McKenzie Johnson v. Legacies of Anti-Indianism in Education

The Red Nation Podcast

The Red Nation

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2024

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jen and Justine are joined by McKenzie Johnson, Demetrius Johnson, and Kaylee Bahe to discuss an incident that gained national attention on Halloween of 2018.

On October 31, 2018, two Indigenous students were assaulted by their teacher, Mary Jane Eastin, at Cibola High School in Albuquerque, NM. In an AP literature course, one student had the end of their braid cut off and the other was called “a bloody Indian.” Mckenzie Johnson is the student who was called a “bloody Indian."

On January 8, 2020, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed a lawsuit in the Second Judicial District Court against Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) and former Cibola High School Teacher Mary Jane Eastin for violating the New Mexico Human Rights Act. This case has now reached the Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico and the next hearing will be on April 29, 2024 at Central New Mexico Community College.

This episode opens with audio from the Albuquerque Public Schools District Equity and Inclusion Committee hearing on November 28, 2018, and closes with remarks from the Johnson family after the hearing.

Full press release and call to action to follow. Stay updated on The Red Nation website and social media accounts.

Podcast art created by McKenzie Johnson.

Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel

The Red Nation Podcast is produced by Red Media and is sustained by comrades and supporters like you. Power our work here: www.patreon.com/redmedia

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	And the Oh, Over the years I've represented clients against APS. I've helped students in
0:39.1	administrative proceedings in APS and in my time doing that I've noticed the common theme of overt or
0:50.4	direct acts and instances of racism.
0:54.0	And I planned on two minutes for the record.
0:58.0	So I'll just say that there's a common response by this district or by the perpetrator of the racist
1:06.7	act that they didn't know better or they didn't mean it like that. And why we're here today as the ACLU of New Mexico
1:17.7	is to call on our public school system to know better
1:21.6	and to institute measures so that students know better so that teachers know better and
1:27.5	we sent a letter after consulting with tribal leaders after consulting with concerned family members.
1:35.0	Can you wrap it up please? Yes, yes, yes, sir.
1:37.0	And we sent a letter to the district today that outlines measures that we would request that the district take so that these issues of
1:49.4	embarrassing issues on this district of racism don't continue to occur. Thank you. Thank you.
1:54.3	Thank you.
1:55.3	Aver.
1:56.3	Hello, thank you.
1:59.3	It's a pleasure to be up here, not because I want to, it's because I'm doing it because I'm a father.
2:08.5	My daughter was the one that was called the Bloody Indian. That is out of line in my opinion. And no one should be called
2:17.9	that in a context of a public school system. To be called out that this to disrespect my daughter in that form is on call for and that is why I am here.
2:30.0	I speak on my behalf of my family and I also speak on the behalf of all Native people.
2:37.0	Personally, I am Edward Johnson. I come from the Navajo Nation.
2:43.0	I've been living here for the last,
2:45.0	since the birth of my daughter, and she grew up here.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Red Nation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Red Nation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.