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| Descanso for James Boyd ("Abba") at the site of his execution, Sandia Foothills, Albuquerque, NM |
So it is with the descanso for James Boyd, who was known as "Abba", up in the foothills of the Sandias just to the east of the fancy residential quarter that climbs up the hillside.
The descanso is not visible from the street, nor is it visible from the main trail that goes up into the mountains. It can only be seen from the spur trail that leads to the site of Boyd's makeshift camp, behind some huge boulders, the site where he was executed on March 16, 2014, by officers of the Albuquerque Police Department acting under color of authority to remove him from the site following complaints by a nearby resident. As they say in officialese.
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Many households in New Mexico have altars and shrines with their santos and bultos and retablos and remembrances and home honors to the gods and saints and the deceased. Ours does. We have santos in the yard, santos in the house, a shrine in the bedroom, altars in the living room, and in the Jesus Room, we've set up a veritable chapel. St. Francis, St. Anthony, and various Our Ladies and Our Lords populate the shrines and altars, as well as what we call the "Angel Kitty", holy water and holy dirt from Chimayó together with some relics of Father Roca... When the Jehovah's Witnesses come to call, they are somewhat, shall we say, taken aback, even offended by all the visible aspects of a faith that's not quite Catholic, but close enough to give them the willies. Close. Enough.
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The household shrine or altar is not actually what the descanso is, though. Descanso means a place to rest.
From Benjamin Radford in the Alibi in 2009:
Some descansos are very simple, a cross or even just a pile of stones marking the place where a loved one passed or is remembered. Some are very elaborate, highly decorated and maintained, meant to gain your attention to someone beloved who now is gone.
Descansos are the roadside memorials that pepper our state. The word “descanso” comes from the Spanish word meaning “to rest” (as in a resting place, either a final one for a body or a temporary one for pallbearers making their way to a grave). Roadside memorials are both traditional and popular in the Southwest. Albuquerque Journal columnist Leslie Linthicum noted Dec. 21, 2008, that “the decorated crosses that dot our highways, marking the place where a soul left this earth in a car crash, are high on my list of what makes New Mexico the best place to live.”[Or at least to remember the dead...]
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Descansos are considered characteristically New Mexican, if not uniquely so, but they are all over the Southwest, including Texas, as seen in the video by Mark Aaron Sharon below.
descanso means a place to rest from Mark Aaron Sharon on Vimeo.
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Remembrance is the key. "We remember you."
We Remember Them by Sylvan Kamens & Rabbi Jack Riemer
This prayer was offered as a token of remembrance at the memorial for James Boyd which I attended last week near the site of his execution. For many of us, it was a powerful moment of reflection, of joy, and of deep sorrow at the loss of someone dear to the place... to a few others... to the Divine.
At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them [you].
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter; We remember them [you.]
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring; We remember them [you].
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer; We remember them [you].
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn; We remember them [you].
At the beginning of the year and when it ends; We remember them [you].
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as We remember them [you].
When we are weary and in need of strength; We remember them [you].
When we are lost and sick at heart; We remember them [you].
When we have decisions that are difficult to make; We remember them [you].
When we have joy we crave to share; We remember them [you].
When we have achievements that are based on theirs [yours]; We remember them [you].
For as long as we live, they [you] too will live, for they [you] are now a part of us as, We remember them [you].
Another version:
And yet another.IN THE RISING of the sun, and in its going down, we remember them.
From the moment I wake till I fall asleep, all that I do is remember them.In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them.
On the frigid days of winter and the moments I breathe the cold air, I warm myself with their embrace, and remember them.In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember them.
As the days grow longer and the outside becomes warmer, I am more awake and I remember them.In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember them.
When I look above and see the images of the clouds and when I am comforted by the sun that shines down on me, I remember them.In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember them.
From the time in which I feel the cool, crisp breeze and see the colors of the leaves, I remember them.In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember them.
On the day I make resolutions for myself and on the day I reflect upon how I’ve grown, I remember them.When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember them.
As I am faced with challenges that enter my life, I remember all that they taught me, and remember them.When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember them.
When I have gone astray and feel uncomfortable, I ask for help and remember them.When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them.
From those times of celebration, love, and happiness, I remember them.So long as they live, we, too, shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.
On every day, and in every way, I know that they are with me and I remember them.
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Nora Anaya said she would ask permission of Abba's brother to erect a descanso in his honor at the site of his murder, for his memory's sake. She was crying as she said so, moved to tears by an event that touched so many souls in Albuquerque and around the world, and which is touching them still.
Ah, but there was already a descanso there. It would be added to, built upon, extended and cared for. James Boyd's life had meaning.
His death was unjust. So many deaths at the hands of APD and police forces around the country and around the world are unjust. We must remember. We must act.
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Today's the day of the March for Justice -- for Dignity, Justice, Community, and Peace -- in Albuquerque. It will be a time for reflection, for remembrance and for community action.
There have been twenty-seven APD-related officer shooting deaths since 2010 - that's about the same number as in NYC in the same time period (with 15 times the population). El Paso, a border town a little more populous than Albuquerque, had five officer-related shootings in the same time period.
