Revisionist History

Settlers in Santa Fe were in a festive mood when they chose the city plaza as the site for a 33-ft. obelisk dedicated to "the heroes who have fallen in the various battles with savage Indians in the Territory of New Mexico." A plaque bearing that inscription went onto the monument's cornerstone in 1868, and there is no record that anyone found it objectionable.

Times change, however, and leaders of the American Indian Movement now condemn use of the word savage as "racism and prejudice." They want the obelisk destroyed. Governor Bruce King agreed with their sentiments but not with their draconian solution, so he suggested substituting fierce for savage.

"That's playing with history," objected State Cultural Properties Review Committee Chairman Albert Schroeder. "It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said State Historian Myra Ellen Jenkins. As the controversy wore on, one Santa Fe wag suggested placing a fig leaf over the word savage. Someone else proposed a second obelisk dedicated to "the gallant Indians who died fighting for their homeland."

The Santa Fe city council turned the problem over to the state. Its solution: an explanatory plaque, to be placed alongside the offending monument, that will read in part: "Monument texts are wont to reflect the character of the time in which they are written and the temper of those who wrote them. Hopefully, attitudes change and prejudices dissolve."

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