The Last Conquistador, there is a controversy going on between John Houser, a sculpture who successfully attempted to create and mount the tallest bronze equestrian statue in the world, and people who funded the building of the statue and Native Americans living in Texas. The Native Americans don’t want the statue of a long-forgotten Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate, branded a terrorist and a genocidal architect by some, to be built.
The Native Americans think that Juan de Oñate is anything to celebrate. He killed thousands of the Native Americans’ ancestors and took their lands. While the Native Americans have their points, Houser and his helpers are trying to help out the city of El Paso, Texas. El Paso Texas is one of the poorest cities in the United States. With Houser Building this statue, Revenue from tourists would help the city out. I honestly think that in this situation, everyone needs to understand where everyone else is coming from.
The statue was not meant to be demeaning to the Native Americans in anyway and it is a beautiful piece of art that is very well sculpted. But then again, Houser should have done his research and understood how bad of a man Oñate was and realized that putting that statue up where eighty percent of the people living there are of Native American decent wasn’t a good idea. Even though the Oñate statue is beautiful, I believe it should have never gone up in the first place.
