Glad it’s gone

Good riddance. A shameful reminder of conquest and colonizing — and even of the hanging of Indigenous people on the Plaza.

It is true that the obelisk originally honored New Mexico’s Union soldiers who fought against the Confederacy, but by adding the reference to “savages,” it came to represent the subjugation and suppression of Native people here, especially unacceptable in this time of reckoning for systemic racism. This is no different than removing Confederate monuments glorifying injustice and insult to African Americans.

The mayor brought this on. His inaction showed he sided with those who don’t care to pay attention to redressing ongoing grievances by Pueblo people. He and other Anglos who move to Santa Fe for the “weather and art” should know more of the true history of injustices committed to the original inhabitants of this Pueblo land — injustices that continue and that should include the removal of painful reminders such as the obelisk and also conquistador statues like that of Don Diego de Vargas.

Get reeducated. I suggest enrolling in Indigenous studies classes as a non-Native student, as I did, at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Attend Native events to inform and learn about Pueblo, Navajo and Apache history, culture and concerns. Visit their cultural centers and feast days, where you are welcomed with friendliness and equal respect. And let’s see works that honor Native, Hispanic, other people of color and Anglo people who have made positive contributions to Santa Fe, and no more to the dark past of conquest and slaughter.

William Ferguson Santa Fe