{"id":114773,"date":"2015-02-05T16:48:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-residents-raise-human-rights-concerns\/"},"modified":"2015-02-05T16:48:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T23:48:16","slug":"navajo-residents-raise-human-rights-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-residents-raise-human-rights-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo residents raise human rights concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sam
Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<br><br>Navajo Nation Human Rights Commissioners (left to right) Frank Bradley, Jennifer Denetdale and Leonard Gorman listen to civil rights complaints during a public hearing in Cortez.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m not breaking the law when I walk across the park,\u201d said Eddie Draper. \u201cWhere is my freedom?\u201d<\/p>\n

A Cortez resident for almost 40 years, Draper told Navajo Nation Human Rights Commissioners this week that police routinely harassed him as a Navajo man. Saying authorities had repeatedly mistreated him, Draper said he worries which officer will try to arrest him next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be a racist, but when something happens, no one gets blamed but the Indian,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Addressing commissioners at City Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 3, Draper acknowledged that violators of the law should be punished. Yet he questioned an incident at the Montezuma County jail, claiming he was stripped of his clothing and thrown into a cell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that how you treat people?\u201d he asked. \u201cIs that America?\u201d<\/p>\n

Aimed to solicit testimony about police treatment of Navajos in border towns, Wednesday\u2019s public hearing was the seventh held by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission. About 50 people, mostly white residents, attended, including Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin, Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane and Mayor Karen Sheek.<\/p>\n

During the near 6-hour hearing, a Navajo man identified as Aaron stated that he and his brother would routinely travel from Arizona to Cortez in search of work through the city\u2019s day labor program. When no work is available, he said Navajo men like him find themselves with no transportation home and end up homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having hard times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aaron added he believes that local authorities unfairly target the city\u2019s homeless Navajo population, stating police routinely harassed him for sitting in the park. He said non-Natives were often released, even given a ride home, if found drinking in the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Navajo, they just get hauled in,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of prejudice here in Cortez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron told commissioners the bias was evidenced by the disproportionate minority population at the jail and the criminal penalties dolled out to Natives.<\/p>\n

\u201cA majority of inmates at the jail are Navajo,\u201d he said. \u201cOne man even received 60 days for stealing two cans of beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jennifer Denetdale, an American studies professor at the University of New Mexico, said border town surveys dating to the mid-20th century reveal a widespread belief among non-Natives that alcohol has consistently been viewed as a Navajo problem. In response, border towns have instituted trespass and panhandling ordinances to target Natives, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a commission, we know that racism exists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other Navajos complained that business owners would routinely keep eyes on them while shopping. They said it was offensive and uncomfortable to be unjustifiable targeted as suspected thieves.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody deserves to be respected,\u201d one woman said.<\/p>\n

Nora, another Navajo woman claiming she had lived most of her life in Cortez, praised local law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my time in Cortez, I think they are doing a good job,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve never had any problems with the police or the sheriff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nora added that Navajo authorities had disrespected her more than Cortez officials, stating the Navajos need to examine their own bias against others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we as Dine people need to learn how to get along with people with different skins,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Navajo Nation needs to do a lot of changing itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard Gorman, executive director of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, said the group had received \u201cnumerous and unfortunate\u201d complaints from residents in border towns. He said he was concerned after Navajo residents indicated they felt intimidated to report human rights violations due to fear of possible police retaliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there are brotherhood environments in law enforcement,\u201d said Gorman. \u201cThe role of police is to protect and to serve, but today the community thinks they must protect themselves from the services of police officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Wednesday\u2019s public hearing, many residents spoke in Navajo. At the meeting, Lane was joined by two uniformed officers and two plain-clothes employees. Undersheriff Jim Kingery was also present with Nowlin, who told commissioners that he hopes to work closely with the Navajo Nation to address concerns and complaints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a cooperative partnership,\u201d said Nowlin.<\/p>\n

In order to move forward, Nowlin said, people needed to put the past in the past, saying misguided perceptions were a major obstacle toward improved relations. He also vowed to investigate any and all accusations of abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs law enforcement, we know that we have to be open-minded,\u201d Nowlin said. \u201cWe want the community relationships that we need. It can\u2019t get worst. It has to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Nowlin closed, his remarks were interrupted when Draper stood from the back of the room, stating, \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be labeled. Just because we\u2019re Indian doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commissioners receive nearly six hours of testimony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1175,21,13,561],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-114773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-civil-rights","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-native-american"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114773"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=114773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}