Message From Mayor Webber: Obelisk Vandalism

By Mayor Webber

I am shocked and saddened at the recent vandalism done to the Plaza Obelisk. Vandalism like this only serves to incite anger and division. What we need instead is an honest conversation about our past and a hopeful conversation about our future. From the phone calls and emails I’ve been receiving, it’s clear to me that an honest conversation has already begun. Now we need to stop the angry shouting and the vandalism, and find ways to sit down and talk with each other in peace and for reconciliation.

For those who ask why I called for these monuments to be removed, here’s my thinking. We are part of a national moment and a national movement. It’s not only about monuments. It’s about facing history, facing ourselves, and facing our future.

Our history is very deep and contains pages of pain on all sides. It has more pages of shared values, shared gifts, and ultimately shared families. By moving the monuments, we start an honest dialog with each other. We also avoid the tragic violence that has taken place in other parts of the country around these objects, including as near to us as Albuquerque. No monument is worth one human life.

We have a choice. We can give in to anger, division, and a mindset that pits us against each other. Or we can do what Santa Fe has always done: Sit down and talk like family about our past, and then turn our efforts to the future, and the legacy we want to provide for our children and grand-children. The past is past. It’s time to focus on the future.