One year after brutal murders, Native community fights back for justice

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By Colleen Keane
Special to the Times

  ALBUQUERQUE –Standing
in the rain at the busy intersection
of Wyoming and Central last
Sunday evening, Abel Werito
of To’hajiilee held a sign up
high that read, “Stop Racist
Violence Against Natives.” About
a hundred others waved signs
with the same message from the
sidewalk in front of the Rapid
Ride bus stop.
  They were at the intersection
to honor Kee Thompson and
Allison Gorman, members of
the Navajo Nation who were
brutally murdered a year ago on
this day and to bring attention
to the continued violence and
discrimination towards Native
Americans living in the city.
  Homeless Thompson and
Gorman, who are known to the
Native community as Rabbit and
Cowboy, were found beaten to
death while they were sleeping
in a west side dirt lot. Hispanic
teenagers Alex Rios, Nathaniel
Carillo and Gilbert Tafoya have
been accused of their murders.  
Rios was 18 at the time, Carillo,
16 and Tafoya, 15.  They have yet
to stand trial.
  “I’m here to support my
brother, Kee Thompson. We want
to make sure that people know
what’s going on. People need to
stop being racist and violent,” said
Veda Yazzie, Thompson’s sister.
  Like the Thompson’s, Gorman’s
and many other Native families,
Werito said that he has lost family
members recently to the streets of
Albuquerque, his cousin who he
said got kicked to death and his
beloved sister, Antoinette.
  “She meant everything to me,”
he said.
  Antoinette was 24-years old
when she died after being given
an overdose, according to Werito.
  “They (unknown people on the
street) gave her a ‘hot shot’. It
straight out kills you! It’s poison,”
he said.
  But, he added that nothing
much is being done to investigate
her death.
  “(In the eyes of the police), she’s
just another Native who overdosed.
If it was a white person, they

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

would be on it,” he said.
  “The reason we are holding
this event today, the city has not
responded in any significant way
to improve life for Native people,”
Melanie Yazzie, a Red Nation
activist told the group who held
newspapers and jackets over their
heads as the rain came down harder.
  Red Nation is a coalition of
indigenous and non-indigenous
activists and community members
that formed last October to fight
back against continued violence,
marginalization and disparities
towards Native Americans in
border towns like Albuquerque,
according to a press release.
  “Why is it that we can be laying
just minding our own business
and get our faces bashed in by
(the city’s) citizens?” Yazzie
asked in a raised voice.
  Yet, she continued, Albuquerque
thrives because of indigenous
ancestral lands and the Native
American population.  
  “Fifty five thousand Native people
live in Albuquerque, not including
the people who come to do their
shopping, engage in commerce and
cultural activities,” she stated.
  Red Nation activist Sam
Gardipe who grew up in
Albuquerque added, “We want to
remind people what’s happening
with Natives in this town. We’ve
been discriminated against.
  We’ve been marginalized in all
aspects of society. It’s hard to get
housing. It’s hard to get jobs. It’s hard
to get any kind of help,” he said.
  During the memorial, like
several people around him, a
Native man who lives on the
streets of Albuquerque held up the
same sign as Werito that appealed
for a stop to the violence.
e said he likes to call himself
Happy Feet and breaks out with
a big smile and into a little dance
like the one in the movie of the
same name to show why.
  Happy Feet said that he lives
in danger every day. “I roll solo.  
I walk by myself. That’s the
dangerous thing. They say you
should roll in two,” he said.
  Happy Feet said discrimination
is part of his daily experience.
  “Every time, I’m sitting there
trying to get on the bus, they say,
‘Sir, you got to leave.

Dozens of community people raise signs asking for a stop to the killing and violence towards Native Americans during a memorial for Kee
Thompson and Allison Gorman. (Special to the Times, Colleen Keane)
You’re intoxicated. You need to
get out of here,’ and they chase
me off,” he said.
  But, he added it’s not what they
think. “I don’t drink anymore. I
can’t,” explaining that his life is at
stake if he does.
  “No one cares. There’s no hope
over here. They come here to find
work. It’s really heartbreaking,”
said Linda Bennett, a member of
the Navajo Nation, who joined in
to provide support.
  Soon after the murders of
Gorman and Thompson last
July, there was a flurry of
media attention.  Navajo Nation
President Ben Shelly flew into
the city and spoke passionately
at the Albuquerque Indian Center
to a crowd of about 300 people
expressing his grief and promising

support. Mayor Richard Berry
met with Shelly at city hall and in
Window Rock to look at how the
Nation and the city could work
together.  A task force was set
up and charged with developing
recommendations.
  But, Yazzie said that with the
daily reports Red Nation receives
on deaths and violence towards
Native people here, there’s little
evidence that anything has been or
is being done.   Speaking to the
crowd, she called out, “We are
here because Native lives matter.
We should have a voice and
representation,” which met with a
thunderous applause.
  Delaney Woodward, the
Mayor’s Policy Program Advisor,
said that she can understand the
frustration expressed at Thompson
and Allison’s memorial since the
task force recommendations have
yet to be released.

Allison Gorman’s family say Native people need more services and
resources in Albuquerque. (Special to the Times - Colleen Keane)
  But, Woodward said, “There is
movement. We take it seriously.

This is something that is a priority.
We continue to identify resources.”
  Woodward said that a
press conference will be held
unveiling the city’s task force
recommendations and what steps
are being taking to implement
them by early August. Among
those that are being acted on
right away, she said that the city
is hiring a tribal liaison that will
work to build bridges between
the Tribes, Pueblos and the city;
the city is contracting with the
University of New Mexico to
conduct cultural competency
training for city staff and its crises
intervention team; and the mayor
is searching for tribal members to
sit on an advisory committee.
  As a first step that has already
been put into place, Woodward
said that the city has worked with
the state agency that identifies
homeless populations to include
tribal affiliation in their surveys
from now on.
  Yazzie said that Sunday’s event
was a special event to honor
Thompson and Allison. But, she
said it doesn’t stop there.
  She said Red Nation has an
ongoing campaign called Border
Town Justice. She said there have
already been town halls, meetings
and marches in border towns like
Gallup and Albuquerque and more
are planned until change that
makes a difference occurs.
  Thinking about what could
have made a difference for her
uncle, Kee Thompson, his friend
Allison Gorman, and others like
the young and beautiful Antoinette
who lost their lives on the streets of
Albuquerque, Faith Tolino said she
hopes that the Nation and the city
will come together to open a shelter.
  “It could be a place where they
(could safely sleep), get food and
help with a job,” she said.
  According to Woodward, a
shelter is among the long-term
recommendations from the
Mayor’s task force.
  Woodward added that Mayor
Berry has reached out recently to
the newly elected Navajo Nation
President Russell Begaye.
  A jury trial for Alex Rio’s case
is scheduled for October 19th in
Judge Briana Zamora’s courtroom
located at 400 Lomas Boulevard.
  A trial has not been set yet for
the two younger youth who are in
juvenile detention.
  Information: TheRedNation.
org and Facebook or the mayor’s
office, 505-768-3000.