Tribal leaders demand action on public education inequity in New Mexico

By Jessica Pollard, Santa Fe New Mexican
July 30, 2021

ALBUQUERQUE — Wilhelmina Yazzie’s eldest son, Xavier Nez, was a fourth grader when she became a plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit that found the state’s public education system failed to provide several groups of at-risk students an adequate education.

Nez graduated from high school in Gallup this year. But his mother on Friday called for quicker action on the lawsuit that bears her name in the courtyard of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, where dozens of tribal leaders, educators and legislators gathered to pressure the state to do more.

During a Friday news conference, several speakers, including Yazzie, also took aim at the swirling controversy over the status of Legislative Education Study Committee director Rachel Gudgel, who made racist remarks about Native Americans while on the job.

Read more at the Santa Fe New Mexican