Kick Pancho Villa State Park to the curb | Local News

US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland makes an interesting point about words that shape the image of public places.

Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, says white people made “squaw” a derogatory term. She begins her efforts to remove the word from the names of approximately 650 valleys, lakes, and other places on federal property.

“Our nation’s land and waters should be places to celebrate nature and our common cultural heritage – not to continue the legacy of oppression,” Haaland said in a statement.

Too bad she has no power to change the names of properties controlled by New Mexico politicians. If she did, Pancho Villa State Park would be on the list of people at risk.

Pearl Harbor has no memorial to the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. New England villages don’t make Charles Cornwallis, a British general in the War of Independence, big. And New York City would never name anything after the terrorist Osama bin Laden.

New Mexico lawmakers were left alone to name a park after an enemy of the state.

Villas Militia members stormed the border town of Columbus in 1916. Mostly on foot, the attackers killed eight US soldiers and ten civilians in an attack before dawn. At that time Columbus only had 300 inhabitants.

Even professional historians fail to understand the homage New Mexico mansions pay.

“It’s strange that we named a state park after an attack on the United States,” said Jon Hunner, a history professor emeritus at New Mexico State University.

The decision dates back to 1959, some 43 years after Villa’s robbery. New Mexico lawmakers had a long, loud debate before voting to name the park near Columbus after Villa. The Democratic Governor John Burroughs signed the measure.

Another Democrat, US Senator Dennis Chavez, protested from Washington. The passage of time has weakened the maliciousness of Villa’s attacks, Chavez said.

Over the years, Columbus-based Richard Dean has often been a lonely but insistent voice when urging state politicians to remove Villa’s name from the park. Dean’s great grandfather, James T. Dean, a 62-year-old grocer, was one of the Columbus residents killed by Villa’s militia.

As a rough cross-border commuter on the hunt for greater power, Villa fought against the Mexican President Venustiano Carranza. While US President Woodrow Wilson was helping Carranza in the Mexican Civil War, Villa’s crew was routed at the Battle of Agua Prieta.

Villa retaliated against Wilson by targeting vulnerable Americans.

His supporters kidnapped 18 Americans aboard a train in Mexico in January 1916 and mutilated them. Villa’s men attacked Columbus and the town’s small military post two months later.

New Mexico’s state parks website has a brief section on Villa violence in Columbus.

“Pancho Villa State Park contains extensive historical exhibits depicting this raid, the first and the last armed invasion of the continental United States since the war of 1812,” says the Parks Department.

From a promotional point of view, the name Pancho Villa State Park undoubtedly attracts the attention of tourists. But marketing strategy is no reason to name a park after someone who committed an act of war against the state.

State Representative Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said he was not an expert on mansion but was uncomfortable portraying notorious historical figures in order to attract tourists.

“We have done a lot in the past to glorify Billy the Kid, who was a criminal,” said McQueen. “Whether the park should bear the name of Villa is worth discussing.”

Former state Senator John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, once mentioned a possible name change for Pancho Villa Park. Smith said it would be more appropriate to call him John “Black Jack” Pershing Park for the US general who led 10,000 soldiers on a mission to Mexico to capture Villa.

Pershing’s forces did not capture Villa, but the expedition pioneered the use of planes and trucks in combat. It was valuable training for the First World War.

As for Villa, he was murdered in Mexico in 1923. His exploits were romanticized to legendary levels when New Mexico named the park in his honor.

The death of innocents in Columbus has been forgotten or minimized. Also, Villa’s real name has been glossed over – Doroteo Arango.

History can activate a title. Had Villa stuck to what he was called when he was born, he might not have been glorified.

It’s probably a safe bet that no tourist-conscious politician would have stood up to stand up for Doroteo Arango State Park.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at

msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.

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