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Fourth from left: Garrett VeneKlasen joins Thursday protest at the Roundhouse.
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Editor's Note: By the sound of things, traffic must've been a mess around the Capitol at rush hour on Thursday. Turns out, the honking that echoed throughout downtown Santa Fe was in support of a growing crowd who showed up and showed out in front of the Roundhouse to join a nationwide protest. A protest of the authoritarianism that continues to seep from the nation's Capitol. In Santa Fe, protests took place not only at the Capitol but also at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church Church. The honking and chanting echoed for blocks until well after dark. SFR's Adam Ferguson made the rally at the Roundhouse the subject of The Lens. (Dave Cathey)
Under a rolling grey sky, hundreds gathered in the early evening at the Capitol on Thursday to protest recent actions of the Trump administration on May Day—or International Workers Day. The tone was fiery and the collective force spread to the streets with passing cars honking in solidarity. Signs raised skyward were sharp and vibrant, with no need for clarification. The point of the demonstration was clear: remove the tyrants from office and protect our labor rights, unions, immigrant voices and stay the hell away from our public lands and their stewards.
Thursday’s demonstration was hosted by a collection of progressive grassroots groups including Santa Fe Indivisible. Speakers at the rally included state Rep. Tara Lujan, D-Santa Fe; Santa Fe County clerk Katharine Clark and Santa Fe County Commissioner Camilla Bustamante.
Garrett VeneKlasen, Northern Conservation Director of New Mexico Wild, was among the attendees and speakers at the rally, representing our national monuments and those who have dedicated their lives to protecting them. Currently, Rio Grande del Norte, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monuments, are under serious threat of losing their established protection due to harmful motives being pursued by the Trump Administration.
“It takes an army of workers to steward our federal public lands, the firings and the layoffs, the evisceration of our incredible agencies that steward these lands is criminal. Our organization is really pissed off about this, and if the people listening to this aren't pissed off, they're not paying attention,” VeneKlasen tells SFR.
On top of the recent mass layoffs including over 1,000 jobs in the National Park Services, the Trump administration and others are currently attempting to override the Antiquities Act of 1906. The first US law to provide legal protection of cultural and natural resources on federal lands. An online petition is available for those concerned with the future of public lands and monuments.
“This is the foundation of our cultural integrity in New Mexico. If you undermine that, you destroy those cultures. It's really important to go public and speak out and gather and be unified. And we're not going to stop until we drive these people back under the rock from which they came,” VeneKlasen shares.
While the specific reasons behind the demonstration were many, the unified, collective force of sovereignty was evident. The refusal of backing down was the message being conveyed by a people coming together to demand justice and to reclaim its rights as an equal, working democracy. (Adam Ferguson)
