Albuquerque's Environmental Story
Albuquerque's Environmental StoryFor ease of reporting, the U.S. Census chooses to categorize the multitude of diverse ethnic groups and cultures into these five very broad groups. In doing so, there is a great injustice done to recognizing and subsequently, celebrating our similarities and our unique differences. In reality, all groups--Hispanic, Anglo, Native American, African American, and Asian--represent very distinct cultures, religions, and in many cases, many different nations throughout the world. For instance, the category, "Hispanic" (others common names sometimes used include "Latino" or "Chicano") can represent people who are from Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Haiti, and many other South- and Latin American countries. Within the category of "Native Americans" are over 500 individual and unique tribes residing throughout the United States--New Mexico alone is the native home of 22 tribes.
"African Americans" may mean people with roots in Africa, Haiti, Ethiopia, South Africa, as well as other continents. People from China, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, among others, compose the "Asian" category. And the category of "Anglo," lumps people from most European countries, Canada, and many other countries and continents together. By categorizing these very diverse races and ethnic groups, we oftentimes forget who we are and represent, and consequently, cannot celebrate the richness of our individual cultures.
Despite the larger proportion of people referred to as "Anglo" in the city, Albuquerque retains a culture overwhelmingly influenced by the Hispanic and Pueblo (Native American) heritage. The lifestyle, the semi-rural atmosphere in many areas of the city, languages, architecture, food, and even the styles of clothing and dress mark the survival of the ancient Pueblo culture and the Spanish ways of life. On the other hand, the transitions that the area has accommodated mark the contributions made by white settlers, African Americans, and Asians.
The Pueblo people, descendants of the first people to enter the Americas, were the first to inhabit the land that is now Albuquerque. According to historians, the first Pueblo villages were firmly established in the Albuquerque area circa A.D. 900. With the coming of the first Spaniards and Anglo immigrants, large numbers of the original Pueblo people and their villages were destroyed. The Pueblos of Isleta, which forms the southern boundary of Bernalillo County, and Sandia, which forms the northern boundary, are home to present-day descendants of the original settlers of the Albuquerque area. And, in spite of the decimation of the original Pueblo peoples, their influence on the cultural heritage of the area remains strong and flourishing as many people look to the ways of the Pueblos and other Indian people to regain spirituality and closeness to a "natural way of life."
Albuquerque is surrounded by many of the state's 19 Pueblo tribes. Thus Albuquerque serves as the hub of education, employment, and the source of goods and services not typically available in the pueblos. The city houses many large federal government offices that administer certain health and social services to tribal members. Tribal land that holds the governmental head of all 19 New Mexico pueblos is also located right in the heart of the city (Indian School and 12th Street). Although 1990 U.S. Census records show a permanent Albuquerque population of only 10,067 Native American, an estimate by the Department of Family and Community Services raises the number of Native Americans in the city to over 35,000. This estimate reflects the many tribal members who conduct personal or official business in the city and then return home to surrounding pueblos and reservations.
In addition to the Native Americans who reside in the nearby Pueblos or the Cañoncito Navajo Reservation (west of Albuquerque), there are many city residents whose tribal homelands are outside of New Mexico. Some estimates place the total number of individual tribes represented in Albuquerque at more than 160. Native Americans who reside in urban areas such as Albuquerque on a permanent, or even semi-permanent, basis, are often referred to as "urban Indians" by tribal peoples who reside predominately on their tribal lands or reservations. Urban Indians are not a new tribal group, for they often retain strong ties to their individual tribe and homelands, but the name is a designation (often derogatory) placed on them because of where they have chosen to live.
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Many Hispanic families in the city are able to trace their ancestry to Spanish-Mexican families that settled in northern New Mexico from the 17th to the 19th century, before Anglo-American occupation. During most of its first 200 years, Albuquerque (originally named San Felipe de Alburquerque in honor of King Philip V of Spain) grew by incorporating agrarian villages in the valley--villages that still provide the names for present-day neighborhoods (e.g., San Jose, Barelas, Martineztown, Santa Barbara, Los Duranes, and Los Griegos). Many of these names reflect the names of the Spanish families who originally held land grants in the area. Developed slowly over 250 years, Albuquerque's valley areas are still characterized by vernacular adobe architecture; large, irregular lots; tightly knit Hispanic neighborhoods; and, in many areas, a semi-rural atmosphere. Despite the growth of the city since 1940, many Hispanic residents continue to live in the valley areas north and south of Albuquerque, site of the original Spanish settlement in the 18th century. In fact, in some areas, Hispanics make up more than 70% of the total valley population. The daily practice of their culture remains strong and the language remains intact because many children are being taught their heritage in the home, in the schools, and in the community.
