Editor,
This letter is to address the events surrounding the Homecoming sidewalk art competition in front of the UNM Bookstore on Tuesday. The intent of the competition was to give student organizations an opportunity to express team spirit and pride for the UNM Lobos in their game against the Utah Utes.
Elements to be judged in the competition included the use of the Homecoming theme "Homecoming on the Range," cherry and silver colors and reference to the Homecoming game. Unfortunately, these factors combined to produce volatile results that ended up hurting several American Indian students, particularly a young Southern Ute woman.
Kiva Club was a participant whose entry was one of the aforementioned murals that was offensive. Though that was not our intent, in hindsight we realize how hurtful the image was. We, as members of the Kiva Club who participated in the mural competition, would like to take full responsibility for our actions and sincerely apologize for hurting several American Indian students. We deeply regret the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate incident.
Elements of the image were misconstrued and misinterpreted due to the written statement, "Blow the Utes Away." Since the whole Western theme, as well as our opponent, brought up the idea of Cowboys vs. Indians, we tried to downplay the seriousness of this by incorporating humor into the mural. While at the same time attempting to keep the idea of rivalry a part of it, we inadvertently made a comment against a certain American Indian tribe. However, our mistake came from neglecting to fully recognize the volatility of the factors in the situation, as well as a lack of foresight in regards to the impact these combined elements might have on the Ute tribal members and to American Indians in general.
The experience was certainly a humbling one, as well as a lesson learned to approach such controversial issues with more foresight and planning.
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As a student organization, our objective is to involve American Indians in addressing issues and concerns here on campus. Although the mural competition resulted in a negative experience, it has brought to light some issues concerning American Indians; in particular, the use of our [Native] people as mascots. As American Indians, we understand that things happen for a reason. We cannot change the past, but we can and should move forward to work past the pain and towards a healing process which will strengthen our community. We would like to encourage all who are interested to come and use the Kiva Club as a forum to voice their concerns and to participate in educating ourselves and our community about what happened Tuesday.
Our next meeting will take place Monday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in Zimmerman Library's Herzstein Room on the second floor.
There is also an open discussion today in Sara Reynolds, Room 101 at 2 p.m. Members of both student organizations involved in the mural incident, as well as some UNM staff and faculty, will be present to support the cause and/or to answer any questions.
Joseph Stacey
Kiva Club vice president
Colleen Gorman
Kiva Club public relations officer
