The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • 2

A-2 THE NEW MEXICAN Sunday Apnl 12 1998 know I thought we had it bad but really bad Waconda said VOTE Continued from Page A-l Legacy nearly unnoticed Josephine Waconda keeps a collection of her photographs at lives with her family In a home her father helped build Abel UrtbeThe New Mexican the 70-acre cattle ranch on the southern tip of Isleta Pueblo where she 4 Thijillo spent the last years of his life in a Laguna Pueblo nursing home partially paralyzed and incapacitated from a massive He did receive a few acco- lades shortly before or just after his August 1989 death such as an annual award in his frame the city of Albuquerque gives out to an unsung hero The city also created the only public shrine commemorating -him a tiny bronze plaque near Civic Plaza part of the Martin Luther King Jr monument- The entire monument sits next to the railroad tracks strewn with litter and water-stained from rain plaque a small photograph in bronze of Thijillo and his wife states in error that he won voting rights for Native Americans in New Mexico in 1943 not 1948 It has never been corrected believe more things were done after his death or after his stroke so I know if he ever knew what was Waconda said Sando says the failure to recognize Thijillo points to a flaw in our educational system know him because we teach said Sando who has a book coming out this month profiling Thijillo and more than 30 other leading Pueblo Indian figures But Bronitsky who delivered the eulogy at funeral believes absence in the state lexicon is more than just a failure by New Mexico history teachers He believes the state either consciously or unconsciously has tried to bury a dark chapter in its history think there are two he said in a state that values the image of the Indians they want to deal with the fact that the state constitution prohibited Indians from voting and number two voting or fighting for voting rights fit in with the artistic colorful stereotype that people have of Waconda now lives on a 70-acre cattle ranch at the southern tip of Isleta Pueblo with her family in a home Thijillo helped build Old black-and-white photos of her father are scattered throughout the house And on one wall -theballwayare thefew plaques he received fat his life -iJ1" Far too few Vacondabelieves: think he ever got the recognition he so richly deserved" v' remember Thijillo as outspoken he did nothing to promote his accomplishment seldom talking about it even to his closest friends was a regular guy very said Herman Agoyo of San Juan Pueblo He knew Thijillo more than 20 years before realizing Thijillo had been involved in the landmark case he spoke he said his piece and that was Agoyo said was the type that gave his opinion and that relates to his courage to go it alone for Indian suffrage Even Waconda realize the importance of what her father had done I was in high school I realize what he was she said I realize what he must have gone through and what the impact must have been on my mother who stayed behind the scenes but who always gave him encouragement and who was always there for Trujillo and his wife continued to work as teachers and later he worked as a social worker In that capacity he began to fight -for the rights of immigrant Their argument was based on a 1940 decision by Congress that made the idea of not obsolete Congress declared that Indians did pay sales taxes income taxes and various other taxes Based on that decision New Mexico was given an additional legislator in the 1940 congressional apportionment But New Mexico continued to deny Indians the right to vote Finally on Aug 3 1948 a three-judge panel in Santa Fe agreed with Thijillo saying the ban was discriminatory based on race and violated the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution The battle was over A quiet hero Waconda remembers a quiet drive home from Santa Fe that night Celebration was limited to philosophic conversations The endless strategy sessions between Cohen and Thijillo while their children played in the yard were over was Waconda said what they -talked For a few Thijillo shared the headlines with president Harry campaign for re-election against Thomas Dewey and Alger testimony in front of the House un-American activities committee But victory quickly faded In the days following there 1 were more letters to the editor in The New Mexican concerning unsafe taxi drivers on the Plaza than Indian suffrage Though friends and family language is going to But Dad always felt that at least the opportunity should be of the older guys believed if they voted they would lose their lands or water said Pueblo Indian historian Joe Sando what happened to their Spanish Thijillo decided to continue the fight on his own In June he attempted to register in Los Lunas He had gone to school with the county clerk Eloy Gar-ley but that ease the way said you and I both know you do recalls Waconda who was a teen-ager at the time not me the Thijillo an his attorneys filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court In the complaint Thijillo argued that as an American Indian he paid taxes for everything but the land he lived on including federal income tax and state sales taxes He asked for the sum of $1 in damages Previous attempts to rescind the law had been unsuccessful In March 1948 the state Supreme Court had ruled against 9 similar case brought by Pete Tapia of Tesuque Pueblo But Thijillo pressed on bol-'" stered now by the July 15 1948 ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court allowing Indians in that state to vote That case was brought by two members of the Mojave-Apache Indian tribe both World War II veterans Thijillo and his attorney Washington DC lawyer Felix Cohen argued that the New Mexico ban could only be defined as racially discriminatory research into life 'nobody knows who he His absence from the state consciousness is all the more alarming in a year when New Mexico has paused to celebrate other landmark events such as the 400th anniversary of the first permanent Spanish settlement and the 150th anniversary of the TVeaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Aug 3 will mark the 50th anniversary of federal court victory but as of now no events big or small are planned to commemorate him or his achievement think a Bronitsky said never understood why the state put up an exhibit to A love of education TVujillo grew up at Isleta Pueblo with his brother Bartolo Their father died while they were young leaving their mother Juanita Jaramillo Thijillo to raise them alone He attended Albuquerque Indian School resisting pressure jfrom family friends to quit school and return to the pueblo to help his family He believed getting an education was the best way he could help says his daughter Josephine Waconda 64 After graduating from the Haskell Institute in Lawrence Kan where he met his wife Ruchanda Paisano of Laguna Pueblo Thijillo eventually earned his degree from the University of New Mexico loved education he always spoke of the need for Waconda said what my brother and I heard all the Waconda credits her father for pushing her and her brother' to pursue their own educations I was going to school he would say know because Indian going to have to work twice as hard as anyone else and just going to have to accept Waconda said She earned a nursing degree from the University of New Mexico and ran the Indian Health Service for the Albuquerque Area before retiring Her brother Dr Michael Thijillo who also went to UNM is now the national director of jhe Indian Health Service The war broke out shortly pfter Thijillo completed his and he volunteered for the Marines He spent the 'war as a recruiter splitting time between San Diego and Santa Fe After the war he andhis wife took jobs teaching at a Bureau of Indian Affairs Day School at Laguna Pueblo They had two School-aged children supported his aging mother and all the while he commuted back and forth to Albuquerque to work on his degree at the University of New Mexico Now with everything else going on in his life he became a member of the All Indian Pueblo Council and was about to wage the biggest battle of his life ONE GOOD REASON FOR jrf ii- Mrs Bea Pearse Celebrating our I Oth year as Santa For dCmry or prtL' 1 obscript'ons vocation step or brohn yendhg machines "I the fight for Indian suffrage Race vs taxes American Indians had been declared US citizens by the Citizenship Act of 1924 but in 1948 Arizona and New Mexico still denied Indians the right to vote refusal was based on the belief that Indians were of the federal government and thus ineligible to vote In New Mexico the right had been prohibited based on Article VII paragraph one of the state constitution which reads: male citizen of the United States who is over the age of 21 and has resided in New Mexico twelve months except idiots insane persons persons convicted of a felonious or infamous crime unless restored to political rights and Indians not taxed shall be qualified to vote not referred specifically to reservation Indians though unknown whether any Indians living off reservations had voted Thijillo bristled at the clause always thought it was funny that they put Indians not taxed next to insane persons and Waconda said-The constitution the only barrier to voting Support for Indian voting was lukewarm even within the Indian community His attempts to build consensus on the All Indian Pueblo Council were unsuccessful everyone was for Waconda said fact there are many Indian people today who feel voting right a stream of thinking that says if going to be like everybody else then our traditional ways are going to go our lands are going to go and our LIVING IN PONCE DE LEON workers and visited the South where he saw racism and segregation at its worst "I remeibber him saying i CITIES OF CASDtVJO i JT-k Li'wrt mk see Easter Sunday Menu April 12 1998 11am-11pm 1 SANTA FE COUNTY PUBLIC NOTICK a on Hwy 84285 In Pojoaquo 1-Carved Baked Pit Ham with Fresh Pineapple Glaze Sliced Prime Rib with Pan JuiceAuJus Sliced Leg of Spring Lamb with Rosemary Au Jus Mint Jetty' 5 K'Country Fried Chicken 1 Grilled Fillet of Fresh King Salmon with Avocado Green Chili Salsa Sauti FreshVegetables Com on tAe Cob Mashed Potatoes Gravy 1 Potatoes Au Gratin Almond Rice with Red Sweet Peppers Snow Peas Santa Fe County needs Santa Fe County residents to serve as precirret election officials for the June 2nd Primary tne 1 November 3rd General Election You must be a registered voter in Santa Fe County The pay for serving is $8500 per day We especially are in need of Republican and Green party registered voters If you are interested please contact Santa Fe County Clerk's Office at 986-6280 or 986-6287 as soon as possible am very well taken care of and everyone is very friendly here at Ponce de Leon" Seafood Bar with Boiled Shrimp Mussels' Complete Salad Bar Assorted Desserts Thble 15 Miles North Of Santa Fa 1-800455-3313 WHERE WE TREAT YOU LIRE COLD! 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