Albuquerque Attorney Patrick Rogers Wants to Avenge Little Bighorn

In an email sent in June to Republican Party cronies, right-wing Albuquerque attorney Patrick Rogers expressed his anger with New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez due to her meeting with Native American tribal leaders from across the state. Apparently not someone who chooses to pick on an ethnic group the size of his own, Mr. Rogers stated that "[t]he state is going to hell" and that the Governor's meeting "dishonored Col. Custer."

That's right.  We're going to fight Little Bighorn again... And this time the Europeans have an even bigger advantage.  Native American populations continue to shrink and for some members of the GOP, it's still not enough.  Next they will be calling for an invasion of Indian reservations and a completion of our domination of the Native inhabitants of North America.

After the email was publicized, hundreds of people wrote letters to the Republican Party of New Mexico as well as to Rogers' law firm, Modrall Sperling in Albuquerque.  On August 31st, a group called ANSWER NM (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) staged a protest against Mr. Roger's comments. Shortly before the ANSWER NM picket line began, Modrall Sperling announced that Rogers had submitted his resignation and was leaving the firm.

In a statement, Governor Martinez said she deplored the racist remarks but said that she "forgives" Rogers and that he should be allowed to retain his position in the New Mexico Republican Party. She did not demand that Rogers apologize to the thousands of Native Americans and others that he offended.

This story won't get even a blip on the national radar so I thought that it was worth a mention here.  If you think a meeting with tribal leaders is an affront to Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and our national pride, then you have forgotten the story of the Indian Nations...  And you are one Republican who is Racist.

Note added on restoring this page in 2026: the photograph originally displayed here, showing the ANSWER NM picket line in Albuquerque, was hotlinked to an outside server that has since taken it down, and no copy survives on this site. The images above stand in its place. The account of the protest and the resignation is unchanged.