New Mexico Governor Rescinds 1800s-era Proclamations Targeting Navajo and Apache to be Hunted and Ki
SANTA FE, New Mexico -- New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rescinded governors' orders from the 1800s that targeted Navajos and Apaches to be hunted by militia and murdered.
The governor's action is the result of extensive research by Santa Fe Historian Valerie Rangel, who documented the genocide and appealed to the governor to take action.
The vile and racist orders by Gov. Calhoun in his proclamations in 1851 directed Native residents to be excluded from official census counts and authorized militias to “pursue and attack” Indigenous New Mexicans.
The 1869 proclamations issued by Gov. Mitchell and Gov. Pile declared Apache and Navajo as “outlaws” and authorized New Mexico residents to use violence against them, and even murder them.
During her research, Santa Fe Historian Valerie Rangel found bounties for scalps and ads in newspapers beyond New Mexico offering bounties.
In her powerful letter to the governor, Rangel provided research that revealed the genocide -- as Navajo, Apache and Pueblo struggled to survive.
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-mexico-governor-rescinds-1800s-era.html