The Sunday after Christmas this year also happened to be the fifth night of Hanukkah, so I went down to the Santa Fe Plaza to see the Santa Fe Jewish Center’s Menorah lighting ceremony. There were fire dancers and Hanukkah songs, and a line formed for the delicious homemade jelly donuts and traditional potato latkes. A 99-year old Holocaust survivor lit the ice menorah, in what was a moving moment for all of us who witnessed it. I couldn’t help but think of the hateful vandals who had damaged the ice menorah just days before. Fortunately, the talented ice sculptors were able to repair it, but have we learned nothing in the last 85 years?
While on the Plaza, I noted the ugly plywood box obscuring the pedestal where the Civil War Memorial called the Soldiers Monument, otherwise known as the Obelisk, should be standing. In a recent ruling by First Judicial District Court Judge Matthew Wilson, Santa Fe was ordered to restore the Soldiers Monument, which had been torn down by vandals years before. Union Protectiva, a Hispanic heritage organization, sued the City, claiming violation of the Historic Sites Preservation Act. The Judge ruled that the City of Santa Fe must comply with historic preservation laws and return the Obelisk to its rightful place on the Santa Fe Plaza.
In New Mexico we have laws and processes to go through to effect change. There is a historical review process that is provided for in our legal system. If you don’t like a monument, go through the legal system and address it the right way. That is how our society is supposed to function. What does it say about our culture when we have people who are so emboldened as to tear down historical monuments in the dark of night? The Union soldiers who fought in New Mexico are entitled to be remembered. We should learn from our history and not strive to erase it. That is a tactic that only the worst of humanity ascribes to, the Pol Pots and the Talibans of the world. It is fundamentally un-American.
Judge Wilson’s ruling was a step in the right direction, because we cannot allow thugs and vandals to dictate to the rest of society what is acceptable or unacceptable. Instead of lashing out in violence and hatred, let us all come together with respect for our State’s laws, history and traditions. They say those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. We should not go down the road of mob rule and anarchy, but instead strive to live up to the ideals of the New Mexico state pledge of “perfect friendship among united cultures.”
Robert Witsenhausen is a Santa Fe based sound engineer and electrical contractor with an interest in politics and current events.
