Truth or Dare?

A new group in New Mexico is challenging a bronze statue said to honor the Spanish conquistadores who tried to destroy much of the Pueblo culture that remains today.

But, in its challenge, comes an insidious threat against "Chicanos and non-indigenous people."

Maurus Chino, founder of the Indigenous Truth Alliance, writes that those of mixed race who claim to be supporting indigenous human-rights causes should be eyed with suspicion:

"We have a serious issue with indigenous people being represented by Chicanos and non-indigenous people. In response to the Chicano claim to indigenousness, we must consider what Indigenous means here in the Americas. Indigenous means the original inhabitants of North, Central and South America who continue to exist as a tribal community with a land base. Existing as a tribal community includes language, tribal government, and recognition as Indigenous People by other indigenous people and non-indigenous people."

Chino says that even those "Chicanos" who sympathize with "Indigenous" peoples must have an underlying motive predicated on their ancestors' "land-grant" claims. In other words, Chicano ancestors must have been paid off by the Spaniards, and thus their children remain indebted to opposing indigenous claims.

Chino's narrow views are a grim reminder that the ethnic struggles found elsewhere in the world today, from China to Sri Lanka to Afghanistan to South India, can still be found in our own back yard among our own people.

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