Taos Cultural Dynamics

The current “re-naming” controversy embodies an oft-heard characterization of the community in terms of conversation and living history. You can choose the century (or decade) in which you want to live. Unlike the dominant culture in mainstream America, I would argue that in Taos there is no cover-up aimed at history. I’m a sucker for reality.

Reality is always present. When I cross the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on the way to walk my dogs along the West Rim Trail, I think about the end, whether of those who preceded me or my own end. To paraphrase Montaigne (the great 16th Century multiculturalist) Death may be the end but it is not the purpose of life. But the contemplation of death focuses the mind on the sorrows and joys of daily life. I don’t have to jump to satisfy my curiosity. Death comes naturally. I’ll wait.

Recent actions by the Town Council, based on feel-good notions about an alleged politically incorrect view of history re: Kit Carson ignore the intensity of history and confrontation with realism. Seeking peace and reconciliation is fine, like studying the community through The Taos News’ marketing machine: Enchanted Homes or the Summer and Winter Guides. The photo-chopped and shopped images appeal to the illusions of marketers, realtors, and other bourgeois ideals.

But the facts of history like the facts of daily life are different. We live in funky Taos. We should relive historical tension therapeutically, not pretend it doesn’t exist. Forewarned is forearmed. Kit Carson is the symbol that keeps on giving. The notion of Red Willow speaks of a classic cover up. I’m with Hampton Sides, who suggested the name was safe and boring. The Town of Taos hadn’t even discussed the use of the name “Red Willow” with Taos Pueblo, prior to the adoption, which shows just how insensitive the Council was not only to Taos Pueblo protocols but also to Veterans and the history of other perceived injustices.

Since Mabel arrived and ingratiated herself with Tony, there has been an Anglo love affair with Native Americans, whether in literature or in art at the expense of acknowledging the native Hispanic Culture. This cultural dynamic has bred a certain amount of tension and allegations of prejudice. Read Frank Waters and see the attitude he has toward local merchants i.e. the bourgeois classes. See Rodriguez on Anglo artists attitude (not all) toward the Hispanic folks doing the daily chores. Anyway, Mabel, they say, died of syphilis.

Since the Onate conquest, 1598 more or less, the Po’Pay rebellion and DeVargas counter conquest, the Bent massacre and retaliation by the U.S. Army, as well as the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924, resulting in the ejection of so-called Spanish-speaking “squatters” from the northern part of the Rio Lucero area of the Pueblo land grant (an oxymoronic term), there has been a degree of tension among neighbors in El Salto, Arroyo Seco, and El Prado and Taos Pueblo.

Given, also, Taos Pueblo’s restrictive and alleged exclusionary practices re: women, children of mixed marriages, and practices aimed at other resident Natives who aren’t enrolled members, not to mention the usual political machinations of a patriarchal theocracy, we aren’t talking about the “pure in spirit” here but about human beings. And don’t forget the exemplary triumphs like “Blue Lake” and continuing negotiation of the “Abeyta/Taos Pueblo Water Settlement.”

Reconciliation among Taosenos did not start with the current crop of folks waving Red Willows.

Ripping down the symbol of the Euro-Anglo American war of Southwest conquest i.e. Kit Carson i.e. Manifest Destiny doesn’t make controversy disappear but sends history underground. It’s difficult to get through a day in Taos without overhearing a bit of bigotry about Los Indios, the Anglo Occupiers or second homers, or the Hispanic Politicos and their alleged prejudices. It all depends on your point of view and requires a Taoseno sense of humor to survive with your neighbors. The real story of Taos could be conceived as “The History of Violence” with periods of peace between violent outbreaks. The Kit Carson/Red Willow struggle aimed at healing has resulted in controversial attacks and counter attacks.

“You know how `they are.’”

Think of all the themes and names associated with Kit Carson: Manifest Destiny, War, Conquest, Exploring the West, Civil War, Glorieta, Dime Novel Heroes, Mountain Men, Scouts, Trackers, Multicultural Relationships, Mexicans, Spanish, mules and horses, sheep and goats, Utes, Pueblos, Dineh, Navajo, Comanches, Apaches, Kiowa, Arapaho, Chaco, Narbono, Soldiers, Veterans, Lincoln, Sherman, Kearney, Fremont, Josefa Jaramillo, California, Stockton, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Pacific Ocean, Mexican-American War, Santa Fe Trail, cutting down the Peach Trees at Canyon de Chelly. Through all of this we have a number of names on crosses and memorials commemorating veterans of the Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan from all three cultures best represented by the survivors of Bataan.

If waving a willow branch makes you feel good and improves life then maybe it’s better to quash history rather than think about the violent peregrinations associated with Catholic Spain’s notion of the Cross and the Sword or the Los Americanos of “Blood and Thunder” battles associated with Kit Carson. As for the hoary notion of history, restricted to the vision of the victors and written by white men, that notion was discredited in academia forty years ago.

Though clinging to the present, most Taosenos, like me, live in the past. Here are the lyrics of the new anthem. Sing it in the spirit of Billie Holiday.

Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Bent your branches down along the ground and cover me
Listen to my plea
Hear me willow and weep for me
Gone my lovely dreams
Lovely summer dreams
Gone and left me here
To weep my tears along the stream
Sad as I can be
Hear me willow and weep for me
Whisper to the wind and say thy love has sinned
To leave my heart a sign
And crying alone
Murmur to the night
Hide her starry light
So none will find me sighing
Crying all alone
Weeping willow tree
Weeping sympathy
Bent your branches down along the ground and cover me
Listen to me plea
Hear me willow and weep for me
Willow
 Willow 
Weep for me.
(Songwriters 
KERN, JEROME / HARBACH, OTTO)