This statue, located in Alcade, New Mexico, memorializes Juan de Oñato, the Spanish conquistador who is credited with "founding" the state. He arrived in 1598 with 200 settlers and several thousand heads of livestock. Some have called him the "George Washington of New Mexico."

The indigenous people who already lived in the New Mexico region, however, probably would disagree. The Spanish conquistador forced them into subservient roles, and, when the Acoma rebelled against the colonizing forces and killed Oñato's nephew and several other Spaniards, the conquistador responded fiercely.

Oñato kidnapped all Native children under the age of 12 and sent them to Christian schools. He sentenced every Acoma Indian over 12 years of age to 20 years of slavery, and, to make the severity of their "crimes" clear, Oñato and his comrades cut one foot off of every man who was 25 or older.

When New Mexico celebrated its 400th birthday in 1998, Pueblo Indian activists and their allies marked the anniversary in their own way. They dismembered a public statue — the Oñato Monument — by cutting off one of the bronze horse's feet.

The foot was later replaced.

Do you generally accept history as public monuments described it? Why or why not? What questions might you ask to find out if there is another side to the story?

Fact Source: James W. Loewen's Lies Across America, p. 119-122.
Image Source: James Loewen.