Race and the conflicts at home
Asense of peace and healing collected around the Santa Fe Plaza on Monday night when hundreds of people came together to say emphatically that in 2017, in this United States, racism will not go unchallenged.
Our community’s political and faith leaders put together an inspiring, much-needed response to the unsettling marches that happened last weekend in Charlottesville, Va., where white supremacists protested removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Over the weekend, three people died, a direct consequence of racists on the march.
Like the rest of the nation, the citizens of Santa Fe and New Mexico — most of us, anyway — are sick at heart to see young, mostly white men marching in goosestep. The torches, outstretched arms, the threatened and then inevitable violence, coupled with the nationalists’ stated objective of creating a whites-only nation, are a reminder that, yes, it can happen here. It is happening here, in the nation and at home in New Mexico.
We must not take the easy route of watching events taking place hundreds of miles away without reflecting about our own challenges. This is a town and region where different cultures have learned to get along, but where the past bruises and scars of living together remain, with new ones being made every day. Protesters on the Plaza brought home our own conflicts and divides — the sign, “Address Local Racism,” made the point with admirable directness. After the Rally against Racism was over, protesters took to the steps of the Santa Fe Bandstand chanting, “abolish the Entrada, abolish the Entrada, abolish the Entrada.”
The Entrada, as most of us in Santa Fe know, is a small part of the Fiesta de Santa Fe, the annual commemoration of the return of Spanish colonial settlers after the Pueblo Revolt. That 1680 revolt — the first American revolution, as it is rightly called — pushed the Spanish out. For 12 long years, they were in exile near El Paso, eventually returning with Don Diego de Vargas in an expedition to reclaim what they saw as their corner of the frontier.
Descendants of those men and women are rightly proud of the resiliency and grit of their ancestors. They endured. Descendants of the Native settlers who kicked out the Spanish likely wish they had not returned. They, too, have endured. For hundreds of years, the two peoples have lived side by side — helping one another, intermarrying, arguing over land and water, even taking up arms together to fight common enemies. Today, the people coexist in a mostly friendly but sometimes uneasy relationship. At no time of the year is the fabric of that relationship more strained than during the Fiesta de Santa Fe.
For local Hispanos, the Fiesta is a tribute to ancestors and their faith. The story they tell is of Don Diego, the conquistador charged with bringing the people home, turning to the Virgin Mary for guidance. He prayed to her — in the form of the beloved statue of Mary, La Conquistadora, Our Lady of Peace, enshrined today in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi — and asked for a peaceful return. Outside the city, he and his group waited. Briefly, there came a meeting between Pueblo leaders and the Spanish. The Indians agreed to let the Spanish return. The two sides drank hot chocolate, and it appeared that De Vargas’ prayers were heard.
During the Fiesta, the Spanish version of that meeting is re-enacted during the Entrada that indigenous protesters want abolished. To protesters, the Entrada glosses over the pain of conquest and the very real violence that accompanied the return of the Spanish. By focusing so narrowly, the Entrada spreads a false narrative. The reconquest was not purely peaceful, despite the shared hot chocolate.
As we watch conflict happen in other American towns, it is important to resolve our own disagreements. Members of the Fiesta Council who sponsor Fiesta, local Pueblo officials and representatives of the city reportedly have been talking about what can be done to ease tensions. We have said in the past that it might be time to move the Entrada off the Plaza, presenting it as a play in a private setting. Even in such a telling, more work should be done to move the piece from myth to reality. Over the past few years, Fiesta organizers have reached out to involve more Native people in Fiesta doings, including serving on La Reina’s court and in the cuadrilla for Don Diego de Vargas. They want to include the entire community. The best way to achieve that goal is by listening to the protesters, not in anger but with humility.
Since 1712, when a promise was made to pay tribute to the Virgin Mother for helping the settlers return, Fiesta de Santa Fe has been woven into the fabric of this city and this region. Except for the religious aspect, though, pieces of the celebration are not carved in stone; the addition of La Reina, for example, came in the 20th century. How the celebration unfolds can shift as needs change. Leaving intact re-enactments that cause pain is increasingly indefensible.
The 305th Fiesta de Santa Fe is a few weeks away. Organizers and city officials should hear the protesters in our midst and find a more inclusive way to celebrate, one that unites us rather than divides us. Such alterations in our city’s celebration would show that in Santa Fe, we pay attention to other people’s points of views. We listen. And then, we act.