New Taos Pueblo governor to meet tough challenges ahead
War chief just as the pandemic hit, 2023 governor enters the new year with lessons learned
The office of governor at Taos Pueblo is one rooted in New Mexico’s history. It has been in existence longer than even the nations that bordered its lands, by the tribe’s traditional decree and by colonial government recognition, according to this year’s new governor, Gary J. Lujan, 54.
Physical symbols of that history were visible at the annual Blessing of the Canes ceremony Sunday (Jan. 15) where the symbolic canes of office were blessed during Mass at the San Geronimo Church in the village plaza.
“In 1620, it was King Philip of Spain that gave the Indian Pueblos in New Mexico the first canes, each embossed with ‘an engraved cross representing the blessing of the Catholic Church.’ This followed the imposition of law and governorship by the Spanish crown on July 7, 1598,” according to a 2022 statement provided by the tribe to the Taos News.
Other canes were given to Taos Pueblo by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln; President Richard Nixon (when the tribe’s sacred Blue Lake was returned in 1970); New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in 1980; and even a descendent of Christopher Columbus, which was presented on Jan. 7, 1992.
Governor Lujan said Taos Pueblo’s leadership is, “for lack of a better term, equally yoked under specific circumstances,” meaning the responsibilities of both the governor and the war chief are designed to handle certain duties in service to tribal members.
“A tribal governor and war chief, along with staffs for each, are appointed yearly by the tribal council, a group of some 50 male tribal elders. The tribal governor and his staff are concerned with civil and business issues within the village and relations with the non-Indian world. The war chief and staff deal with the protection of the mountains and Indian lands outside the Pueblo walls,” according to a statement from taospueblo.com.
Lujan, who served as war chief in 2020, said his understanding of tribal leadership was deepened by that experience now that he steps into a new level. The tenacity of Taos Pueblo people was severely tested that year when he and tribal Gov. Edwin Concha found themselves having to respond to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that ravaged the nation.
Unlike the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918, Lujan said modern tribal leadership had science and evolving treatments and programs upon which to rely. But, all of it was unprecedented.
“If I had to narrow it down to any one thing that prepared me for this year and and the role of tribal leadership, [it was] when we took the mantle of responsibility [in 2020]. None of us knew we would be facing a global pandemic which would change all aspects of life. The pandemic forced leadership at all levels to create systems and response the likes of which had not been created at a tribal level or in many levels,” Lujan said.
As he looks toward his responsibilities for 2023, Lujan first clarified a slight confusion over the length of terms for tribal leadership. Former Gov. Clyde Romero was held on for two years instead of the traditional one-year term because of the need for program continuity due to the pandemic, Lujan said. This year, Lujan said it will return to a one-year term for his administration.
With the coronavirus pandemic more-or-less settling into a strange normalcy, Lujan said 2023 will still have the specter of last year’s Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire looming over the coming spring and summer months. “That was a huge burden to bear, both for the war chief and the governor, considering that our natural resources and sacred areas were in line of sight of that fire,” Lujan said. “I feel that … their responses and interactions with federal agencies, namely the Carson National Forest and the agencies involved … had some good measures in place.”
Moving forward, he said, “as we deal with global warming,” the resulting environmental changes mean the tribe will have to have closer interactions with them “so that we’re collectively always on the same page because what affects us here also effects our neighbors surrounding us.”
In addition to challenges or changes he sees for the year ahead, Lujan said his administration will commit “to a level of continuity and tribal investment.” What that means is that past administrations have initiated projects “to meet the needs of our community. These projects are focused on priority needs, beginning with community health, housing, infrastructure development, education and economic development. Each of these initiatives has an investment of time and financial resources. So, our goal is to build out on these investments, strengthening where necessary, bringing in new resources, to see fruition for tribal growth.”
Additionally, he said, “we have moved through a series of community visioning sessions to stand up our tribal priorities, creating models of implementation,” Lujan said. “As we move through this year, it is [also] important to begin to create a framework of accountability measures … It’s a goal to start having discussions of what those accountability measures are going to be and, of course, sanctioned by tribal council and tribal leadership.”
Lastly, he said a tribal councilman said he was grateful for tribal government focusing all this work on important programs, but there are things happening in the outside world that may have a grave effects on the tribe’s time-honored sovereignty.
Recent Supreme Court rulings bear this out. One sided with the state of Oklahoma, saying, in effect, that the state could exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians on Indian land. Another finds the Child Protection Act being challenged as a “race-based law.” That Act, according to a Nov. 9, 2022 story from Alaska Public Media, was created in 1978 “to address concerns that Native children were being separated from their families and, too frequently, placed in non-Native homes. It has long been championed by tribal leaders as a means of preserving their families, traditions and cultures. But white families seeking to adopt Native children are among the challengers who say the law is impermissibly based on race, and also prevents states from considering those children’s best interests.”
While affecting Native people far away, the effect on tribal sovereignty in general is something to keep in mind as 2023 rolls on, Lujan added.