Last week’s historic decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade will be examined everywhere by proponents and opponents of the decision. But in Northern New Mexico the question of who should have power and authority over such intimate decisions has been answered decisively many times over in the past four centuries, as people voted with their feet: Nosotros los Norteños decidimos: We the people of the North decide for ourselves.
During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, as the surviving members of the New Mexico colony were escorted 300 miles to the South by Pueblo soldiers and their Apache allies, the angry destruction of all objects relating to the Catholic Church by Pueblo natives made it clear the rebellion had been directed against the authority of the Church, more than against any other source of grievance. When Mexican governor Albino Perez in 1837 tried to raise taxes and restrict political participation in New Mexico, he was simply confronted and killed, replaced by a more accommodating governor. When Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy — a French priest accompanied by his lifelong male companion, Joseph Machebeuf — tried among other things to stop certain religious practices found among the members of the Hermanos Penitentes, he ex-communicated one of New Mexico’s most accomplished political leaders, Fr. Jose Martinez, of Taos. Norteños simply continued these and other frowned-upon practices, in secrecy, even to this day.
Last week it was the Supreme Court of the United States exercising what amounts to ex-cathedra authority in questions of morals and values, a role more suited to Popes and pastors than to the adjudicators of constitutionality in a society that was already hopelessly secular in 1789.
And in El Norte the answer will be the same as before: in matters of faith and morals, and often politics, we from the North do our own thing, whether blessed by the authority figures of the moment or not. Norteños who want abortions will get them; those who reject abortion will not; the practice will not change, no matter what the legislature might say about abortion today or in the future. This reminds me of a line my norteño father liked from a Spanish poet (Antonio Machado) written a century ago: Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. (Wanderer, there is no path. You make the path when you walk.) Que viva el Norte!
Dr. Jose Z. Garcia is a retired professor of politics at NMSU. He also served as NM Secretary of Higher Education from 2011-2015.
Last week’s historic decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade will be examined everywhere by proponents and opponents of the decision. But in Northern New Mexico the question of who should have power and authority over such intimate decisions has been answered decisively many times over in the past four centuries, as people voted with their feet: Nosotros los Norteños decidimos: We the people of the North decide for ourselves.
During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, as the surviving members of the New Mexico colony were escorted 300 miles to the South by Pueblo soldiers and their Apache allies, the angry destruction of all objects relating to the Catholic Church by Pueblo natives made it clear the rebellion had been directed against the authority of the Church, more than against any other source of grievance. When Mexican governor Albino Perez in 1837 tried to raise taxes and restrict political participation in New Mexico, he was simply confronted and killed, replaced by a more accommodating governor. When Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy — a French priest accompanied by his lifelong male companion, Joseph Machebeuf — tried among other things to stop certain religious practices found among the members of the Hermanos Penitentes, he ex-communicated one of New Mexico’s most accomplished political leaders, Fr. Jose Martinez, of Taos. Norteños simply continued these and other frowned-upon practices, in secrecy, even to this day.
Last week it was the Supreme Court of the United States exercising what amounts to ex-cathedra authority in questions of morals and values, a role more suited to Popes and pastors than to the adjudicators of constitutionality in a society that was already hopelessly secular in 1789.
And in El Norte the answer will be the same as before: in matters of faith and morals, and often politics, we from the North do our own thing, whether blessed by the authority figures of the moment or not. Norteños who want abortions will get them; those who reject abortion will not; the practice will not change, no matter what the legislature might say about abortion today or in the future. This reminds me of a line my norteño father liked from a Spanish poet (Antonio Machado) written a century ago: Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. (Wanderer, there is no path. You make the path when you walk.) Que viva el Norte!
Dr. Jose Z. Garcia is a retired professor of politics at NMSU. He also served as NM Secretary of Higher Education from 2011-2015.