Ethnic background relations between Anglos and the Navajo in Farmington, N.M., is in a rugged place again, and a horrific swastika-branding incident is to blame. 3 white men unleashed a savage attack against a mentally impaired twenty-two-year-old Navajo man, writes the Associated Press. Specifically, the attack involved branding the image of a swastika to the Navajo man’s arm with a heated coat hanger. Now the perpetrators are the first within the United States to be accused under the updated version of a 2009 hate crimes law.
More than just Swastika-branding harm
According to Farmington authorities, the horrific swastika-branding was not all that the three men did to their victim. They also used markers to write various messages on the Navajo man’s body, including "KKK," "White Power," a pentagram and a graphic depiction of a penis. The actions of the offending trio have run afoul of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Ten years in prison would be the punishment. This is what the offenders might be facing. If kidnapping can be proved to have been involved in the swastika-branding incident by the govt then the sentence might be life.
Helping using the hate crimes legislations being changed
Originally, one would have to have been in a federally protected activity like voting or attending school in order for the United States of America legislations on hate crimes to apply to the victim. The Farmington swastika-branding incident was the first case since the adjustments by Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, or Matthew Shepard Act for short, came into effect. Protection from violence based upon gender, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity are added civil rights protections guaranteed by the law.
Pact to enhance ethnic background relations
In Farmington City Hall this month, Farmington leaders and elders from the Navajo Nation got together to sign a pledge that would promise both sides to work better for a relationship between the two. There’s a ton of conflict in the history of Farmington between the white city and the Navajo.
Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission Chairman Duane "Chili" Yazzie recognized that only through education will violence be quelled. Based on Farmington Mayor Tommy Roberts, the climate of race relations can be altered with lots of time even though "there will always people who just don't get it.".
Details from
Star Tribune
startribune.com/nation/110996299.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiacyKUzyaP37D_ncyD_2yckUr
Media coverage when the swastika-branding first occurred
youtube.com/watch?v=MSrML53oY9w
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