vargas, entered Santa Fe in 1692 with a formal declaration that Spain was retaking the land and a promise of clemency for those who returned to Christianity. There may have been no bloodshed that day, but there was later fighting at some pueblos. Native men were killed. Women and children were enslaved.<\/p>\n

The effects linger. The Navajo Nation\u2019s poverty rate<\/a> is more than twice the state\u2019s. New Mexico\u2019s Native youth are more than twice as likely as others to die by suicide<\/a>. Native people are more likely to be killed by police<\/a> than any other group in the United States.<\/p>\n

So as protests of Spanish colonization celebrations have raised awareness and increased tension in recent years, it\u2019s encouraging to see bold steps toward reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Espa\u00f1ola\u2019s city government opted this year to stop funding and overseeing<\/a> an annual celebration of O\u00f1ate\u2019s arrival. And Santa Feans have agreed to end the annual Entrada celebration<\/a> \u2013 a re-enactment of the false narrative about de Vargas\u2019 1692 reconquest that has long been part of the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

We shouldn\u2019t erase our history. But rather than celebrating our bloodiest moments, we need to accurately portray and teach them<\/a>. Memorials and events should promote understanding and encourage racial reconciliation.<\/p>\n

The massive, in-your-face sculpture of O\u00f1ate at the El Paso International Airport should come down<\/a>. Cities like Las Cruces should evaluate their monuments to Spanish conquest<\/a>. Do they inaccurately portray what happened? Do they glorify it? If so, they need to be changed.<\/p>\n

Officials should rename schools that are named after O\u00f1ate in Las Cruces<\/a>, Albuquerque<\/a> and Gallup<\/a>. Santa Fe is again leading on this issue by replacing De Vargas Middle School<\/a> with a facility bearing a different name.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber says the city is starting a new chapter with the end of the Entrada celebration, creating \u201cnew opportunities for events and programs that reflect our city\u2019s unique history, culture and sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this difficult and divided moment in our country, too many communities are choosing a different path, embracing anger, rancor, racism and hate,\u201d Webber said. \u201cHere in Santa Fe were are choosing peace, reconciliation, respect and unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing our history and then changing can be really difficult. I\u2019m proud of my hometown. I\u2019m grateful that in 2018 the city\u2019s children will grow up with a deeper understanding of their heritage than I did.<\/p>\n

Other communities should follow Santa Fe\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m grateful that in 2018 Santa Fe’s children will grow up with a deeper understanding of their heritage than I did. Other communities should follow Santa Fe\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[1181,143,179],"class_list":["post-609454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-espanola","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-santa-fe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}