Whereas Taos Pueblo Indians have occupied their present
homeland in northern New Mexico since time immemorial, and their central
village there is the oldest continuously inhabited structure in North
America;
Whereas Spanish rule was established over the Taos Pueblo
territory in 1598 under laws recognizing Indian possessory rights; Mexico
occupied and assumed sovereignty over the territory in 1821, confirming Indian
possessory rights; and, in 1848, sovereignty over the territory passed to the
United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which guaranteed
protection of all property rights recognized by Spanish and Mexican law;
Whereas, nevertheless, in 1906, illegally and without the
consent of Taos Pueblo, the United States Government appropriated the Pueblo’s
sacred Blue Lake lands and made them a part of Carson National Forest, a
serious threat to and interference with the free and unmolested practice of
their religion by the people of Taos Pueblo;
Whereas Taos Pueblo began at once after this illegal
taking a long and courageous and, at the time, seemingly hopeless struggle to
regain title to these lands, sacred to them and an integral part of their
cultural and religious life;
Whereas, in 1965, the United States Indian Claims
Commission affirmed that the United States Government had unjustly taken Taos
Pueblo’s Blue Lake lands and preparations were made to compensate the Pueblo in
money for the illegal taking, a move which the Pueblo rejected, still
demanding, instead, a return of the lands themselves;
Whereas because of the steadfast efforts of the Taos
Pueblo leaders and people through the years, their unanswerable moral and
religious arguments, and their principled refusal to accept nothing short of
return of the Blue Lake lands, more and more American organizations and
leaders, public and private, began to join in the Blue Lake cause and to take
to heart the words of the great old Cacique of Taos Pueblo at the time, the
late Juan de Jesus Romeo: Our Blue Lake wilderness keeps our water holy
and by this water we are baptized … If our land is not returned to us, if it is
turned over to the government for their use, then it is the end of Indian life.
Our people will scatter as the people of other nations have scattered. It is
our religion that holds us together
; and
Whereas almost unbelievably and against all odds, because
of their own unyielding fight and because their cause was just, the people of
Taos Pueblo finally won out, and legislation returning 48,000 acres of their
sacred Blue Lake lands to them cleared its last congressional hurdle and passed
the Senate in December 1970 and, the same month, was signed into law by the
President of the United States, who said at the time: This bill
indicates a new direction in Indian affairs in this country … in which there
will be more of an attitude of cooperation rather than paternalism, one of
self-determination rather than termination, one of mutual respect
: Now,
therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)congratulates Taos
Pueblo, its leaders, and its people, on the 40th Anniversary of the return of
their sacred Blue Lake lands;
(2)recognizes the
long and courageous struggle of the Taos Pueblo leaders and people through the
years that brought about this ultimate and greatly important success;
and
(3)encourages the
observation of this anniversary, so important to Taos Pueblo as well as to all
American Indians and tribes, with appropriate ceremonies and activities.