Discrimination Against Native Americans in Border Towns: A Briefing Before the United States Commission on Civl Rights Held in Washington, DC.

摘要

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has previously studied discrimination against Native Americans in communities next to American Indian reservations, frequently referred to as border towns. The Commission's state advisory committees (SACs), composed of voluntary members who advise the Commission on civil rights issues within their respective states, have been at the forefront of this effort. In April 2004, the Commission's New Mexico State Advisory Committee held a forum in Farmington, a town bordering a Navajo reservation, to determine the prevalence of discrimination in the social and economic relationships of Native Americans and the white community. Thirty years earlier, the New Mexico SAC held a three-day open meeting and field investigation in Farmington after the homicides of three Navajo men at the hands of white teenagers near the city. The incident touched off a period of visible and dramatic protests by Indian organizations in Farmington designed to call attention to the condition of Navajos in the region. Its 1975 report examined issues relating to community attitudes; the administration of justice; provision of health and medical services; alcoholism; employment; economic development on the Navajo Reservation and its impact on neighboring border towns. The New Mexico SAC's 2004 forum was designed to assess how conditions had changed in the area since the committeees 1975 report and included presentations from tribal leaders, state and local elected officials, community leaders, educators, representatives of law enforcement and business, and the general public. Based on this forum, the SAC submitted a November 2005 report to the Commission which concluded that though the intervening 30 years have witnessed an improvement with respect to the equal protection and enforcement of laws for Native Americans, tensions remain within the community, particularly with respect to Native Americans interaction with law enforcement.