#NativeAmericaCalling: Remembering the 1974 #Navajo border town murders

Friday, April 19, 2024

"The torture and gruesome murders of three Navajo men by white high school students touched off a series of racially-fueled conflicts in #FarmingtonNewMexico, on the border with the Navajo Nation.

"The murders in April 1974 became known as the #ChokecherryMassacre. One protest organizer at the time called Farmington 'the #SelmaAlabama of the Southwest,' referring to the simmering racial tensions.

"Demands by Navajos and other #NativeActivists since then have improved relations in the border town and surrounding areas somewhat.

"But many residents and observers say the sources of the problems remain just below the surface.

"Join Native America Calling to recount this little-known period of #FourCorners history and discuss what community relationships are like 50 years later.

Guests on Native America Calling

- #JohnRedhouse (#Diné and #Ute), longtime activist
- #ChiliYazzie (Diné), Shiprock community member
- #NateDuckett, current mayor of Farmington

Listen here:
https://indianz.com/News/2024/04/19/native-america-calling-remembering-the-1974-navajo-border-town-murders/

#Racism #ChokecherryMassacres #DodgeBenally #JohnEarlHarvey #DavidIgnacio,

#Diné #JohnRedhouse 'Fifty Years Ago: #Uprising and #Resistance'

By John Redhouse, #CensoredNews, May 24, 2024

"On this #MemorialDay weekend, we must also remember and honor the many native #HumanRights warriors such as #LarryCasuse and other brave indigenous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in fighting for the lives and future of red people and nations on #TurtleIsland and throughout the Western Hemisphere—the red quarter of #MotherEarth.

"In the course of our long, hard, and bloody struggle for survival, since 1492, we are here only because our ancestors fought for our right to live and exist as first people and nations in the Americas.

"As an aging but still surviving veteran of the intense bordertown wars in Gallup and Farmington in the 1970s, I will remember always great warriors such as #HerbBlatchford, #RobertNakaidinae, #FredJohnson, #LucyKeeswood, and many, many more courageous fighters of that era including the late great Lorenzo LeValdo and Taft Scott who were also very much a part of the 1974 #Totah #Navajo #CivilRights campaign."

Read more (includes images of newspaper articles):
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/05/dine-john-redhouse-fifty-years-ago.html

#NativeAmericanHistory #History #IndigenousHistory #ReaderSupportedNews