And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "CATHERINE DAVIDS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: The University of Michigan - Flint
Ainee, Hola, and Aloaha,
The mayor of Albuquerque, Jim Baca, has proclaimed November 6th
as Native American Music Awards Day in that city. The 2nd Annual
Native American Music Awards is scheduled to take place Saturday,
November 6th at Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque. Tickets will go on
sale August 20th.
I respectfully ask each and everyone of you to please urge the
NAMMYS to boycott Albuquerque, New Mexico due to that city's
disdain and disrespect to the American Indian and Mexican American
people. I urge the NAMMYS to tell the mayor of Albuquerque that
the organization is boycotting due to the circumstances which will be
outlined in the following column by Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia
Gonzales. I am also including an excerpt of their June 11, 1999 column
entitled "Of Chihuahuas, Indian Slayers, and War." Perhaps the
NAMMYS could be held at one of the reservations that have
beautiful conference facilities, etc.
In my humble opinion I believe that the Mayor of Albuquerque, his
city council, and others are using the NAMMYS to buy themselves
some positive press and publicity due to the dehumanizing
relationships they have forged with American Indian and Mexican
communities.
This column was written by Roberto Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonzales
on March 26, 1999. Rodriguez & Gonzales are syndicated newspaper
columnists who pen "Column of the Americas" which is read by
thousands of people each week. What is not told in the column is
that several years ago Rodriguez and Gonzales were honored by the
City of Albuquerque for their human rights activities and
writings...they were presented with the city's Martin Luther King Jr.
Human Rights Award. When the controversy about the statue of
Juan de Onate began, and the city supported erecting a statue to this
mass murderer, Rodriguez and Gonzales returned their human rights
award.
A boycott would have great impact on this city and their arrogant
attitude. A boycott would give support to Rodriguez & Gonzales and
the human rights groups they work with in Albuquerque. We cannot
let these good people down and we simply cannot support the city of
Albuquerque. If anybody out there has a suggestion of a better
place for the NAMMYS then please let them know at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Rodriguez & Gonzales are working with a group of American Indians,
Mexicans, and other right-minded good-hearted people who are
trying to get this outrageous monument to genocide stopped. I
should also mention that sacred sites belonging to the indigenous
people are also being threatened with extinction by the City of
Allbuquerque who hypocritically give out a human rights award
bearing the name of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Because of the length of the column I have condensed the space by
combining little paragraphs and sentences into big paragraphs.
Here are the March 26th & June 11th columns by Rodriguez &
Gonzales
Bridges Needed to Unite Cultures
All over the world there are statues to individuals who are deemed to
represent the faces of monumental history. Often, distilled from that
history is the vast unwritten pain from the spoils of such epochs.
Such is the case in Albuquerque where supporters of Juan de Onate,
a 16th century Spanish soldier, want his name written alongside other
European "explorers." His supporters would like to see the city
erect a grand statue honoring him as the founder and first governor
of the state. Opponents, who hold him responsible for genocide,
land theft, and slavery, would prefer to create a memorial to honor the
meeting of the various cultures in 1598. This Onate controversy is
creating deep wounds among the cultures, as the media are
erroneously projecting it as a battle pitting Hispanics vs Native
people. It is actually a battle between some Hispanics who insist on
honoring Onate and Onate only, vs. seemingly everyone else.
Onate was banishsed from New Mexico by the Spanish
authorities for his cruelty toward the indigenous population, which
included the massacre at Acoma Pueblo and the virtual obliteration of
the Jumanos Pueblo. He was not personally responsible for every
massacre in the region. However, it was his forays that opened up
the Southwest to such atrocities. This eventually led to the 1680
Pueblo Revolt -- a coordinated rebellion that drove out Spaniards
from the region for 12 years. It was so complete that everything
Spanish was destroyed, including missions, churches, government
buildings and particularly the mines that exploited Indian slave labor.
