Testimony at a Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission hearing in Farmington last week provided reason for hope. Participants said they had seen significant improvements in race relations since the 1970s.

Lester Begay said, "I feel that border towns are getting to the point of respecting all people — black, Navajo, it doesn't matter who it is," in his testimony.

All wasn't sweetness and light, however. Others said they were targeted for traffic stops by law enforcement officers and that officers were unnecessarily aggressive and suspicious in their interactions.

But consider how bad things were. In 1974, three Navajo men were found dead — two partially burned and bludgeoned — and three Farmington High School students were charged with the murders. It was alleged that the incidents were part of a relatively common practice of abusing Navajo street inebriates. A 1975 report by the New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights described an atmosphere of racism and ignorance in Farmington and San Juan County.