12/03/2025
Kit Carson’s name is being removed from a public park in Taos, NM, USA, as we speak.
Today, the town ceases the glorification of Carson’s violence and unifies around peace.
This is history in the making as we take down the old sign in preparation to install the new one. It will read “Red Willow Park”, chosen by leadership of the local Indigenous community: Tiwa or Taos Pueblo People, also known as the People of the Red Willow.
The effort was sparked decades ago and failed. It was renewed in 2014 by an alliance between Chris Pieper, a Euro-American man, and Lyla June Johnston, a Native woman. Together they convened an intercultural group of Indigenous, Chicano, Hispano, and Euro-American lineages, voicing their unified request to change the name of the park. The effort won the vote but the action was tabled.
The task was reexamined and pushed to the finish line this year, and sealed by the Town of Taos last month, with an immense effort from Councilwoman Genevieve Oswald.
Leadership from Taos Pueblo was instrumental in pushing it across the finish line and in the process reaffirmed their sovereignty and identity as the original stewards of unceded Pueblo Lands.
Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carson oversaw a forced death march of Diné (Navajo) Ancestors in the 1860s. Soldiers were instructed to shoot anyone who could not keep up, including pregnant women, elderly, and the sick.
Those who survived the grueling 300 mile march, were held hostage for four years at the Fort Sumner concentration camp (known in Diné as Hwéeldi, or “the place of suffering”), where thousands more died. Women were only given water for their children if they slept with the soldiers. Our men were forced to watch at gunpoint.
This was done under the direct supervision of Kit Carson, who never resigned his post or advocated for its cessation.
This is a big moment for Indigenous Peoples and intercultural healing.
