A festering tooth in the center of town — it’s gone

One time, I had a rotten tooth. And it had to be pulled. It was a serious threat to my health. And I put it off as long as I could because I was afraid. After it was pulled, it was messy. It hurt and throbbed; it was bloody and gross and took time to heal. But it had to be done, even though it was a shock to my system.

Today, my daughter and I arrived at the Santa Fe Plaza after the obelisk was pulled down by local activists. All/most of our Native friends and community members were gone. The crowd had been dispersed. We were surrounded by tourists and non-Native residents. Like the aftermath of having a tooth yanked out, it was ugly. Gross. We got an earful of what some people really think.

My heart and my head hurt. And my heart celebrated, too. I literally cried. Never in my life did I think I’d see that monument come down — a stone obelisk celebrating the genocide/murder of “savage Indians.” I know there are folks who do not support its removal, so we must agree to disagree.

Because I want to thank the courageous people who tore it down. We saw and heard anger from shopkeepers and residents that was appalling; my daughter and I felt like ghosts as we walked around the Plaza, hearing unbelievably disappointing, racist comments about Natives and the history here. It was surreal. This, in itself, was proof to me that the obelisk was a rotten, putrid tooth in the center of this city. Pain to be attended to, like it or not, for this community’s health.

My question is, why can’t there be something in the center of the Plaza that brings beauty to everyone? Like … a fountain or … I don’t know. Surely there can be something less hurtful or abusive.

In any case, I’m old enough to know that it’s about power and dominance. And I’m old enough to continue to pray for our healing, messy and painful as it is.

Layli LongSoldier is a poet and resident of Santa Fe. She received her bachelor of fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts and a master of fine arts from Bard College. She is the author of WHEREAS (Graywolf Press, 2017), which won the 2018 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and was shortlisted for the National Book Award.