Leslie Linthicum Journal Staff Writer Native Americans have been portrayed as an obstacle in New Mexico's history, a people to be moved, converted or killed on the march from Spanish province to Mexican territory to New Mexico territory to statehood.
Modern history is another story.
The past two years have seen nearly every one of New Mexico's 19 pueblos, two Apache tribes and the Navajo Nation standing its ground in some high-profile disputes. From gambling to land claims in the Sandia and Sangre de Cristo mountains to court fights over water quality and ownership of buffalo, tribes have taken more active roles in public and political forums. But as soon as we start to be a major player, once we begin to assert ourselves, people begin to get maybe scared or threatened. The 1996 legislative session was the political coming out party for New Mexico's tribal leaders and marked the first time Native Americans participated fully in a process controlled since before statehood by Hispanics and Anglos. Governors of the 14 pueblos that had signed gambling compacts with Gov. Gary Johnson, only to have them declared illegal because Johnson had not waited for legislative action, went to the Roundhouse looking for passage of a gambling bill and lost spectacularly.