Speaker: Racism alive in Gallup
Gallup schools, city take hits during UNM-G lecture

Author Dean Chavers sits at a table with some of his literature material Thursday in Calvin Hall auditorium on the UNM-G campus. Chavers was there to deliver a lecture about racism in Indian country. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — About 70 people braved Thursday’s snowstorm to listen to Dr. Dean Chavers talk about the topic of “Racism in Indian Country” at UNM-Gallup.

Chavers, author of a newly published book by the same title, skipped over a smorgasbord of topics — from how lousy he believes the Gallup-McKinley County Schools are for Native American students, to violence perpetrated against Native Americans in Indian Country, to the historical legacy of laws that regulate the lives of Native people, to taking potshots at American Indian Movement activists who now claim they were part of the first group of Native activists that occupied Alcatraz Island.

While Chavers’ lecture was heavy on style with lots of entertaining stories and amusing Native humor, it was a bit light on substance concerning specific dates, facts, and statistics to back up his sweeping generalizations. Many of the stories he told were rooted in the 1970s and 1980s, with little contemporary information to offer comparison.

Chavers focused much of his presentation on critical comments about Gallup and the Gallup-McKinley County Schools. Many of Chavers’ comments were almost identical to statements he wrote in a two-part series he published in 2005 entitled “The Culture of Gallup.” As in his published pieces, which can be read on the Internet, Chavers talked about the legendary 350 millionaires who reportedly live in Gallup, the five powerful people or families who reportedly run Gallup, the “10 o’clock let-out” of people from Gallup’s now defunct drunk tank, and the “bonehead classes” that Chavers says Native American students are tracked into in the Gallup-McKinley County Schools.

“What’s the dropout rate for Gallup-McKinley County Schools?” he asked the audience. According to Chavers, the dropout rate is or was 65 percent although he did not provide a specific year for that statistic.

“Are you sick and tired of that?” he asked. “I’ve been sick and tired of that for a long time.” Chavers claimed Thoreau High School had or has the highest dropout rate for GMCS — again without citing a specific year, and he encouraged the audience to write the New Mexico Public Education Department for a copy of the GMCS’ “dropout report.”

A quick check of the education department’s Web site (www.ped.state.nm.us/) after Chavers’ lecture revealed none of the GMCS high schools have met the most recent Adequate Yearly Progress standards. However, the state’s figures aren’t as dismal as what Chavers cited. According to the state’s 2008-2009 School Accountability Report, Central High School in Gallup had the lowest 2007-2008 graduation rate at 45.7 percent while Ramah High had the highest graduation rate at 94.4 percent. The remaining high schools fell in the middle: Tse’Yi’Gai, 66.7 percent; Gallup, 71 percent; Middle College, 75 percent; Crownpoint, 78.2 percent; Thoreau, 80 percent; Tohatchi, 82.4 percent; and Navajo Pine, 87.2 percent.

Chavers talked critically about former GMCS administrators Harry Hendrickson and Ramon Vigil even though they haven’t been a part of the school district for about 20 years, but he did recognize the fact that the GMCS Board of Education now has three Native American members on its five-member school board.

One bright spot in GMCS history, Chavers said, was a former Tohatchi High School counselor who established an impressive tradition of sending large numbers of Tohatchi graduates on to college during his time at the school. Citing that retired counselor’s example, Chavers said, “One person can make a difference.”

“I hope I’ve got you mad,” Chavers told the audience at the conclusion of his lecture, adding that change will come when Native people step up to assume leadership roles. “We’ve got to have leadership to make it happen,” he said.

Chavers encouraged audience members to attend his organization’s upcoming Exemplary Institute for educators.

The two-day conference will be held April 23-24, in Albuquerque. Interestingly, GMCS Superintendent Ray Arsenault is listed as one of the Institute’s Advisory Committee Members in the brochure Chavers distributed.

Other members include Dr. Peter Belletto, Dr. Deborah Jackson-Dennison, and Dr. Kaye Peery, all school superintendents who aren’t strangers to controversy in Native American school districts.

The UNM-Gallup Student Senate sponsored Chavers’ lecture. The next public presentation will be on April 9, when Mark Charles will discuss his idea about forming the “51st Virtual State” for Native Americans.

Information: Dr. Dean Chavers at CTD4DeanChavers@aol.com or www.catchingthedream.org