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Navajos see bias in New Mexico city's justice system
Monday, April 26, 2004

Navajos who live in and around Farmington, New Mexico, say the justice system is stacked against them.

According to The Farmington Daily Times, Native Americans made up 61 percent of drunken driving arrests and 41 percent of all arrests made by the San Juan County sheriff. Native Americans are 37 percent of the county's population.

In Farmington, the disparity was much wider. Native Americans are 17 percent of the population but 56 percent of all arrests, 56 percent of drunken driving arrests and 80 percent of liquor law violation arrests.

Law enforcement officials deny targeting Navajos but that doesn't stop some from making the comparison. They say Anglos receive better treatment, pointing to the 1974 murders of three Navajo men by three White youths who ended up being sent to a reform school.

Discrimination has long been a concern in the Farmington and Four Corners area. John Foster Dulles II, a regional director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, will come to Farmington this week to get an update on Navajo concerns. He has previously accused local officials of not doing enough to correct racism.

Get the Story:
What did Navajos want? (The Farmington Daily Times 4/24)
Does the system take sides? (The Farmington Daily Times 4/25)
Native American deputy walks a beat between two worlds (The Farmington Daily Times 4/25)
Who is John Foster Dulles II? (The Farmington Daily Times 4/26)

Related Stories:
Navajo homeless men claim assault by white youth (4/23)
Navajos recall discrimination by local businesses (4/22)
1974 murders of Navajo men stir strong feelings (4/21)

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