Groups campaigning to abolish UNM official seal over racism

The Red Nation and Kiva Club are campaigning to abolish the UNM’s official seal, saying it is racist towards Native Americans. “The UNM [official seal] celebrates genocide and conquest — both are violations of basic human rights and belong in a museum of a bygone era,” said The Red Nation co-founder Nick Estes. “It’s 2016 and UNM is still celebrating crimes against humanity – colonialism and genocide – and Natives are still underrepresented at all levels at the University.” Kiva Club is a student organization that provides Native American students at UNM with a social and supportive space. The Red Nation is a Native American-led, local activist organization “dedicated to the liberation of Native peoples from capitalism and colonialism,” according to their website. Many UNM students are members of The Red Nation, including Estes. Cody Artis, a senior earth and planet sciences major and Kiva Club member, said the groups are accusing the seal of racism for neglecting to represent indigenous people. “There is a history of unity between all the nations, but you don’t see that [in the seal]. Where’s the unity of Spanish, White and Indigenous, where’s the unity of all the cultures that come to this campus? It’s not represented,” he said...more