Campbell Lozuaway-McComsey
Obelisk box
A controversial monument shrouded by a box on the Santa Fe Plaza may soon come back into public view if a resolution introduced Wednesday night by District 2 Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, District 1 Councilor Alma Castro and District 4 Councilor Amanda Chavez passes.
The resolution calls for City Manager John Blair to “investigate the feasibility” of relocating the Soldiers Monument, aka the obelisk, from the center of the Plaza to the Santa Fe National Cemetery and later propose the budget and contracts to do it — along with removing the plaque that includes a reference to “savage Indians.”
Residents sounded off on the resolution during the Aug. 15 governing body meeting, with no one speaking in favor. David Montoya began his testimony with a quote from Bob Marley and told councilors he wanted the monument to remain where it is.
“If you know your history then you know where you’re coming from,” Montoya said, adding that placing the obelisk at the Santa Fe National Cemetery “buries that history…Please honor the veterans. Don’t do this. I’m here representing veterans that can no longer speak for themselves because they gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Elizabeth West echoed that sentiment, noting the weight and design of the obelisk makes it “a central part of the Plaza.”
“It is meant to stay put. It is a historic structure,” West said. “We must not be afraid of our own history.”
Many speakers noted an ongoing lawsuit over the matter. City councilors introduced the resolution just weeks before the city faces a Sept. 12 bench trial over a civil complaint filed by the Union Protectiva de Santa Fe. The Spanish fraternal organization sued Mayor Alan Webber 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.
Romero-Wirth, the resolution’s lead sponsor, tells SFR the proposed idea originated from constituents, which she felt was “a good option.” A fiscal impact report on the resolution estimates $10,000 for contractual services but notes the amount is “likely a high estimate” for the feasibility study and cost assessment.
“I believe we can’t put the Soldiers Monument back in the Plaza because it’s a public safety threat there, but I believe we can work with conservationists and put it back together and place it near where the Civil War soldiers are buried and honor them and their service,” Romero-Wirth says. “This is the original purpose of the monument. I think placing it there in that context might make it a good option.”
In the 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. District 4 Councilor Jamie Cassutt tells SFR this underscores the need for city officials to work to engage the public on the “tough topic” prior to coming forward with a solution.
“One of the things that I’ve really been struggling with is, how do we get the community to have these hard conversations? What has always concerned me when I have seen these proposals come up or when we have these conversations is there’s so much anger and there’s so much hurt, and I will be really interested to hear the different viewpoints of the community,” Cassutt says. “I’ve also had the concern that anything that comes out of just a sterile process at City Hall isn’t going to be well received, simply because the understanding of what’s behind there hasn’t come out.”
Despite the loud opposition on one side of the issue, Cassutt notes there’s “validity on all sides of the argument” surrounding the Soldiers Monument, and she’s “grateful” the resolution put forward will restart the conversation.
“I find the obelisk to be such a challenging issue, because the things that people say about it, that it represents the fallen soldiers of the Civil War, that’s accurate. It is also true that it is honoring soldiers who fought in the Indian Wars and were part of moving Indigenous populations from this point and a lot of murder there and there are things that it represents and things that it says that are absolutely not acceptable.” Cassutt says. “It’s also true that as somebody who grew up in the city, regardless of the meaning of it, the architecture on the Plaza, to me, really speaks to Santa Fe. So putting all of these truths together and deciding how we move forward as a community, how do we start to knit ourselves back together after the division that occurred? I’m not sure there’s a clear path forward.”
The resolution will head to the Public Works & Utilities Committee and the Finance Committee before a final vote from the governing body Aug. 28.
