1998 Proclamation
All Indian Pueblo Council of New Mexico
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WHEREAS, the All Indian Pueblo council is comprised of the Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Pojoaque, Picuris, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni; and, WHEREAS, the year nineteen hundred and ninety-eight marks the Four-Hundredth Anniversary of the first contact between Pueblo people and Spanish explorers at Ynge Oweenge; and, WHEREAS, through our oral history, our elders remind us of this time that would change the course of our lives and history; and, WHEREAS, this encounter began a period of colonization, which brought great suffering and pain among the Pueblo people and Spanish people alike; and, WHEREAS, the sovereign nation of Spain recognized and acknowledged the strength of our forefathers and the perseverance of their cultures and traditions; and, WHEREAS, the sovereign nation of Spain issued to each of the nineteen Pueblo Nations a silver-headed cane with the marking of a cross as a symbol of power of authority and inherent sovereignty of each of the Pueblo Nations and their right to self-governance; and, WHEREAS, the issuance and blessing of the sacred canes at Santo Domingo symbolized the unification of the church, the Spanish government, and the traditional Pueblo form of government, thus creating a theocratic form of government; and, WHEREAS, this form of government of the sovereign nineteen Pueblo Nations was duly recognized by the sovereign nation of Mexico in eighteen hundred twenty-one and in eighteen hundred sixty-three by President Abraham Lincoln on behalf of the United States through the issuance of canes to each Pueblo Nation; and, WHEREAS, four-hundred years later, as sovereign Pueblo Nations, we continue to embrace our sacred canes as a symbol of our sovereignty; as a result, we still have our homelands, we still have our religion, we still have our language, and we still have our traditional form of governance; and, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT our present day Pueblo leaders recognize April 26, 1998, as an historic day for all of us because we, as the descendants of our respective peoples and governments, are meeting to reflect upon the past and the present; and together commit to develop a framework for the future relationship of our children based on mutual respect, cooperation, and unity; and, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT in acknowledgment of four hundred years of contact, we reaffirm our mutual recognition of our status as sovereign nations and pledge to build upon this government-to-government foundation; and, BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT the Pueblo Nations pledge to work with the All Indian Pueblo Council, the political organization of the nineteen Pueblo Nations, and the sovereign nation of Span to:
Steve Juanico, Vice Chairman Amadeo Shije, Secretary |
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