Petroglyph National Monument (fwd from CHICLE)
Liu , Carol (cliu@queens.lib.ny.us)
Mon, 24 Feb 1997 03:43:21 -0500
>
> Forwarded from the CHICLE list.
> ----------
> From: maria teresa marquez[SMTP:chicl@unm.edu]
> Sent: Monday, February 24, 1997 3:05PM
> To: chicle@unm.edu
> Subject: Petroglyph National Monument (fwd)
>
> We need your help! A serious battle is being fought up on the hill where the
> volcanoes rest. The battle is between Industrial Materialism and Ecological
> Spirituality.
>
> If you don't know by now, Mayor Chavez is determined to put a road through
> the most sacred site of this region at any cost. This 5,200 acre site is
> filled with 17,000 ancient rock carvings, 200 archaeological sites and a
> 1,100 room pueblo ruin that is 80% intact. It has been declared a National
> Monument by Congress. Laws have been put in place to ensure that a site of
> this Historical and Cultural significance be preserved. Mayor Chavez has
> taken many trips to Washington to gain support to Senators Pete Domenici and
> Jeff Bingaman. He has won the support of Steve Schiff, Joe Skeena and has
> managed to convince Senator Pete Domenici to put a road through for
> developers on the west side of this Monument. Only Babbit still needs
> convincing.
>
> The Monument included a line of five volcanoes which sits in the center of a
> ring of mountainscapes - the Manzanos, the Sandias, the Jemez and Mt. Taylor.
>
> In most Pueblo Indians' sacred traditions, life emerges from beneath the
> earth where the Spirits dwell. Volcanoes and the surrounding areas, as
> anthropological texts state, are tublar transmission sites, communication
> portals between one world and the next. This is the heart of the Pueblo
> Culture, Religion and Tradition.
>
> Many of you have produced literary historical perspectives of this region or
> are currently working on connecting the population of this territory with the
> Pueblo Indians. Many of us who are from the blood lineage of the Native
> Americans are appalled by the treatment of the tribes and their lack of
> freedom of religous practice. These tribes have struggled for centuries to
> survive, enduring tremendous loss. An incredible history will disappear from
> the face of this earth if we let one person, Mayor Chavez, win. He has been
> very busy trying to persuade your Senators and Congressional Representatives
> to push "his" road through. He has the interest of big developers in mind
> and not the interest an hearts of the people of this region. At the last
> City Council meeting on February 12, an amendment was added to the current
> amendment to push the decision through to the next phase of the process. We
> are very worried. "It is equivalent to burning down a precious, historical
> library," says Wesley Pulkka, a writer for the arts here in NM.
>
> Many of us feel that the faculty of UNM has the power to influence thinking
> and support the Native Americans whose only request is to be allowed to
> continue to practice their sacred spiritual beliefs.
>
> Education and knowledge are meaningless if they do not inspire feelings of
> compassion and empathy for our fellow man. You are teachers and mentors of
> this generation. I ask you, will the last five hundred years of history
> continue in its destructive path? Will we allow a few in 1997 to finally
> exterminate an incredible culture in the name of industrial material
> development? Will this living religion only be a cemetery of symbols because
> no one was watching one ambitious politician?
>
> I hope that we can count on you for your support on this issue.
>
> Most sincerely,
> Maria Baca, Artist
>
>
>
>