Native America Calling: Persistence pays off for tribes working to remove disturbing public monuments

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Native America Calling: Persistence pays off for tribes working to remove disturbing public monuments

Friday, December 12, 2025

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Persistence pays off for tribes working to remove disturbing public monuments

After years of discussions, the town of Taos, New Mexico, decided to remove the name of Kit Carson from a widely used park in the center of the community.

Carson’s renown as a Western frontiersman in the late 1800s grew from greatly exaggerated tales in pulp novels and newspaper articles. Only later did his violent exploits against the Navajo Nation and other tribes emerge.

The Long Walk of the Navajo was the U.S. government’s forced removal of the Navajo people from their homelands to Bosque Redondo between 1864 and 1868. Photo: United States Army Signal Corps

Carson was among the main figures in the Long Walk, the forced march of 10,000 captive Navajo people. More than a third of them died.

Meanwhile in Michigan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed a Washington Monument-style obelisk commemorating the construction of shipping locks on Lake Michigan. The obelisk sat atop the remainder of a burial ground.

Lock construction destroyed the main part of the sacred area but the Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians continue to hold ceremonies there.

Tune in to talk with tribal advocates about their years-long work to change how their histories are viewed by the public.

Guests on Native America Calling

Jeremy Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Secretary for the Pueblo of Taos in New Mexico

Jesse Winters (Taos Pueblo), Second sheriff for the Pueblo of Taos in New Mexico and member of Kit Carson Park Renaming Committee

Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche and Genizaro), tribal historic preservation officer for the Pueblo of Cochiti in New Mexico

Paula Carrick (Bay Mills Indian Community), tribal historic preservation officer for the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan