Yesterday we visited Taos Pueblo, an adobe dwelling that has been inhabited by a group of Northern Tiwa speaking Indians for over 1000 years. I also visited the pueblo back in 1990 while on sabbatical. During a tour of the pueblo, the guide described the horrific massacre of 150 Indian and Latin women and children who had sought shelter in the Catholic Church at the pueblo in 1847. It seems the United States government was seeking revenge against both the native Indian and Spanish people who resented the change in government from Mexico to United States. Thus, they aimed cannon at the church and killed all the occupants.
Today, during our tour, the Indian guide mentioned that 150 women and children were in the church when it was fired on by United State cannon, but left out the fact that all were slaughtered. She went on to describe the Indian practice of entering the graveyard surrounding the ruined church only when a new burial took place. Finally, I asked, “So, were all 150 women and children slaughtered when the United States forces fired on them?” She admitted a bit sheepishly that, “yes that was indeed the case.”
Isn’t political correctness interesting? It is no longer acceptable to state the obvious when our government is involved in the killing of innocent women and children.
The photograph above is of the ruined church and the surrounding graveyard in which the 150 women and children are buried.
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