Respected Local Indigenous Artist & Activist Shot, Injured in New Mexico

Respected Local Indigenous Artist & Activist Shot, Injured in New Mexico

Please consider donating to the FāVS Fund for Social Justice Reporting

By Matthew Kincanon | FāVS News

Last week, Jacob Johns, a local Hopi and Akimel O’odham activist and artist, was shot during a rally celebrating the postponement of resurrecting a conquistador statue in New Mexico and is in the ICU.

A GoFundMe page set up to help Johns pay for his medical bills said he was shot during a No Juan de Oñate statue rally in Española, New Mexico on Sept. 28.

The alleged shooter, 23-year-old Ryan Martinez, was arrested and is in Tribal police custody.

An email from the Backbone Campaign, who Johns works with as a community-supported organizer, said his spleen, liver and diaphragm were damaged and he has already undergone one surgical procedure. His vitals are good and he is likely to spend one to two weeks in the hospital.

Jeff Ferguson, a Spokane Tribe citizen and close friend of Johns who he has known for around 13 years, was up in Canada when he received the news about Johns.

When he saw photos of Martinez, Ferguson said he was not surprised because of the red “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat he wore.

“Just another example of why there’s too many guns out there and too much hate in this country,” Ferguson said.

Describing Johns as his best friend, Ferguson said he always appreciated him for his courage, dedication, loyalty and how he has always been there for him.

“Anytime I ever asked him for help for anything, he did it without hesitation,” he said. “He just has a passion for community, public service and helping people, especially the Indigenous community and human rights.”

Some of Johns’s work in activism, Ferguson said, includes climate change, Indigenous rights, and fighting injustice. He and Feguson made plans to be at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai later this year and bring people to paddle canoes in the Persian Gulf. The GoFundMe page said Johns would be leading an Indigenous Wisdom Keepers Delegation to advocate for Indigenous solutions to climate change.

Aside from being an artist and activist, Ferguson said Johns is also a father who loves his daughter and wants her to grow up in a clean, healthy and safe world. 

“He’s a dedicated father that really puts a lot of effort into teaching her his ancestral teachings that he’s learned and teaching her how to be a good person, how to stand up for herself, and what’s right,” Ferguson said. “He’s helped teach her to give a voice to people who don’t necessarily have a voice.”

Ferguson described Johns as a very traditional man who believes in a lot of the Hopi, Gila River and Southwestern Indigenous spiritual and ancestral teachings.

“He’s very strong in his spirit and he’s strong in understanding a lot of the things that we take for granted in this world,” he said. “He tends to slow things down. He’s really big on meditation and self-improvement and helping other people. Just a huge heart.”

From the attack, Ferguson hopes people will learn that Indigenous people in the U.S. are undergoing colonization and they are constantly under attack for many different things, whether it is standing up for their history, ancestral and spiritual teachings, or exercising their sovereignty and human rights.

“One thing that we know is no matter what we try to do, we can’t do it alone,” he said. “We’re less than 2% of the general population, that means anything that we do we start out out-numbered 98-2.”

Ferguson added that there are a lot of lessons to be learned from the attack and people need to move back to a position of love.

“If we look at how we can love each other, love our Creator, love our world and our neighbors and our fellow humans, and eliminate the hate, and eliminate all these things, all this negativity, all this negative energy and focus on the positive energy and our spirituality we can really go a long ways,” Ferguson said. “We can make a wonderful world for our future generations.”

Aside from the GoFundMe, Ferguson said people can support Johns through his artwork and helping him with his rallies. 

As of Sunday, Oct 1, the GoFundMe for Johns has raised over $177,000. The Backbone Campaign is also accepting donations on their website to support Johns.