Editor,
Can we compare the Nazi swastika with the UNM seal? The Nazis used the swastika to represent their attitudes of superiority toward a lot of the world’s people regardless of skin color. Yet, the swastika is still used by people today. So it would only be fair to believe that people follow that philosophy.
The UNM seal of a frontiersman and conquistador represents the past. A past history of battles over land and military conflicts that evolved into wars, as I understand the view of indigenous people. The past blood of these conflicts can’t be washed away with time, reconstruction, nor money. So what do we do and how do we heal?
I just read a report that Liechtenstein is the only country without a standing army. We can’t have peace without wars and wars without peace.
It is hard to be in a compromising position like the Jews during WWII, global African slavery and North American indigenous military conflicts. But that in fact is the position for many of us today, trying to carve out a living with our dinner table almost empty. Our plate is mixed with past injustices and present conflicts that keep our minds on past conflicts. It gets to the point we ask that question “what do we want?”
A key element in understanding colonialism is that sometimes the colonizer is psychologically colonized. The colonizer, colonized, conquistador and frontiersman are all living out a false belief.
Therefore, it is hard for both groups to come to a just understanding. We can hope that, in this case, hopefully they can come to some fair agreement, so that UNM administration and student body can understand that fairness exists.
Jarvis Boykin
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