A militant demonstration took place in Albuquerque, N.M., on Aug. 31 to protest the use of extreme racist slurs about Native Americans in New Mexico by right-wing Albuquerque attorney Patrick Rogers, who is a member of the Republican National Committee. Called by ANSWER NM (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), several dozen people joined a vocal and spirited picket line to denounce Rogers’ racist remarks that he sent to several of his Republican Party cronies and others around the state.
In his e-mail from June, Rogers criticized New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez for meeting with tribal leaders from across New Mexico. Saying that “[t]he state is going to hell,” he charged that Martinez’s meeting with the tribes “dishonored Col. Custer,” the U.S. Calvary officer responsible for hunting down and murdering thousands of indigenous people as part of the broad campaign of genocide promoted and organized by the United States Army.
After the racist e-mail was uncovered and released to local and state media by the organization Progressive Now New Mexico, hundreds of people wrote letters to the Republican Party of New Mexico as well as to Rogers’ law firm, Modrall Sperling in Albuquerque.
Shortly before the ANSWER picket line on Aug. 31, the firm abruptly announced that Rogers had submitted his resignation and was out of the firm.
The protest drew broad participation from many progressive organizations and Native Americans who heard about it from leaflets that ANSWER organizers delivered to many of the Pueblos around Albuquerque. Chanting “Hey- Hey, Ho-Ho, racist Rogers got to go” the protesters cheered as speakers proclaimed victory at the news that Rogers had been kicked out of his job at his law firm, and demanded further action to hold him accountable for vile and racist remarks.
In a statement, the governor deplored the racist remarks but said that she “forgives” Rogers and that he should be allowed to retain his position in the New Mexico Republican Party. She did not demand that Rogers apologize to the thousands of people he offended.
Speakers at the protest included Amelia from Un-Occupy Albuquerque; Robert Anderson from Stop the War Machine; Kenneth Ellis, anti-police brutality organizer, and Bethany Woody, ANSWER NM organizer and Native-American activist.
“People who use racism to divide us must be held accountable for their hatred,” Woody stated. “Racism divides all of us—Black white, Native, Brown, everyone—and we have to stand together to fight it. Gov. Martinez doesn’t have the authority to forgive Rogers. He is accountable to the 22 Native American Nations in New Mexico, and to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans in New Mexico and across the country that he has offended. Why hasn’t he apologized to us?”
A statement issued by ANSWER NM was distributed to the members of the media who attended and the many passers-by who gave thumbs up to the protesters.
“Rogers statement is blatantly racist and must not be tolerated” the statement reads, “The Native American community has been historically devastated by colonization and genocide. To hark back to Custer, a man who systematically hunted and murdered Native American peoples, is an insult to the memory of the countless people who lost their lives, and to their descendants.
“New Mexico has a proud heritage of ethnic diversity and unity, and the Native American community is an integral part of our identity as a state. The Native people of this country deserve not only an apology, but reparations and a return of their historic lands for the historical injustice they have suffered at the hands of colonization.”
The protest was featured on several TV news broadcasts. In addition to placards protesting racism and expressing solidarity with indigenous peoples, the protesters also called for the immediate release of Native American leader and political prisoner Leonard Peltier, as well as all political prisoners being held in U.S. prisons.
