BY TOM WRIGHT
Santa Fe
From Oñate, Carson, De Vargas, Washington, Grant, Francis Scott Key, Lee, Jefferson, Jackson, Roosevelt, Pike, to Father Junipero Serra – they have all bit the dust. It is no longer about George Floyd. It is all about insulting America and Democrat mayors are fecklessly watching, even helping the vandals win.
Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King now advocates the statues, murals and stained-glass windows in churches of the White Jesus and his “European mother” should also come down as they represent White supremacy. BLM co-founder, Patrisse Cullors is calling for President Trump to resign. In a 2015 video, Cullors confesses that she and the other co-founders are “super versed – Marxists organizers.” The BLM purpose is no longer about curing racism, it is about destroying America’s heritage and culture. It is a
political movement to subvert the US government.
Black Lives Matter strikes fear in the hearts of corporations and political leaders. BLM has extorted $460 million in support from corporations and individuals to support their movement, but the movement no longer has anything to do with black lives. If they were interested in making black lives matter, they would be concentrating on restoring the black family unit, lobbying to improving education for black youths and improving distressed black neighborhoods.
Racism is real, but not abundant. It is only an excuse to the thugs and looters. The recent vandalism at India Palace in Santa Fe is likely not the work of white supremacist, but that of professional activists sent to divide us on ethnic lines, which is a primary Marxist objective.
Tragically, the greatest assault on black people is from black thugs. Just check the shootings in Chicago and New York City. Last weekend there were 28 shootings in NYC and 106 in Chicago. Two three-year-old children and four teens were killed in Chicago and they were black. Do you know their names? Where is the rage! If you want to be WOKE, get involved restoring black families and economic opportunity zones.
Locally, we have paid agitators sent to tear down all vestiges of our Spanish and mixed heritage. Such will not heal past hurts. The monuments are of dead Spanish conquerors and an Indian fighter. Kit Carson was a trapper and frontiersman who had to battle Indians to save his life. Two of his wives were Indians and served as an Indian agent. No ethnic group is free from violence in the settling of our nation.
As Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” The monuments are inanimate art objects, without power. Yet, our civic leaders are either frozen with fear or in favor of removing objects of our collective heritage which to me, represent nothing more than characters from the past who represent the imperfect side of history. They are teaching examples from which we learn.
In New Mexico, many Hispanics were cheated from their land by the Santa Fe Ring who were a group of lawyers, bankers and land speculators that made fraudulent deals like paying a dollar to a land grant holder for their signature on a transfer deed they couldn’t read. Several streets in Santa Fe are named after the Ring members. Perhaps we should start renaming them. Shaming this generation for the way the government treated the Indian nations is a discordant tool. We had nothing to do with it. Radical activists find their best weapon is the decent and passive nature of most Americans. Destructive activism only breeds division. The real enemies we all have are ignorance and the inability to forgive.
About 70% of Americans do not agree with the removal of statues of historical figures. The problem is, most Americans keep their mouth shut on the issue and that’s what the activists count on. As an example of radicals gone stupid, the statue of Teddy Roosevelt in front of New York’s American Museum of Natural History is scheduled for removal because it depicts TR riding a horse and an Indian and a Black person walking. TR was a friend to many Indians and the first president to invite a Black person to dinner
at the White House. That person was Booker T. Washington. TR’s father funded the museum and TR contributed many exhibits.
We all need to quit giving in to the guilt and abuse of the past and move on with the better ways of the future. We need to teach history as it is, emphasize our social improvements and not let the radical left divide us. We are the United States of America and we fought a war to prove it and we need to speak up in defense of decorum or lose our freedom.
Editor’s note: Tom Wright is a political commentator and lives in Santa Fe.