A usable past

Acoma Pueblo aerial view by Marshall Henrie (CC BY-SA 3.0)

 To mark 400 years, in 1998 they resurrected him, on horseback, in glory, in the northern New Mexico desert. His statue was magnificent, if remote. 

A monument meant to recognize and honor the Hispanic contribution to colonizing the borderlands. Conquest cast as heroism.

Although the intent was to rescue the history of an oppressed and often silenced people, by setting him in glorious bronze the past was rendered static, unusable. As if the wounds had healed. The conflict forgotten.

Then, a severed foot reminded all that the past is never dead. It's not even past. 

"The Return of Oñate's Foot," 30 June 2020, 99% Invisible Podcast