The Zia symbol
<p>An uncomfortable truth for New Mexicans is that our state symbol — the iconic four-pronged sun which appears on the state flag and most iterations of New Mexico license plates and decorates the floor of the State Capitol building — was appropriated from the Indigenous people of <a href="https://www.ziapueblo.org/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Zia Pueblo</a>.</p>
<p>In 1925, a white anthropologist called James Stevenson from Kentucky was conducting ethnologic studies among several Native American communities in New Mexico for the newly established Bureau of American Ethnology. Stevenson began studying the Zia Pueblo, working extensively with them and eventually winning their trust. During that time, they permitted him to attend secret spiritual ceremonies, during which the four-pronged sun symbol was used. Stevenson supposedly asked to buy one of the pots he saw decorated with the symbol, and when the Pueblo declined, he went ahead and stole it.</p>
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