Entrada becomes a flashpoint
The Entrada re-enactment on the Plaza is producing more drama every year.
Last Friday on the Plaza, the Fiesta pageant about the Spanish re-occupation of Santa Fe, 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt, was followed by eight arrests among about 150 people who showed up to protest (even after the city and the Fiesta Council moved the starting time up two hours unannounced, a piece of trickery that was intended to dampen confrontation for safety reasons or, from the protesters’ point of view, reduce the anti-Entrada voice).
It was a tense afternoon. Fiesta court royalty and other players acted out their play that honors Don Diego de Vargas and the Marian statue known as La Conquistadora that he venerated. These days, the script with a strong religious theme tamps down conflict and subjugation, and plays up coexistence, with a Pueblo cacique telling de Vargas the Indian religion must be respected and a prologue that says the Spaniards came back to northern New Mexico no longer seeing themselves as conquerors or overloads.
Protesters weren’t having it. The lone dissident at the start of the play, in a feathered headdress, shouted repeatedly “This is a false narrative” before reinforcements arrived to chant “Abolish the Entrada” loudly as the Entrada troupe kneeled to pray, sang hymns and ended with shouts of “Que Viva.” The propriety of what happened after the Entrada will play out in court and in public debate in coming weeks. A heavy police presence moved the protesters to a designated “free speech zone” (can’t authorities come up with a less Orwellian term?) at the edge of the Plaza. Enforcing that boundary led to the eight arrests, including two felony charges against one protester for allegedly hitting officers with a protest sign, although officer lapel-cam video doesn’t show that happening.
A few thoughts on the police actions: There’s implied criticism in calling the police turnout “a small army.” But this is a situation where the police are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Would we now be lamenting a lack of adequate response from the SFPD had fights or worse broken out and there weren’t enough officers around? Considering the violence around the country in recent months at political gatherings and protests on racial issues, a strong police presence was warranted.
Separating protesters from others isn’t that unusual, either. Police tried to do that in Charlottesville and elsewhere.
But there are some strange ideas in the air about what the SFPD’s role was on the Plaza. Ranking police officers say it was their job to enforce the rules of the group that had a permit to use the Plaza last weekend, the Fiesta Council. How far does this theory go? If the Fiesta Council mandated that all men had to wear coats and ties to Fiesta, and women had to wear big hats with stuffed birds on them, would the police enforce the dress code? Would there be a police line keeping people off the Plaza if a permit was issued for members of a club or religious organization that didn’t want outsiders?
The police department’s role should be to enforce the law and endeavor to keep everybody safe, period.
At least some of the charges against protesters are being questioned. As noted above, the lapel-cam video doesn’t show any officers being hit with a protest sign. And, by various accounts, an out-of-state man got a misdemeanor charge for wearing a bandana headband — was this fashion choice possibly considered “gang colors” banned by the Fiesta Council?
Some of the protesters were rowdy, some were angry and some insulted the police officers trying to hold that “free speech zone” line. Supporters of Fiesta and the Entrada weren’t happy with the assault on a cultural tradition that is hundreds of years old and which they consider a celebration of their town. The good thing is that nobody got hurt or sprayed with tear gas or pepper spray. The police were in regular uniform — no space-age helmets and shields were brought out as intimidating shows of force.
Did moving up the starting time improve the situation? There would have been a huge protest during Entrada at the regularly scheduled hour — 150 protesters chanting could create a wall of sound that pushed tensions higher. But Friday’s long, lingering scrum between officers and protesters who’d missed their chance to directly confront the Entrada probably would have been avoided.
There are big questions for the future. Chances are the protests will only get bigger, as this year’s have gained some national press attention. Playing around with the starting time won’t do any good a second time. The ACLU is poking around the question of how the city handles free speech issues (and possibly city government’s support of Entrada as a religious event).
We’re glad to hear that the Fiesta’s leader appears willing to consider the idea of moving Entrada off the Plaza. It’s a flashpoint that is draining fun from and appreciation for Fiesta as a low-key community celebration. For sure, the Fiesta Friday tradition of chatting with old friends while enjoying a burrito at lunch on the Plaza was blown out last week when Entrada was suddenly moved up to a noon start.
The best idea is to stage the Entrada at another, preferably private, space.