Opinion: New Mexico has patriotic heritage

Independence Day is a time for celebrating the birth of these United States. Here in the state of New Mexico, we have the history, heritage and diversity to do it up right.

At first, Native American tribes shared this harsh and enchanting landscape, but they were overpowered and “assimilated” into the Spanish and Mexican ways that ruled the region into the mid-1800s.

Then came U.S. troops to conquer and exploit the land and its peoples, and New Mexico became an untamed territory in an expansionist nation. But “Americanization” and statehood didn’t come easy for New Mexico, as people held to their traditions and values.

I guess it was a New Mexican brand of stubbornness that kept this territory “free” rather than “slave” during the Civil War era, and why Spanish remained a common language here, and why it took so long for New Mexico to become a state in the union.

In 1898, New Mexico was trying to gain statehood, but many in the nation’s capital questioned whether this territory was truly loyal to the U.S. So, when Spanish-American tensions escalated toward war, New Mexico’s Gov. Miguel Otero and other territorial leaders saw a chance to prove their dedication to the union and urged New Mexicans to enlist.

New Mexicans responded, and many of them went to “liberate” Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt, and in doing so they set a precedent for the century to come. In every American war since, New Mexicans have stepped up in larger numbers than most to fight.

From the Buffalo Soldiers and Rough Riders on, New Mexicans have willingly fought admirably and died tragically for their country.

Especially noteworthy were the contributions New Mexicans made to winning the greatest war of the 20th century. According to Kate Nelson’s “Duty, Honor, Sacrifice: New Mexico Veterans Answered The Nation’s Call,” in World War II alone:

• New Mexico lost more lives per capita than any other state.

• A sixth of all service members in the Bataan Death March were members of the New Mexican National Guard; two-thirds of them died over a three-year period.

• Some 420 Navajo Code Talkers, many of whom were from New Mexico, used Diné, their native language, to keep U.S. movements in the Pacific a secret from Japanese code breakers. “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima,” 5th Marine Division signal officer Maj. Howard Conner once said.

• And of course, there was the creation of the bomb that ended World War II. The Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb, was based in Los Alamos. This summer, July 16 marks the 75th year since the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in Socorro County, with the radioactive fallout leading to inordinately high cancer rates throughout the area for more than a generation since.

The people of this state have held tight to their identity, thereby mixing cultures, traditions and values into, not a melting pot, but more like a tossed salad — or a hot-and-spicy bowl of red and green chile.

If that’s not true American, I don’t know what is.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

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