This impassioned debate is not about the past, but rather about
how we honor memory and what we remember. Even more
poignantly, this is about how neighbors view and treat each other
and how they view themselves. Many of the proponents, who
claim ascenancy from Spain, say there's an anti-Hispanic bias in the
opposition to the statue. Many of the opponents claim out-and-out
racism against Native people. Missing from this is what Mexicans or
Mexican-Americans, who form a large part of New Mexico's
population, think about this controversy. Some of the Hispanics
pushing for the Onate statue want nothing to do with Mexicans and
also take deep offense if they are confused with indigenous
Mexicans. Incidentally, the Mexican nation has never erected a
statue to Hernan Cortes, Mexico's "conquistador." Despite this,
the media generally lump Mexicans in the same category as
Hispanics, especially in this debate. "The proponents of the statue
do not speak for all Hispanics and generally have a disdain for
Indians, Mexicans or mestizos," said Arturo Sandoval, who heads the
committee to commemorate 400 years of Hispanic presence in the
state. He favors an inclusive memorial: "I'm Hispanic and I don't
support the statue." This disdain is not often broached in "polite
company" though it oten manifests itself in the immigration and
bilingual education debates and in cultural celebrations in which
Mexican-indigenous culture is suppressed. We wonder what
motivates one group of people to wantonly disregrd the view -- not
simply of their neighbors -- but neighbors who were here long before
Onate left his profitable slave-mining operations in Zacatecas?
Native people and Chicanos have stepped forward almost
unanimously in opposition to the statue. Yet the city council is still
trying to erect the statue, just as it is still trying to ramrod a road
through an ancient sacred site within the city limits. Apparently,
the need to honor a conqueror overrides the need to get along as
neighbors. Why? An inferiority complex? Maybe, though Acoma
educator Darva Chino said that perhaps it's more of a superiority
complex. "They're of the philosophy that to be Spanish is to be
better than Mexican-Indians." Perhhaps this superiority complex
helps explain why they rejected placing an Indian statue in Tiguex
Park back in 1983 - the same part where the Onate statue is destined
to be placed. Sadly, it's reminisscent of another controversy a few
years ago in San Jose Calif., in which the building of a statue to
Quetzalcoatl (an Aztec spiritual force) was protested vociferously by
those who, after 500 years, continued to believe that indigenous
spirituality is heathen. If bigotry is not involved and a reminder of
Spanish accomplishments is actually needed, then we suggest
building a library or musesum. Seems more like a case where a
bridge between communities needs to be built rather than another
bronze statue of a dead guy on a horse.
Rodriguez & Gonzales:
June 11: Of Chihuahuas, Indian Slayers, and War
Regarding the Indian slayer re-erection, it's most disturbing.
Milford, Pa., put up a statue in the 1800s to Tom Quick, reputed to
have killed 99 Indians. Elaine Van Raper of the Native American
Historical Truth Association recently said that Quick "begged for
one more on his deathbed to make it an even 100." He's credited as
being the first to conduct germ warfare against native people
(through the use of blankets infested with smallpox). In 1997, the
statue was vandalized, and city officals are contemplating re-erecting
it. "To have a monument re-erected that condones racism and
violence is an atrocity," Van Raper said. City officials apparently
believe that statues, like images, are harmless. Charlene Teters,
renowned for her struggles against racist logos in sports, commented
to us about the relationship between images and reality: "When
culture and identification are held hostage by the media, it can create
hopelessness," she said. Among native people, this can contribute
to situation such as what has recently occurred in South Dakota,
where there were 40 attempted suicides by youths, she said. The
exploitation of racist images "tell sus that there must be something
wrong with us," she added.
>From Catherine Davids:
A 33 story, 600 ton bronze state of Christopher Columbus built by a
Russian sculptor is being erected in the city of Catano which lies
across San Juan Bay from Puerto Rico's capital city of San Juan. The
statue will be the centerpiece of a newly designed tourist industry -
something that Catano lacks. The statue is taller than the Statue of
Liberty. It will cost $30 million to erect and the citizens of Puerto Rico
are paying for it through a bond issue. 13-20% of Puerto Ricans are
unemployed and 75% live below the poverty level. In Catano the
majority of people live without running water and toilets in their
homes. But - by god there will be this statue - a monument to
genocide. This statue was originally a gift to the United States but
most cities turned it down because of the huge cost of erecting it and
due to the effective protests of American Indians who decried the
statue because it glorifies someone representing 500 years of
genocide.
Comments about this travesty of a monument to genocide:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(this goes directly to the Puerto Rican Senate whose
President is Charlie Rodriguez)
****************************************************
Please support Rodriguez & Gonzales and the American Indian and
Mexican people of New Mexico and everywhere in getting rid of
these dehumanizing statues and sports mascots, etc. If we cannot
appeal to their sense of decency then let us appeal to their greed:
their profit and pocketbooks. Economic boycott seems a real option
here if we all work together. I again urge the NAMMYS to please
support Rodriguez & Gonzales by finding a new site for the
NAMMYS.
Contact:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Miigwech and Gracias,
Catherine Davids
Flint, Michigan
