Sis took us for a bit of tourism to see the world’s largest and heaviest bronze 
equestrian statue, located at El Paso’s airport. The statue, entitled “The Equestrian” but actually depicting the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate y Salazar, is breathtaking in both its size and its detail, but has been the subject of much controversy. Long story short: Oñate (1552-1626), was born in Zacatecas, Mexico to wealthy silver-mining family. Married a descendant of both Cortes and Montezuma. Renowned explorer for Spanish crown, traveled as far as modern-day Kansas and Baja California. Held the first official Thanksgiving in the New World a bit south of El Paso on April 30, 1598. Downside: Indian fighter. While governor of what now includes New Mexico, retaliated to an Acoma tribe uprising by killing 800 Acoma and enslaving and/or maiming 500 surviving men, women and children. Recalled to Mexico City and tried and convicted of cruelty not only to Natives but also colonists. Acquitted on appeal but prohibited from returning to New Mexico. Eventually relocated to Spain. (You can read more about the sculptor and see the true scale of the statue here; and a good start to reading more about Oñate and Spain's conquest of the New World is here.)
John Sherrill Houser's statue was intended to memorialize Oñate’s exploration and colonization of the Rio Grande basin, but the Acoma tribe of northern New Mexico (among others) protested the statue as glorifying a man who practiced systematic cruelty against Native tribes. As a compromise, El Paso officials relocated the statue from the downtown city center to the airport on the east side of town, and Houser agreed to rename his work a politically-neutral “The Equestrian” without mentioning Oñate's name anywhere.
I understand why the Acoma protested the statue. What Oñate did to them was horrific. But I am uncomfortable with any group that tries to undo history by pressuring an artist and the community officials who commissioned the work, to remove the subject’s name from the work. Oñate’s style of achievement combined with brutality was little different from, as one example, that of Nuño Beltrán de Guzman (1490-1544, almost wiped out the Purépecha tribe in what is now Michoacán, Mexico). The common thread with their kind of conquistadores appears to be that the Spanish crown was slow to react to all the cruelty until after lands had been explored and resources extracted.* Frankly, I feel that the Acoma experience is little different from what happened to the Purépecha, Inca or any number of other indigenous tribes from Canada all the way to Tierra del Fuego during the same period. Think I should confine my remarks to my own ethnicity? Don't even get me started on Oliver Cromwell.
I am not trivializing the Acoma experience. However, they haven’t cornered the market on victimhood, and Oñate was not the only overachieving sociopath the world has ever seen. As for me, I prefer being told ALL the facts about the complex issues of history – that clearly remain relevant today – than be subject to the Acoma approach of trying to ignore the name and acts of a man who for better or worse shaped the past and influenced the present of a huge area of the US where I was born; and Mexico where I am now traveling extensively. The irony of the Acoma protest is that had they not excluded Oñate’s name from Houser‘s statue, I would never have taken so much time to learn about the controversy and more of what Oñate did.
Thus endeth the rant. Spanish colonial history is fascinating. If you live anywhere in the Western Hemisphere you should study it a little – its influence is still here, everywhere. Also? Houser’s statue of Oñate is hella cool. So if you ever find yourself in El Paso near the airport, check it out. Be prepared to gape.
* Iraq, much?
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