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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:36:45 EDT
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Subject: Re: Bridges Needed, Not Statues
FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF MARCH 26, 1999
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez
BRIDGES NEEDED TO UNITE CULTURES
(NOTE TO EDITORS: In the name Juan de Onate, there is a tilde over the "n"
in the surname.)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- All over the world there are statues to individuals who
are deemed to represent the faces of monumental history. Often, distilled from
that history is the vast unwritten pain from the spoils of such epochs. Such
is the case in Albuquerque where supporters of Juan de Onate, a 16th-century
Spanish soldier, want his name written alongside other European "explorers."
His supporters would like to see the city erect a grand statue honoring him
as the founder and first governor of the state. Opponents, who hold him
responsible for genocide, land theft and slavery, would prefer to create a
memorial to honor the meeting of the various cultures in 1598.
This Onate controversy is creating deep wounds among the cultures, as the
media are erroneously projecting it as a battle pitting Hispanics vs. Native
people. It's actually a battle between some Hispanics who insist on honoring
Onate and Onate only, vs. seemingly everyone else.
Onate was banished from New Mexico by the Spanish authorities for his
cruelty toward the indigenous population, which included the massacre at Acoma
Pueblo and the virtual obliteration of the Jumanos Pueblo. He was not
personally responsible for every massacre in the region. However, it was his
forays that opened up the Southwest to such atrocities. This eventually led to
the 1680 Pueblo Revolt -- a coordinated rebellion that drove out Spaniards
from
the region for 12 years. It was so complete that everything Spanish was
destroyed, including missions, churches, government buildings and particularly
the mines that exploited Indian slave labor.
This impassioned debate is not about the past, but rather about how we honor
memory and what we remember. Even more poignantly, this is about how neighbors
view and treat each other and how they view themselves.
Many of the proponents, who claim ascendancy from Spain, say there's an
anti-Hispanic bias in the opposition to the statue. Many of the opponents
claim out-and-out racism against native people. Missing from this is what
Mexicans or Mexican-Americans, who form a large part of New Mexico's
population, think about this controversy. Some of the Hispanics pushing for
the
Onate statue want nothing to do with Mexicans and also take a deep offense if
they are confused with indigenous Mexicans. Incidentally, the Mexican nation
has never erected a statue to Hernan Cortes, Mexico's "conquistador."
Despite this, the media generally lump Mexicans in the same category as
Hispanics, especially in this debate.
The proponents of the statue don't speak for all Hispanics and generally
have a disdain for Indians, Mexicans or mestizos, said Arturo Sandoval, who
heads the committee to commemorate 400 years of Hispanic presence in the
state. He favors an inclusive memorial: "I'm Hispanic, and I don't support the
statue."
This disdain is not often broached in "polite company," though it often
manifests itself in the immigration and bilingual education debates and in
cultural celebrations in which Mexican-indigenous culture is suppressed.
We wonder what motivates one group of people to wantonly disregard the views
-- not simply of their neighbors -- but neighbors who were here long before
Onate left his profitable slave-mining operations in Zacatecas?
Native people and Chicanos have stepped forward almost unanimously in
opposition to the statue. Yet the city council is still trying to erect the
statute, just as it is still trying to ramrod a road through an ancient sacred
site within the city limits.
Apparently, the need to honor a conqueror overrides the need to get along as
neighbors. Why? An inferiority complex? Maybe, though Acoma educator Darva
Chino said that perhaps it's more of a superiority complex. "They're of the
philosophy that to be Spanish is to be better (than Mexicans-Indians)."
Perhaps
this superiority complex helps explain why they rejected placing an Indian
statue in Tiguex Park back in 1983 -- the same park where the Onate statue is
destined to be placed.
Sadly, it's reminiscent of another controversy a few years ago in San Jose,
Calif., in which the building of a statue to Quetzalcoatl (an Aztec spiritual
force) was protested vociferously by those who, after 500 years, continued to
believe that indigenous spirituality is heathen.
If bigotry is not involved and a reminder of Spanish accomplishments is
actually needed, then we suggest building a library or a museum.
Seems more like a case where a bridge between communities needs to be built,
rather than another bronze statue of a dead guy on a horse.
COPYRIGHT 1999 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
* Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez:
Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library,
Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race
(Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and
the antibook, The X in La Raza II and Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human.
They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-242-7282 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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