{"id":25595,"date":"2024-09-24T00:27:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T06:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/commemoration-march-marks-50-years-since-farmington-massacre\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:21:59","slug":"commemoration-march-marks-50-years-since-farmington-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/commemoration-march-marks-50-years-since-farmington-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Commemoration March marks 50 years since Farmington massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march turns west on Main Street toward Totah theater Saturday in Farmington. The march paid tribute to the memory of the three Navjao men killed in Chokecherry Canyon \u2013 John Earl Harvey, Herman Dodge Benally and David Ignacio. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

More than 250 people marched Saturday morning in downtown Farmington 50 years after three white teenage boys killed three Navajo men. The march was followed by a ceremony at the Totah theater honoring the families of the victims.<\/p>\n

Kicking off shortly after 10 a.m., the march began with a prayer by Duane \u201cChili\u201d Yazzie, who asked the honored families to lead. American Indian Movement members provided security.<\/p>\n

The city of Farmington blocked off Broadway from West Main Street to Miller Avenue, then north to East Main Street, west to the Totah theater.<\/p>\n

\"Duane
Duane \u201cChili\u201d Yazzie, former Shiprock Chapter president and human rights activist, speaks to the crowd gathered on West Main Street before the start of the \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march Saturday in Farmington. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tisa
Tisa Bernally raises her fist during the \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march Saturday on Broadway and Main Street. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As the drumming and singing began the primarily Native American marchers headed east on Broadway graced by beautiful weather on the eve of the autumnal equinox.<\/p>\n

Tisa Bernally, a march escort, said she has done a lot of grassroots organizing over the last 10 years as a member of the American Indian Movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited because we get to start the dialogue about white supremacy, border town racism in this community, that\u2019s been ongoing for a lot of years now, over 150 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bernally said a march usually happens in May, hosted by two AIM chapters. This year the First Presbyterian Church in Farmington and other Navajo organizers decided to hold it in September.<\/p>\n

She said Native Americans still face ill treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t stopped. A lot of our unsheltered relatives get Indian-rolled on a daily basis by young white kids. They get shot at with BB guns? They get bottles thrown at them at night. How I know is because \u2013 as a Native social worker \u2013 they come and tell me\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmington resident Bill Gates said he was there in solidarity, \u201cto recognize that we\u2019re all different (yet) we\u2019re all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1974, Gates had returned to Farmington after graduating from college.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was just starting a career here, and I remember it. I wasn\u2019t as involved as I am now,\u201d he said. As a white teenager, he was aware of \u201cIndian rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of work to be done \u2026 that\u2019s for sure. We made a lot of progress, but there\u2019s a lot of work to be done,\u201d Gates said.<\/p>\n

\"About
About 200 people walk on West Broadway during the \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march on Saturday. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Participants
Participants in the \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march listen and sing along to an honor song led members of the American Indian Movement Din\u00e9 Bik\u00e9yah on Saturday. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s meaningful \u2026 a first step to healing,\u201d said Liesel Dees, an event organizer. \u201cWe have a lot of different healing resources here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome, a very good turnout. Hookah hey,\u201d said Elvin Keeswood, carrying a traditional drum.<\/p>\n

Keeswood said he came aboard about two months ago when he found out the walk was going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo anyway, that\u2019s how I end up contacting my uncle, Chili Yazzie, and then he\u2019s the one that said, come to our meetings,\u201d he said, adding that his late mother, Lucy Keeswood, was instrumental in organizing after the Chokecherry Massacre.<\/p>\n

Keeswood said he was involved in the protest marches in 1974 and that John Trudell and other AIM leaders camped at their house.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not quite as obvious as back then, but it\u2019s still going on. Yeah, the term might be quiet racism,\u201d Keeswood, who retired after 26 years working for the city of Farmington. He now teaches the Navajo language in the Shiprock Associated Schools Inc.<\/p>\n

Cordell Jones set up a table with cold water in front of his business on South Miller Avenue, Simply Solid cabinets and countertops.<\/p>\n

William Brewster Bird said his father, Henry Bird, inspired him to attend the march.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was the one of the vicars at the (San Juan Mission), here in the early 1970s. We moved from Maine to here in January of \u201973. I was a high school student,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n

By that time, the Coalition for Navajo Liberation had started, Bird said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience was I took a class at Farmington High School in construction trades, and one of my fellow students in that class was one of the three accused of murdering three grown-up Navajo men. And I knew one of the three grown-up men because they lived with us at the church. I knew both sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Esther
Esther Keeswood of Hogback addresses the large crowd at Totah theater at the conclusion of the \u201cRemembering 1974 Paths to Healing\u201d march on Saturday. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\u2018Remembering 1974, Paths to Healing\u2019<\/div>\n

Organizer Karen Dearing greeted people with programs in the Totah theater lobby. She said their group began organizing at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really good, it\u2019s really reflective, happy and peaceful, very nice,\u201d Dearing said.<\/p>\n

Dearing, who\u2019s been in Farmington for 30 years, said, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more people of color in jobs, in better-paying jobs. But the issues of people not being treated as equals or not treated well, it\u2019s still happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yazzie opened the ceremony, which was slightly behind schedule, by saying, \u201cWe\u2019re on Indian time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He introduced Dees, who announced that the event was being broadcast in real time on KSJE radio\u2019s Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

She began with a statement from Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commemorate the 50th anniversary for a tragic chapter in our history, we gather not just to remember but to acknowledge the pain, the injustice and deep scars that this tragedy left on our community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must also recognize the journey this time has made since then, together, we have worked to heal, to grow and overcome the strength of our regional community lies not in the hardships that we have endured, but in the resilience we have shown in moving forward, determined to build a better, more connected future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dees quoted James Baldwin: \u201c\u2019We cannot change everything we face, but nothing can be changed until it is faced, until it is named and until it is spoken out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gather together to remember 1974 and to name injustice,\u201d Dees said.<\/p>\n

Stella Webster, representing the First Presbysterian Church, read the statement the group wrote and received applause when she said they want to create a permanent monument in tribute to this event.<\/p>\n

Yazzie, who spoke Din\u00e9 for a few minutes, said, \u201cWe are gathered here \u2026 to commemorate that time in 1974 when, when a number of our \u2026 people were brutally murdered. They were tortured. We want to remember them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said they also want to honor those who are among the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Missing Murdered Indigenous Relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe submit that the racism that is perpetrated on people of color is concentrated in a small segment of the community,\u201d Yazzie said. \u201cThere are people that are truly hateful of another people because they\u2019re different. There is that reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there are many people who are indifferent, and many of good heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we appreciate those people. We regard them as brothers and sisters,\u201d Yazzie said.<\/p>\n

He said one of the reasons that racism is alive and continues is \u201cthis business of white privilege.<\/p>\n