On April 21, the people of El Paso have a chance to stand up for justice and humanity. This Saturday, community members from throughout El Paso, members of Acoma Pueblo, and members of the Southwest Indigenous Alliance will join together to protest the commemoration of a man who committed violent atrocities against native peoples as well as his own colonists.
On Saturday, the City of El Paso and the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest will dedicate “The Equestrian,” a monument personifying Juan de Oñate. Oñate, who is often called the “last conquistador,” made his way through the area in 1598 on his way to what would become New Mexico. His story is one of violence, conquest, incompetence and inhumanity.
Oñate’s record is horrendous. Following Acoma Pueblo’s resistance to Spanish intrusion, he ordered native peoples to be tortured, mutilated and enslaved in 1599. Hundreds of indigenous people were murdered and hundreds more, especially women and children, were placed in slavery. As governor of New Mexico, he did little for the community. Because of these actions, the Spanish government brought charges against him in 1613 and he was banished from Mexico City for four years. He was permanently banished from New Mexico.
It is time for us to come together to create a city that promotes humanity and dignity rather than violence and conquest. We don’t believe that most El Pasoans want our city to be represented by the values personified by Juan de Oñate.
Supporters of the sculpture say Oñate merits the forty foot story sculpture because of his contributions to our history. They credit Oñate with holding the First Thanksgiving near San Elizario, with introducing horses to the Southwest, with fording the pass across the river, and with giving our city its name. This story has been told so often, that many have come to accept it as “our history.”
But this popular version of history erases the full story. Certainly, Oñate did not “discover” this area because it had been inhabited for thousands of years. He did not “find” the pass at the river because he was shown where to cross by the people who already lived here, people later called the Mansos. He survived through the work of the hundreds of native peoples, including Tlaxcalans that he brought from Central Mexico. He did not perish through the generosity of Pueblo peoples who shared food with him as he made his way into New Mexico. Oñate did not found el Camino Real. The “royal roads” were used as trade routes by indigenous peoples long before Europeans came to this area.
While supporters of the statue argue that it will bring tourism to El Paso, do we want to be known as the city that honors such a man and his cruelty? Supporters of the monument say that the monument does not “honor” Oñate, but what can we say about a towering sculpture? Its size alone sends a message about honoring Oñate.
We come together to speak out this Saturday because our consciences demand it. We are deeply disturbed that the City of El Paso would choose to dedicate a sculpture to a man that, even in his own time, was charged with cruelty to indigenous people and was banished from New Mexico. The placement of the Oñate statue in El Paso is an insult to all people who care about humanity. “We can’t choose our history,” say supporters of the Equestrian. And that is true. We cannot choose our history, but we can choose to honor humanity and dignity rather than violence, conquest and inhumanity.
Yolanda Chávez Leyva is an historian trained in U.S.-Mexico border history. She earned her Ph.D. in history at the University of Arizona. She is currently completing two manuscripts, one on the history of Mexican children in El Paso and the other on historical trauma and healing.
