Farmington, N.M. – Five months after two violent incidents involving Navajos and whites touched off accusations of racism in this reservation border town, Farmington officials say the formation of a committee to help bridge the racial divide is still a priority.
Mayor Bill Standley will form a steering committee that will in turn help determine the makeup and objectives of yet another group, to be called the Community Relations Committee. It will help promote and develop an environment of fairness and respect for everyone in the community, city spokesman Rob Mayes said Wednesday.
Among the committee’s objectives, Mayes said, would be the development of ways to measure, monitor and improve community relations.
He said a time frame was not set but the city would move forward as quickly as possible.
“Such a committee could have a positive impact,” said Duane “Chili” Yazzie, the president of the Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation, a post roughly comparable to mayor. “We’ve had no direct invitation yet.”
While Farmington considers its committee, the Navajo Nation has finished a study of race relations in all towns bordering its vast reservation in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah.
“The conclusion is that there is a problem, primarily involving police treatment of tribal members,” Yazzie said. “There are some complaints of police brutality and of racial profiling. There is the suspicion that police seem to target areas heavily trafficked by natives.”
Yazzie said there is a general belief that the problems are widespread but apparently worst in Farmington.
“The study findings also suggest that reported problems are only the tip of the iceberg,” Yazzie said. “Many of our people are apprehensive about reporting. They feel nothing will come of it.”
A spotlight focused on Farmington in June after three young white men beat up an inebriated Navajo man and, six days later, a white police officer shot and killed an inebriated Navajo man involved in a domestic violence incident in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Police soon arrested three local men, ages 18 to 20, for the beating of 46-year-old William Blackie on June 4.
But an investigation by the San Juan Sheriff’s Department cleared the Farmington police officer of doing anything wrong in the June 10 killing of 21-year-old Clint John of Kirtland, N.M.
John allegedly assaulted his girlfriend and then seized the officer’s baton and threatened him when he intervened.
Navajo officials, including President Joe Shirley Jr., unsuccessfully called for another independent investigation into the use of lethal force in the case. And the Navajo Nation has retained a Durango law firm to represent John’s family in civil litigation against Farmington.
The burst of interracial violence in June was an unwelcome reminder of Farmington’s troubled past.
In 1974 three white teens mutilated and murdered three inebriated Navajo men near Farmington. The violence triggered an investigation by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission as well as protests by American Indians. The commission revisited Farmington in recent years and concluded in a December 2005 report that, although problems remained, race relations between white and American Indian communities had improved significantly.
The June incidents have spurred more marches by American Indians who say they want to call attention to ongoing racial tensions. They marched in Farmington in September and Gallup, N.M., on Saturday. Marches are being planned for Arizona, in Flagstaff and possibly in Winslow.
“We want to keep awareness up,” Yazzie said.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
