There’s a time and place for Hallmark movies. They’re saccharin and clean and as unoffensive as a rice cake. They might even give viewers a warm and fuzzy feeling. But mostly, Hallmark movies are forgettable. In my opinion, the removal of the Don Diego de Vargas statue from Cathedral Park in Santa Fe is an attempt to turn Santa Fe’s history into a forgettable Hallmark movie.

To me, Don Diego de Vargas represented the cornerstone of Spanish heritage and culture. Had the Conquistadores and Spanish missionaries not colonized this region, Santa Fe simply wouldn’t exist as it does. Furthermore, there would be no Catholicism in the region, nor would there probably be Christianity, in general. But among the most frustrating aspects to the removal of the statue is that in removing it, the last modern remnant that tied me to my ancestors has been ripped away. Don Diego spoke the Spanish of my ancestors and that Spanish, my first language, has been largely lost to history. There are very little ways to discuss our linguistic heritage anymore and when language goes, so does culture.

Also, thanks to the form of government that the Spanish employed, the Tewa and Tiwa languages exist today. However, in two (or so) generations, linguistic chauvinism expressed in laws and educational systems eliminated the Spanish that my great grandmother spoke. Without symbols such as a Don Diego statue, there are limited ways and opportunities to teach our descendants how we related with the world at one time because we simply no longer speak the language that Don Diego brought with him to this region. I am fortunate that I learned Spanish as a child.

I understand how historical trauma can impact a community and the Hispano of Northern New Mexico has ALSO been traumatized through land and language loss. But should we seek to water down history in an effort to be as unoffensive as a Hallmark movie? I would argue that cultural tension, even to the point of detente, is one of the biggest elements of what makes Santa Fe special. But in eradicating our Spanish ancestors, we are essentially removing an aspect of our culture and without our culture, we too will be lost to history and I just don’t want to see that movie.