Statement from #JacobJohns about the plea deal, saying:
"'This was a #HateCrime. This is a continuation of #colonial violence. Unfortunately, this criminal process is reflective of the systemic #WhiteSupremacy that Indigenous peoples face. The shooter motivated by hatred got 9.5 years, but will actually be in prison for half that time. Just imagine if I shot a person at a MAGA rally or a Christian prayer service I’d be put away for life. And all we were doing was having a peaceful sunrise ceremony – we went there to pray and our prayers were answered because the Oñate statue still does not stand.
"We live in a sick society where a man with a MAGA hat would come with a loaded gun and commit political and racial violence; though the police were on notice of that violence they weren’t there to protect us.
"The lifelong scars and injuries, loss of an internal organ, mental anguish and trauma will be with me forever – and in a couple of years Martinez will live free.
"I don’t want to end with the anger I feel inside. I want to express that Indigenous prayers and lifeways work. Pueblo people will always stand together and maintain a continuity of resistance to white supremacy and the destruction of the Earth."
#JuanDeOñate #RyanMartinez #Oñate #MAGA #MAGAViolence #IndigenousArtist #ClimateActivist #Artivist #IndigenousActivists #ClimateJustice #NativeAmericanActivists
#HateCrime #MAGATerrorism
