"Having lived on the Navajo reservation for several years I have picked up a few Navajo words. At the "Frybread for Sale" stand in San Juan Plaza near Hastings yesterday, I experienced a little reverse discrimination.

A Navajo woman standing by me, complained in Navajo to the proprietor of the stand that they were "catering to the Billagana.'" I couldn't resist telling her I understood every word she said, and that was not so.

I have many Navajo friends whom I cherish. They are naturally kind, helpful and considerate, but we all need to remember that discrimination cuts both ways. It is just as wrong for the Navajo people to make hateful comments about the Anglos, as it is for Anglos to be ugly in their actions to the Navajo.

We experienced reversed discrimination from the Navajos while living at Window Rock, Ariz. Everyone is equally guilty. Dr. Martin Luther King had the right idea. We all need to be colorblind. Remembering old hurts does no good, the past is gone. Look to the future and change your own attitudes, that's all you have control over."

Get the Story:
Colene Wells: Discrimination cuts both ways (The Farmington Daily Times 8/5)

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