Opinion

Editorial: Inaction on racism in border town

Monday, November 19, 2007

" A Navajo man was killed when a white Farmington police officer shot him in a store parking lot during the summer of 2006.

It mattered little to critics of the Farmington Police Department that the man killed was stopped as he severely beat his girlfriend, or that the man fought with the police officer before he was shot. Despite that and the man's lengthy criminal record, an uproar was raised because a Navajo man was gunned down.

Such is the power of perception.

Each month in San Juan County, it seems there is at least one fatality, if not several, when drunken pedestrians wander into the roadway. Often, these drunks are American Indian.

It matters little to those with biased stereotypes that white drunks also roam the streets, just perhaps in fewer numbers. No, it's those Indians who can't handle their liquor, many believe.

Such is the power of perception.

Another incident in the summer of 2006 involved a Navajo man being beaten and abandoned in a remote area by three young white men. American Indian voices cried out that Farmington is a town of racism, and they painted it with a broad brush of accusation and anger."

Get the Story:
Editorial: City's overdue bill grows with inaction (The Farmington Daily Times 11/18)