OPINION: Now is the time to raise monuments to New Mexico’s Mexican era

Throughout my studies on the history of the Southwest, I’ve contemplated how different actors and different chapters of our past have shaped our identity as Nuevomexicanos. Having grown up both Mexican and Nuevomexicano in Albuquerque, I’ve seen differences between how Mexicans celebrate their heritage and how Nuevomexicanos honor theirs. This is one reason I believe it’s past time to enhance our honoring and remembrance of actors of New Mexico’s Mexican period (1821-1848). The way to do this should be with monuments to the fallen Mexican soldiers of the Mexican-American War and/or to our penultimate Mexican governor Manuel Armijo.

There was a time when we Nuevomexicanos needed a way to begin honoring our Hispanic heritage, which has repeatedly been done in the form of “conquistador” statues, honoring controversial figures like Juan de Onate and Diego de Vargas. This only served to appeal to tourism and to “whiten” the image of New Mexico history. Nuevomexicanos who stood by the belief that we are Spaniards in the flesh were at the forefront of efforts to erect such monuments in public spaces. Undoubtedly, the Spanish colonial period was a long and important period of our history. However, it has been over-represented in public spaces and discourse at the expense of other time periods and influential figures who have also shaped our history.

Monuments to the Mexican period are severely lacking, virtually nonexistent. The only ones that stand at this time are a statue of Father Antonio Martinez in Taos, a Catholic priest who helped advocate for the rights of Nuevomexicanos during American westward expansion, as well as an obelisk to the Mormon Battalion just north of Bernalillo. This lack may largely have to do with xenophobic and misconstrued attitudes toward Mexicans and Mexican culture, and demonstrates an ongoing longing for a mythical and more exotic “Spanish” past and a collective desire to distance our identity from Mexico today. It is a byproduct of a time when classist Hispanos promoted a “Spanish” past as a way to elevate their social and political standing among Americans in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War.

It’s past time to honor events and figures of the brief though pivotal and defining time when Nuevo Mexico was a province of the Republic of Mexico. Impactful figures like Antonio Armijo inaugurated trade routes connecting New Mexico and California, or religious figures like Bishop Jose Antonio de Zubiria of Durango, Mexico, who advocated for improved religious educational leadership for Nuevomexicanos when New Mexico was largely overlooked by the central government in Mexico City. Nevertheless, the one who should be the first to get a monument is General Manuel Armijo. Armijo was a resident of Albuquerque, served three terms as governor, and was the last Mexican governor of New Mexico before American occupation in 1846. He effectively protected New Mexico from incursions from Texas in 1841 and fought for New Mexican Hispanos against American soldiers during the US-Mexico War.

To honor the Mexican period is not anti-American nor anti-Spanish. This is simply to advance and broaden our understanding of our history as a state and to initiate new conversations. If I’m correct, no American monuments exist to honor the Mexicans who fought in the Mexican-American War, arguably the first Mexican-Americans/Chicanos. It has been over 60 years since the Chicano Movement, and collective pride in our Mexican heritage has never been so ingrained and widespread. The 180th anniversary of the US-Mexico War, then, is the perfect time to grant commemoration to the Southwest’s first Mexicans where it is long overdue.

Raul Montano Ayala is a master's student of history at the University of New Mexico and a lifelong New Mexican.