Dancing on the Fault Line: Otero County Heritage Festival Bares Heavy Contradictions

Otero County's celebration of its past collides with calls for transparency and justice in the present, as protesters remember a slain Mescalero Apache Boy. 

Yesterday evening well over 1000 of our community members paid the $5 to attend the 3rd Annual Heritage Festival, billed to celebrate the rich and vibrant history of Otero County.

Lorrie Black, as chairwoman of the non-profit board that the Otero County Commission appointed to manage the publicly owned Flickinger Center was the chief organizer of this event.

While the unpaid Indigenous community performed the Blanket Dance to raise funding for the young dancers, protesters arrived on behalf of the young Elijah Hadley, a 17 year old Apache boy who was shot at least 19 times by a Sheriffs Deputy appointed by none other than Lorrie Black’s Husband. Sheriff David Black has yet to make a statement, appear at the county commission meeting to give his scheduled report, or face the public in any way.

These protesters carried signs and waited quietly until there was silence between the performance acts so as not to interrupt or be disrespectful. When these moments of silence arrived they chanted for justice, for lasting accountability measures, for transparency, and for the resignation or removal of Sheriff Black.

Although they were well within their rights under the First Amendment and were on public property: they were physically blocked by staff and crowd members, harassed, threatened, and told to leave. Still they remained.

Many of the crowd supported them; some went so far as to donate money to Elijah Hadley’s family. 

It was a scene. Not a disruptive one: but a damning juxtaposition.

Our Indigenous community dancing for loose change at a celebration of heritage, then later a retired law enforcement officer waltzing with his partner to the tune of concerned citizens calling for accountability and justice after the extrajudicial killing of a 17 year old Mescalero Apache child.

I don’t think we need to look very hard to see the irony, the moral and ethical bankruptcy, or the shame.

Note: Evan Lambert is the president of Community Power New Mexico and serves on the leadership team for With Many Hands Alamogordo. Based in Alamogordo, New Mexico, they are actively involved in local politics, preparing to run for city commissioner next year. Evan is dedicated to enhancing civic engagement and advancing community-focused initiatives through their work and advocacy.