City library's 'Why We Serve' exhibit honors Native Americans in the U.S. military

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho Public Library launched an exhibit Saturday in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of the American Indian that honors the service of Native Americans in the U.S. military.

The exhibit, “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces,” is on display until June 1. The exhibit is a “poignant exhibition that tells personal stories of Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Alaska Native veterans who have served in the armed forces of the United States — often in extraordinary numbers — since the American Revolution,” according to the Institute’s website.

The city has previously played host to traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Library of Medicine and the New Mexico State Library.

“The Rio Rancho Public Library is excited to have been chosen as a host site for this very popular traveling exhibit,” Jason Shoup, the library’s director, said in an email. “Institutions across the county — mostly museums and cultural centers — have been interested in it, and the limited duration ensures that this traveling exhibit has the chance to be seen all around the U.S.”

Following the success of the library’s first traveling exhibit, “Americans and the Holocaust,” in 2019, the Rio Rancho Governing Body allocated funding to this initiative in support of the strategic plan, according to Shoup. “Why We Serve” cost around $5,000 to host — including the cost of shipping the exhibit on to its next venue, he said.

“The library has committed to working towards bringing a professional museum-quality exhibit to the city at least once a year. As our nation’s foremost museum, the Smithsonian was a natural choice as a cultural opportunity,” Shoup said.

“Why We Serve” appealed to city officials given the number of pueblos in Sandoval County and the number of active service members and distinguished veterans “who have chosen to make Rio Rancho their home,” he said.

Shoup hopes residents who view the exhibit can take time to appreciate “all the achievements of our Native soldiers throughout American history” including the Code-Talkers in World War II.

Judith Avila, a local New York Times best-selling author who is set to speak at the library Saturday about her biography on a Navajo code-talker, said the display is a great tribute to Native Americans, who in World War II joined the military in greater numbers per capita than another other group of people.

Avila hopes that Native Americans who view the library’s exhibit take with them pride in how Natives “contributed to their country’s survival.” For non-Native people, she hopes they gain some knowledge and understanding of how Natives protected the country “even though we didn’t always treat them well and took their land.”