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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Indian Center Vital, Planners Say
By Phil Parker
Journal Staff Writer
It's still more conception than reality — no building yet, no paid employees — but a group of Santa Feans with Native American roots believe their planned Santa Fe Indian Center will fill a vital need.
The most recent census data (which lumps American Indians and Alaska Natives into one group) says 3 percent of the city of Santa Fe's residents are Native American. If you include estimates for Santa Fe County, that amounts to more than 6,000 people.
"When people think of Indians, they think of reservations," said Randy Chitto, a Santa Fe artist and one of the founding board members for Santa Fe Indian Center. "That's not true anymore."
The Santa Fe Indian Center is meant to serve "rural" Native Americans who don't live on reservations. While Native American culture is rich and often celebrated, board members point to some heart-breaking statistics they say express the need in this city for a centralized Indian community center.
According to the Indian Health Service, Native Americans "have long experienced lower health status when compared with other Americans. Lower life expectancy and disproportionate disease burden exist perhaps because of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services and cultural differences."
According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, urban Indians have 38 percent higher rates of accidental deaths, 54 percent higher rates of diabetes, 126 percent higher rates of liver disease and cirrhosis and 178 percent higher rates of alcohol-related deaths. Urban Indians are also three times more likely to be homeless than non-Indians.
"For all the bad statistics we're at the top," said board member Anne Wheelock Gonzales, "and for the good we're at the bottom."
Said Chitto: "For any society ill, we have double or triple in the Native American population."
Wheelock Gonzales pictures the Santa Fe Indian Center as large enough for offices, a library with a computer and an area for groups to gather.
The services provided, she said, would include help with housing, employment, medical and wellness accessibility and improving access to varying levels of education. It would also be a place to reconnect with heritage.
"Native people have a need or desire to stay culturally connected," said Wheelock Gonzales. "To be able to practice culture, learn language, be together and (perform) songs. So many things. We just want to bring native people together."
Chitto said he lived in Chicago as a boy, and the Indian Center there was like an extension of his own home. When his family fell on hard times, he said, they could get food at the center. When things got better, they went from eating to serving.
"At the Chicago Indian center you could see all the generations there," he said. "I had so many grandmas, who weren't even related to me or from the same tribe. It was a special place."
One grandma, Chitto said, "was mean, or, you know, very tough, but she kept everyone in line. It would be something simple, like she'd tell us to pick up candy wrappers and gum wrappers. You could see teenage boys not talking back, just cleaning up."
Chitto envisions Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the Santa Fe center, and advocates helping Native American families pay their bills.
"I've seen families helped by this," he said. "I've seen my family helped."
Another board member, Dominic Arquero, said that earlier this week he was contacted about a Navajo family, two of whom were deaf, who got stranded in Santa Fe after their car broke down and was in need of extensive repair. Arquero said he and other board members coordinated to use some of the funds they've saved for the center, as well as some of their personal money, to put the family up in a hotel room.
"An Indian center could have helped them," Arquero said. "We would maybe have a list of homes or individuals who could have put them up. We're looking at other programs for places people can go to look for help when they're in a predicament."
The founding board members have been working on this project since 2007. Santa Fe Indian Center is already an incorporated nonprofit with 501 (c) (3) status. Funds have already been raised, and board members and a few other volunteers are searching through grant opportunities. They hope soon to have found a home, a place to rent large enough to fit their needs, and to hire a director.
"We've done the hard work, the little tedious stuff no one likes to do," said Chitto. "We're on the right track and this is going to happen."
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