With the coming of the early Anglo-American colonists, Alburquerque was renamed "Albuquerque" without the r. Major changes came to Albuquerque as the Pueblo and Spanish/Mexican trade opened up to the emerging United States. These changes included the influx of Anglo settlers into Albuquerque and the rest of New Mexico. The town grew rapidly as the colonists brought with them new development. Eventually, the number of immigrant Anglo-Americans surpassed the indigenous Pueblo and Spanish/Mexican populace.
Albuquerque's emergence as an urban area began during World War II. Since the valley areas were already occupied, development spurted toward the western and eastern mesas of the city. From the early 1920s to the early 1980s, the focus of most development was on the east mesa, where vast tracts of single-family housing and multifamily dwellings, strip commercial development and shopping malls were constructed. This area is now commonly referred to as "the Heights." Today, approximately 58% of Albuquerque's population is white, non-Hispanic (Anglo). And in the Heights, 72% of the population is Anglo. In the far east Heights (closer to the Sandia Mountains) the population is more than 80% Anglo.
Albuquerque and the whole state of New Mexico have often been referred to as "tricultural," meaning Native Americans, Hispanics, and Anglos. In recent years, the Black community began voicing its objection to this depiction, and rightly so, because the city and the state have been enriched by more than three cultural groups.
Certainly Blacks have played an integral part in the development of both. Data indicate that an African-born guide by the name of Estevanico explored New Mexico, some say even before the Spanish explorers, and he eventually came to lead them in their search of gold. Since then, many African Americans have followed, bringing with them talent, ambition, and visions of prosperity that have contributed to the development of Albuquerque. Many came as colonists escaping the racial prejudices of the South, but many were also entrepreneurs, teachers, cowboys, soldiers, ministers, and other professionals. Today, the city's Black population totals only about 10,346, but it still is home to several descendants of the first Black families to come to New Mexico. There is a long- established Black community located in the valley area immediately south and east of the downtown business district.
The newest and smallest population of people to come to Albuquerque are those of Asian ancestry. The people of Japanese heritage came to the city after World War II, many of them coming from the Japanese internment camps. They probably have the longest history here in the city. The most recent immigrants to Albuquerque are refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Albuquerque became the site of refugee resettlement beginning in the mid-1970s. While the number of people of Asian ancestry is small, they retain their unique heritage and many have become prominent members of society, contributing to the city's development as entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, community organizers, and other professionals.
The city's Department of Parks and Recreation each summer sponsors what is known as "SummerFest." For 12 Saturdays during the summer, various people--Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, Germans, Italians, Greeks, the Irish, and others--share the beauty of their cultures with Albuquerque and surrounding communities. Each event is a tribute to one ethnic group represented in Albuquerque and is a celebration of that culture's art, food, dance, and history. These fests are a wonderful means of breaking the habit of lumping cultures into only five categories. And while Albuquerque can claim richness in its many cultures, the value of this wealth and the ability to preserve it are being tested by the need to accommodate the city's swelling population.
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As Albuquerque has grown, it has come against some natural barriers to further expansion. The Sandia Mountains stop the easterly growth, the Pueblo of Isleta boundary stops further southern development, and the Pueblo of Sandia abuts the northern boundary of the city. Attention has now turned to developing the western side of Albuquerque where there appears to be endless undeveloped land.
Controversy, however, has developed over the preservation of the petroglyphs located on lands originally inhabited by the ancestors of present-day Pueblo people. These lands hold sacred sites to which religious leaders of Sandia, Zia, and Santa Ana Pueblos make periodic pilgrimages. The continued growth of the city threatens an ancient history that holds irreplaceable information about Albuquerque's origins and the contributions made by at least one group of people. The city and its people must now decide just how vital is the preservation of these Pueblo cultures. Albuquerqueans must decide whether the wealth of cultural diversity that the city and state so often advertise should be celebrated only on summer weekends and in tourist magazines. Or whether it should be recognized as the historic core or heart of Albuquerque's life and preserved as such.
(Up to Section V, Back to City Parks, On to Downtown Revitalization)