Really, I took this photo for my students, since the tearing down of the obelisk in the Plaza in Santa Fe had figured centrally in our class on monuments - a removal that took place (in timely fashion for our course) on Indigenous Peoples' Day. It complicated the familiar narrative beautifully: this was no Confederate Monument erected in the Jim Crow era (something that no one owned up to having problems being removed), but a monument to Union soldiers - some of whom had perished, indeed, during the Civil War (it was such a surprise to me, years back, to learn that there had actually been a major battle here, in Glorieta Pass) when Santa Fe was a garrison town. And then what did the Union soldiers do? Removed Navajo from their lands, and marched them to Bosque Redondo. Laid waste to Navajo lands. Some of them were involved with the atrocities of the Sand Creek massacre. This absolutely isn't a case of Confederates bad, Union army good - very far from it - and the students enjoyed, if that's the right word, having the story made more complicated.
Today, we were downtown driving round (the photo's taken from the car) after a wonderfully successful trip to Whole Foods which has now started doing curbside pick up for advance orders (though, as ever - stiff competition for a slot - good job we are very early risers). So what has been a fortnightly nerve-wracking affair - that is, actually going into a store for food - was a breeze. So we celebrated by driving slowly round downtown, reassuring ourselves that it's still there (apart from the obelisk) - and were heartened to find that it is (although, of course, with some shuttered businesses), and that the city workers are, as one can see here, just starting to put up holiday lights.
Thank you, Kate.
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