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June 16, 2020 10:13 AM UTC

Militia Shooting In New Mexico Spikes Tensions

  • 15 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Reuters reports that the alleged shooter is a former Albuquerque City Council candidate:

Albuquerque police have arrested a former city council candidate and charged him on Tuesday with shooting and critically injuring a protester in a group that was calling for the removal of a statue of a Spanish conquistador, local press reported.

Stephen Ray Baca, 31, was booked into a city jail on a charge of aggravated battery in the shooting, which occurred on Monday, Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told the Albuquerque Journal.

Here’s more information about the shooter we’re working to confirm:

—–

The Albuquerque Journal reports on a shooting yesterday apparently perpetrated by a member of a local right-wing militia group during a protest confrontation in that city over the removal  of a statue of Juan de Onate, known as the conquistador of New Mexico:

One man was shot in Old Town as a protest over the “La Jornada” sculpture in front of the Albuquerque Museum erupted into violence Monday evening.

The shooting occurred during a clash following a peaceful protest to remove the controversial sculpture, a monument that features conquistador Juan de Oñate. The FBI is assisting in the investigation, according to an APD spokesman. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, meanwhile, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting…

“Although we are still learning more about the situation, I am horrified and disgusted beyond words by the reports of violence at a protest Monday night in Albuquerque,” Lujan Grisham said late Monday in a statement. “The heavily armed individuals who flaunted themselves at the protest, calling themselves a ‘civil guard,’ were there for one reason: To menace protesters, to present an unsanctioned show of unregulated force. To menace the people of New Mexico with weaponry — with an implicit threat of violence — is on its face unacceptable; that violence did indeed occur is unspeakable.” [Pols emphasis]

For those unfamiliar with the Spanish colonial history of New Mexico, a brief primer on the brutal conquistador Juan de Onate:

Oñate, who arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598, is celebrated as a cultural father figure in communities along the Upper Rio Grande that trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers. But he’s also reviled for his brutality.

To Native Americans, Oñate is known for having ordered the right feet cut off of 24 captive tribal warriors that was precipitated by the killing of Oñate’s nephew. In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue – an incident that weighed in the decision to stash away the statue.

In short, Native Americans in New Mexico have a similar revulsion to the legacy of Juan de Onate as African Americans have for statues of Confederate leaders in the South. The long struggle in our neighboring state to the south to come to terms with its own brutal colonial history under Spanish rule is in every way a common cause with the Black Lives Matter movement.

To the armed militia groups showing up with disturbing regularity at protest actions around the country now, from “Reopen America” rallies to the George Floyd protests, it’s the same fight too. The “weapons effect” principle that the simple existence of weapons in any setting makes their use more likely was just waiting to be validated–and Albuquerque happened to be the place it happened first. In Colorado, local armed militia types have been deterred by the ban on open carrying weapons in the city of Denver, but the arrest of one with pipe bombs and another whose trunkload of assault weapons was seized by Denver police make it clear how perilous the situation has become.

Following this long-dreaded but predictable act of violence, things can go one of two ways: toward escalation, or de-escalation. We can only hope the fearful ramifications of this incident result in the latter.

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15 thoughts on “Militia Shooting In New Mexico Spikes Tensions”

  1. Listen to the yells of Oǹate’s ghost

    howling in pain for his foot-maimed host.

    Listen to the demons chuckle and yell.

    Cutting his feet off, down in hell.

    —

    Regards to Vachel Lindsay.

  3. I hate, probably as much as I hate anything, where the out-of-control gun nuttery in this country has brought us to.

    Reading the Albuquerque Journal article, I can see where this (the likelihood of a conviction) is probably going to be messy??

    One thing seems obviously clear, having anyone carrying a gun somewhere exponentially increases the odds that there will be a shooting.  Having many people with guns exponentially increases that exponential . . .

  5. A more complete account of Oǹate's chosen course of action:

    Oñate ordered a brutal retaliation against Acoma Pueblo. The Pueblo was destroyed. Around 800–1000 Ácoma were killed.

