Courtesy New Mexico Indian Affairs Department / X.com
A local tribal leader has thrown his support behind efforts to remove the Soldiers Monument, aka the obelisk, from the Santa Fe Plaza.
In a letter sent to Mayor Alan Webber Oct. 10, Tesuque Pueblo Gov. Milton Herrera said after a Tribal Council meeting, it was “clear” the Pueblo did not want the monument on the Plaza.
“Maintaining this divisive monument in the Plaza will only open the area to more protest, which may lead to violent encounters,” Herrera wrote in the letter.
Instead, he tells SFR the Pueblo of Tesuque supports the relocation of the Soldiers Monument to the Santa Fe National Cemetery, as well as the revision of a plaque that includes language of “savage Indians” to something that is “not demeaning or controversial toward Indigenous people.”
On Aug. 14, District 2 City Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, District 1 City Councilor Alma Castro and District 4 City Councilor Amanda Chavez introduced the resolution that would do just that, calling for City Manager John Blair to “investigate the feasibility” of relocating the Soldiers Monument from the center of the Plaza to the Santa Fe National Cemetery. He would later propose the budget and contracts for the work, as well as removing the controversial plaque. The City Council and the mayor have yet to vote on the proposal.
Herrera says he believes the Santa Fe National Cemetery is “the best place” for the monument because “the men who fought are buried there,” and it would be safer.
“It should be placed there in their memory. It would be protected there,” he says. “I don’t think anyone would be that disrespectful to go in there and tear it down, and if they go in there and try, they can be put in jail.”
The news comes as city officials await a decision over a civil complaint filed against Webber by the Union Protectiva de Santa Fe. The Spanish fraternal organization sued the mayor in 2022 after Webber called for the removal of the obelisk and several other contested city monuments in June 2020 amid demonstrations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Activists toppled the Plaza obelisk in October 2020 on Indigenous People’s Day.
In the introduced resolution’s memo, City Attorney Erin McSherry noted a 2022 report from the city’s Culture, History, Art, Reconciliation and Truth (CHART) process recommended more public discourse to work through entrenched division on the issue of the obelisk’s fate. City councilors previously backed and then withdrew a proposal to reassemble the monument on the Plaza.
Webber tells SFR he takes receiving Herrera’s letter “very seriously.”
“The Pueblos that I have worked with are very, very considerate in their opinion and very, very careful in their process within the Pueblo, and I respect their input greatly,” Webber says. “I respect everybody’s input, but I think the point is that we so rarely hear from the Pueblos that when they do speak, it's important to pay attention.”
He adds he believes “a lot has been achieved” in recent months regarding the obelisk, as members of the governing body and the public have taken steps toward compromise over deeply-rooted historical and cultural contentions.
“What we’ve done is engage in a lot of great, thoughtful discussion, and I think it leads to better understanding of where people on the governing body stand on the issue, where there is room for compromise and where there is room for people coming together around something that we can agree is a good outcome,” Webber says. “I think Councilor Romero-Wirth has worked very diligently and carefully to listen to different points of view and to try to craft an approach that truly is in the best sense of the word, a compromise. There are people at each end of the spectrum who are very entrenched in their point of view. They are often the people who have spoken out the most, but there are a lot of people in the middle who are holding positions that I think really reflect the desire for some kind of meaningful compromise that works for everybody.”
The Pueblo of Tesuque governor says he doesn’t believe relocating the obelisk erases the history.
“I don't think that it takes away history because it was never there in the beginning,” Herrera says. “I mean, it's hard. People have different kinds of feelings on what should happen in the downtown area or wherever, but this is just our thought that it shouldn't be placed there anymore.”
The fate of the obelisk remains uncertain, after several last-minute amendments delayed a planned vote on the resolution Sept. 25. Webber says he anticipates the issue will come before the governing body again on Oct. 30.
