Early in 1991 Sonny Rivera visited me at NMSU in my capacity as director of the Latin American Studies program. He was sculpting a statue of Oñate in Juarez and wanted help with publicity as he pulled the statue across the river into El Paso and up the Rio Grande to Alcalde.
I asked if he had consulted with the Acoma or San Juan Pueblos. Why should he have done that? he asked. I related the story of the conflict at Acoma in 1598 and 1599, and told him I would help him only if the natives were engaged. Emilio Naranjo, chair of the Rio Arriba County Commission would have to approve, he replied. The commission had rewarded him the contract for the sculpture. Emilio and I had traded favors a few years earlier at conventions when we were chairs of our county Democratic parties. Emilio had spoken to one of my classes. His stepson Larry was a student of mine. I felt confident we could speak frankly with each other, and a few days later Sonny and I drove to Española to Emilio’s trailer. We spoke in Spanish.
“They can sell pottery and jewelry there after the statue is placed,” he said, adding, but there will be no consultation.
I argued, but he was adamant. As we left, I told Sonny, regretfully, that I couldn’t help him with the project. I made a few phone calls to natives I knew in the Pueblo world to see if the native community might be receptive to a collaboration, should Emilio change his mind. Nothing came of it. The statue went up without including the point of view of the other major historical protagonists in the story of 1598 and, predictably, within a few months a foot was sawed off.
What has been missing in the Rio Arriba County’s Oñate project since 1991 is the presence of the natives. The nature of Oñate’s interaction with natives after he declared the region to be part of the Spanish empire is an integral part of the story of 1598. His behavior was, incidentally, addressed officially in the accusations and conviction of the Spanish crown against him in 1606. The Pueblos have every right to participate in the official or unofficial telling today of the story. The contract for the statue by the Rio Arriba County Commission in 1990, as it unfolded without consultation, revealed what can only be viewed as an effort to tell that story in a lopsided way. At this point there is a lot of water under the bridge and the story of the statue has migrated to an ever-widening audience, far beyond Rio Arriba County. The court of public opinion is now in play throughout the state, in parts of the nation, and in parts of the world. This is appropriate. The story of the statue is relevant to the telling of colonial experiences everywhere. It has legs.
I viewed Emilio’s decision not to include the Pueblos as an opportunity lost. Pueblo citizens, who vote in elections ( Current Chairman Alex Naranjo’s ( Emilio’s nephew) county commission district includes Ohkay Owingeh, where residents vote in the senior center ) might have welcomed a chance to participate in forging a response to the physical, taxpayer-funded presence of the statue. Perhaps a statue of Ohkay Owingeh’s own Popé, on the other side of the river? Surely, the Pueblos would find a creative, appropriate response to Oñate’s bronze new-found presence in Alcalde. Money? Yes, as I have said the story has legs. Many legitimate foundations and government entities fund this kind of thing. Universities could have organized forums for historians and archaeologists to mingle with Hispanos and Natives to reflect on 1598 from many differing perspectives. Public television might have been mobilized. The airing of grievances in public might have had a healthy effect on mutual understanding. New perspectives or common ground might have emerged for those willing to listen. A major opportunity to better understand our past and its relationship to our present and future was lost. Or was it? Could the opportunity still be open?
In preparing this opinion I consulted with Lt. Gen (R) Brad Hosmer and his wife Zita, friends of mine, who chose to retire in Northern New Mexico in part because “New Mexico has rubbed the sharp corners of the three dominant cultures here better than anywhere else we know. Not perfect, but better.” They offer this positive possibility:
A case could be made that Sonny’s Oñate statue be one centerpiece of a reconciliation – to strengthen the mutual gains already extant to both Hispanic and Native cultures.
Dr. Garcia is a retired professor of politics at NMSU. He also served as Secretary of Higher Education from 2011-2015.