Republicans don't like Common Core history standards and have targeted critical race theory because the curricula long-ignored by textbooks includes genocide and the near-extermination of American Indians by European colonialism. Indigenous American intellectuals insist the updated standards are crucial to providing education to propel Native children beyond colonization.
New Mexico endures multitudinous symbols of conquest and genocide.The Royal Road of the Interior that extended 1600 miles from Mexico City to Santa Fe was established some 400 years ago by Spanish Conquistador Juan de Oñate, infamous for the 1599 Acoma Massacre. Southeastern New Mexico is home to many descendants of the Confederacy.
Today, after consultations with stakeholders New Mexico's Public Education Department hopes to provide instruction that is relevant to English language learners and Indigenous students alike by adding ethnic, cultural and identity curricula to the state's social studies standards by emphasizing tribal sovereignty, social justice and sustainable futures.
Laguna Pueblo citizen and former New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland is Secretary of the Interior with oversight of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and land repatriation as part of her wheelhouse. Her pueblo's dialect of Keres is Kawaika and Áakʼu is Acoma's.
Phillip Quintana arrived for his first day at a Head Start classroom to find the teacher delivering instructions he couldn’t understand. At 5 or 6 years old, Quintana knew only Keres, a language shared by seven pueblos in New Mexico, each with its own dialect. But a growing movement in New Mexico aims to revitalize the Indigenous languages that schools once tried to extinguish. The legislation – passed without a dissenting vote earlier this year – is set to boost the pay of educators certified to teach a Native American language. Brenda McKenna, a Democratic state senator from Corrales and member of Nambé Pueblo, has been working with her mother and linguists at UNM to build a dictionary of sorts to record the pueblo’s language: Nanbé’ Tewa. Quintana, the Cochiti governor, said the pueblo will never write its language down. The tribe’s dialect of Keres is passed down only through oral stories, incorporated into songs, dances and prayers. The importance of the language is difficult to express in English, Quintana said, but it connects community members to the land, provides a sense of belonging and promotes gratitude for their blessings. [‘It’s about cultural survival’]The Santa Fe School Board has submitted written comments in favor of adopting the curriculum despite New Mexico Republican Party falsehoods associating the standards with CRT. The extreme white wing of the Republican Party wants a not so civil war over CRT because oligarchs fear an admission of guilt implies liability and they will be compelled to pay reparations to Indigenous and to the descendants of enslaved people.
House Minority Whip Rod Montoya is encouraging New Mexico schools to defy new social studies standards. In a letter, he calls the standards a quote “poorly disguised effort to indoctrinate students with critical theory and critical race theory.” [State lawmaker asks New Mexico schools to defy social studies standards]
Despite its perennial defeat in South Dakota's racist legislature Lakota language immersion is flourishing in reservation schools and even in Rapid City.
Montana's constitution mandates Indigenous language and culture instruction.
ip photo: a tiny dancer performs at the Santa Fe Indian Market. The centennial market is scheduled for 17-21 August.
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