    Of the 500 or so survivors, at a trial at Ohkay Owingeh, Oñate sentenced most to twenty years of forced "personal servitude" and additionally mandated that all men over the age of twenty-five have a foot cut off. He was eventually banished from New Mexico and exiled from Mexico City for five years, convicted by the Spanish government of using "excessive force" …

    Oǹate wound up with some admirers among those in the Rio Grande valley, particularly those who came from Spain or Mexico.

    Imagine the extent of the revulsion to trigger an appeal to authorities in Mexico City, to cause his removal from the territory he had a royal warrant to settle, and to ban him from the seat of power (effectively blocking any personal appeal for reconsideration or clemency).

  6. The right wing social-media-sphere is going really big on "Antifa Buses Coming to Town." The right-wing fever-swamp is happy to wallow in conspiracies, but I'm pretty sure Russian if not Trump bots are amplifying the bus conspiracy.

    There were like 800 motorcycle gun enthusiasts that invaded a small Ohio town to confront a 200-person Black Lives Matters demonstration. Police were called away so the moto-gang started beating up on the protestors. 

    Not to mention the Twilight town outdoor store camping while black antifa incident. 

    It's going to get worse before it gets better.

    2. That was Bethel, OH. The protestors were overwhelmingly women and teenage girls, and the nutjobs were overwhelmingly armed biker trash. The internet is lousy with videos of biker trash battering protestors right in front of cops, and the cops doing absolutely nothing.

      The solution, according to dipshits, it to throw more money at police departments.

      1. …and send Q to Congress: 

        QAnon marches toward the halls of Congress

        The loosely connected cohort that follows Q, known as QAnon, exists in a symbiotic relationship with the president, and sees Trump as an almost messianic figure. Q has prophesied an upcoming event dubbed “The Storm,” when Trump will reveal the mass arrest — and potentially even the mass execution — of the Washington figures responsible for everything from a worldwide child sex ring to murdering a Democratic National Committee staffer. Meanwhile, Trump has flirted right back, inviting one of QAnon’s top promoters to pose with him in the Oval Office, and retweeting over 130 tweets that directly reference QAnon-related claims.

  7. 2 Men Linked to 'Boogaloo' Movement Were Just Charged in the Murder of a Federal Officer

    (The suspected homicide in Oakland was originally framed as evidence of escalating lawlessness in conjunction with the widespread protests.)

    On Tuesday, federal prosecutors announced charges against Robert Alvin Justus Jr., 30, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Steve Carrillo, 32, in connection with the May 29 ambush on the federal officers. Carrillo was already in custody for allegedly killing a sheriff’s deputy a week later.

    https://apple.news/AfomxeIlqRhCacDvvsJ1QUw

     

    1. I hope I don’t get chastised for bringing this up, but I think it is time for anyone who thinks they might find themselves on the receiving end of vigilantism, to start considering self defense of some form. I am not recommending arming ones self, but I am not recommending against it. Some of these fools take themselves way too damned seriously and they will wind up hurting innocent people…and those of us who piss them off.

      The Bald Knobbers are an example of how bad it can get. Of course, there is little doubt how vicious and cruel they become if the American Taliban gets on board.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baldknobbersrr.jpg#/media/File:Baldknobbersrr.jpg 

      1. "I hope I don't get chastised…….."  Not from me. I've thought much the same thing. Some years ago, I was camping with a few friends in a remote BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite in far northwest Colorado. Some guys from Wyoming drove in, in late afternoon, and set up. Next thing, heavy drinking and shooting off guns. We quietly broke camp and left to another location–fortunately, we all knew the area pretty well and got to a new camp place before dark.

        I may have posted here in the remote past that I believe the biggest threat to freedom and liberty in our country comes from the non-conservative, far right wing, including the religious right types that you refer to, and rightfully so, as American Taliban.

      3. As a Montana kid I learned to handle a gun. But I never had one at hand until nearly 40 years ago up by the Flat Tops wilderness. The guys I was camping with went off fishing, leaving me happy with my book and dog. Then four drunk yahoos showed up in a Jeep. The dog put up enough of a fuss that that my camping buddies heard and came running, where upon the bozos split quickly. I've taken precautions ever since.

         

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