![]() In Gallup, New Mexico, the “We the People Park,” derives its name from an interactive steel sculpture installed in 1994, created by sculptor Alvarez Armando. A semi-circle 8-foot steel wall spanning 310 feet, captures 113 silhouette cut-outs in mid activity. Children are running and playing basketball men are playing guitar and singing enthusiastically women are dancing and holding their children’s hands. If the characters could separate themselves from the steel wall, they would walk in society like stiff monochrome flat characters, but they cannot because they are securely attached to the wall with thick steel staples. According to Armando, the sculpture commemorates “free speech, pluralism, democracy, and our coexistence with the environment” (We the People, 2019).īehind the wall are boulders, plants, pebbled walkways, 16 empty chairs, and steel figures standing at lecterns. I used to live in Gallup, New Mexico, and we used to take our children to the “We the People” park, where they would sit in the chairs and run the paths in a game of tag. At the time, I was fully aware that Gallup was surrounded by the Navajo Nation, but my knowledge of the history of the land I was living on was somewhat limited. I taught Freshman Composition part-time at the University of New Mexico, and most of my students were Native American. ![]() It isn’t until now, almost 20 years later, with prompting from people and readings along the way, that I have figuratively gone back to the “We the People” park and thought about its meaning and intent.īut first, let me introduce myself. My name is Helen Lepp Friesen and I am the descendant of settlers Peter and Helen Lepp. My father, Peter, came to Canada from Ukraine, as a refugee, in 1918. My mother, Helen, was born in Saskatchewan. Her parents came to Canada as refugees as well. Both of their families were originally from Holland, but had made their way across Europe attempting to escape religious persecution. In Canada, they purchased land from the government on the traditional territory of the Ojibway, Cree, Dakota Plains, Sioux, and there they farmed all of their life. (First Nations and Treaty Areas in Manitoba, 2010.) With the inclusion of this map, I acknowledge the limitation and problem of mapping from a colonial perspective.
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