Many Burqueños have experienced non-lethal police brutality as well. An US Department of Justice report says APD has "a culture of aggression" and has a pattern of escalating non-violent crimes scenes to conflicts ending in the use of lethal force.
The City administration and APD leadership have continually denied there is a problem and have called all the shooting deaths at the hands of APD officers legally "justified" and have done nothing substantive to address the issue. The Police Oversight Committee has no investigative or corrective authority. The DA rubber stamps the shootings as "justified."
For these reasons, we are asking that you join us in this peaceful, family-friendly march to let the powers-that-be know the level and urgency of our concern.
The march will start at Roosevelt Park, then Sycamore north to Central, Central east to Girard, Girard south to Silver, Silver west to Sycamore, Sycamore south the Roosevelt Park. That's about 2 1/2 miles.
We'd love for people to join us along the march route!I'm sorry. I can't. I'm physically unable to do it. But my spirit is with the marchers today, and my hope is with the thousands who will say, No más. ¡Justicia ahora! And I will remember.
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I have the intention to visit James Boyd's decanso and leave a minor tribute to his memory. Maybe today, maybe not. It's not all that important that I climb that hillside to the spot where he was killed, though I am moved to do so more and more strongly. I know my frail and failing limbs struggled just to get to the site of his memorial well below the site of his murder, and it would be a further and perhaps impossible struggle for me to climb to the spot where he was shot.
But the urge is there, oh my.
The Sandias are called the Sandias because the mountain range looks like a slice of watermelon, and the mountains turn pink in the sunset. One day, years ago, I went out for the far end of one of the streets that ends in the Sandia foothills -- I don't remember which one -- and I waited for the moment when the mountains turned pink and I took a picture, a photograph on film no less (it was that long ago), with bold rocks gray and stalwart in the foreground, and the brilliant pink mountain range rising in the distance against a turquoise sky, and for years I displayed it with other pictures of New Mexico we'd taken or collected over the years. Then, when we packed up to move from our home in California to our home in New Mexico, one of our helpers expressed admiration for the photo display, and I asked him, "Would you like to have it?" He smiled and nodded. "Well, then it's yours."
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I don't need to possess the picture to remember. If someone else gains joy from it, that is my joy, too.
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DIGNITY, JUSTICE, COMMUNITY, PEACE.
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We remember you:
1. Aron Renfro was shot to death by Officer Andrew Cooke on January 9, 2010.
2. Kenneth Ellis III by Detective Brett Lampiris-Tremba on January 13, 2010.
3. Mickey Owings was shot to death Officer Kevin Sanchez on March 29, 2010.
4. Chris Hinz was shot to death by Officers Anthony Brown & Eric Sedler on June 10, 2010.
5. Julian Calbert was shot to death by Officer by Ron Zwicky on June 14, 2010.
6. Len Fuentes was shot to death by Officer Jeremy Hollier on July 27, 2010.
7. Enrique Carrasco was shot to death by Officer Josh Brown on August 17, 2010.
8. Daniel Gonzales was shot to death by Officers Drew Bader & Ramon Ornelas on Oct. 19, 2010.
9. Alexei Sinkevitch was shot to death by Officer David Sprague on October 31, 2010.
10. Jacob Mitschelen was shot to death by Detective Byron “Trey” Economidy on February 9, 2011.
11. Christopher Torres was shot to death by Officer Christopher J. Brown on April 12, 2011.
12. Alan Gomez was shot to death by Officer Sean Wallace on May 10, 2011.
13. Raymond Garcia was shot to death by Officer Matthew Oates on June 4, 2011.
14. Michael Marquez was shot to death by Officer Jim Perdue on August 30, 2011.
15. Mark Macoldowna was shot to death by Officer Mario Perez on January 4, 2012.
16. Daniel Tillison was shot to death by Officer Martin Smith on March 19, 2012.
17. Gary Atencio was shot to death by Officer Russ Carter on March 21, 20112.
18. Parrish Dennison was shot to death by Officers Perdue, Sedler & Aragon on March 5, 2013.
19. Kendall Carroll was shot at by APD, but was killed by State Police SWAT sniper Shane Todd on March 19, 2013.
20. Vincent Wood was shot to death by Officers Jeff Bludworth & Katherine Wright on July 5, 2013.
21. Christopher Chase was shot to death by Officer Luke McPeek and others on October 26, 2013.
22. Andy Snider was shot to death by Officer Hector Marquez on December 8, 2013.
23. James Boyd was shot to death by Detective Keith Sandy & Officer Dominique Perez on March 16, 2014.
24. Alfred Redwine was shot to death by Officer James Eichel on March 25, 2014.
25. Mary Hawkes was shot to death by Officer Jeremy Dear on April 21, 2014.
26. Armand Martin was shot to death by SWAT officer Daniel Hughes on May 3, 2014.
27. Ralph Chavez was shot to death by Officers Ryan Graves and Brian Fuchs on May 22, 2014.
We remember you. May you rest in peace.
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