HOUSE MEMORIAL 17

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

D. Wonda Johnson and Joseph Franklin Hernandez

and Charlotte Little and Derrick J. Lente

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 7, 2025 "AMERICAN INDIAN DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

 

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to twenty-three sovereign Native American nations, tribes and pueblos, whose people are citizens of both New Mexico and their sovereign nations, tribes and pueblos; and

     WHEREAS, decades ago, the state of New Mexico in its wisdom set apart a day each year, to be known as "American Indian Day", in recognition of the many contributions of Native Americans to the economic and cultural heritage of all citizens of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature takes great care to recognize and support the immeasurable contributions that Native American people have made to make New Mexico great; and

     WHEREAS, the federal Indian Citizenship Act, which extended United States citizenship to all Native Americans born within the United States and its territories, was signed into law in 1924 but did not include the right to vote; and

     WHEREAS, Miguel Trujillo, born in Pueblo of Isleta in 1904, enlisted in the United States marine corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor and recruited Native Americans to join the military, including some who later became Navajo code talkers. Trujillo felt that as a citizen and a veteran, he had a right to vote, but his attempt to register to vote in 1948 was denied. He brought a court case and won, guaranteeing all Native Americans in New Mexico the right to vote; and

     WHEREAS, in 1942, the United States marine corps recruited the first twenty-nine Navajo code talkers, who spoke both Navajo and English and helped devise a code that more than four hundred Navajo code talkers eventually used and Japanese linguists never decoded. At the end of World War II, the code talkers were sworn to secrecy about their work, and the secret program was not revealed to the public until 1969. In 1982, August 14 was declared "national Navajo code talkers day"; and

     WHEREAS, the first Native Americans to serve in the New Mexico legislature both began and served in the same years, 1965 and 1966: Representative James Atcitty, who served San Juan county, and Representative Monroe Jymm, who served McKinley county. The first Native American woman to serve in the New Mexico legislature was Lynda M. Lovejoy, who served in house district 69 from 1989 to 1998 and senate district 22 from 2007 to 2012 and was the first Native American woman senator and the first Native American to serve in both chambers of the legislature; and

     WHEREAS, the current list of New Mexico Native American legislators includes: Representative D. Wonda Johnson, house district 5, Navajo; Representative Derrick J. Lente, house district 65, Pueblo of Isleta and Pueblo of Sandia; Representative Charlotte Little, house district 68, Pueblo of San Felipe; Representative Patricia Roybal Caballero, house district 13, Piro-Manso-Tiwa, Pueblo of Guadalupe; Representative Michelle Paulene Abeyta, house district 69, Navajo; Representative Joseph Franklin Hernandez, house district 4, Navajo; Senator Benny Shendo, Jr., senate district 22, Pueblo of Jemez; Senator Shannon D. Pinto, senate district 3, Navajo; and Senator Angel M. Charley, senate district 30, Pueblo of Laguna and Navajo; and

     WHEREAS, contemporary life in New Mexico is deeply enriched by the cultural, artistic, economic, social, religious and political aspects of its Native American people and communities; and

     WHEREAS, Native Americans are the original inhabitants of this state and have overcome great devastation and misfortune; and

     WHEREAS, the experiences of Native Americans in New Mexico provide substantial enrichment to the state and are worthy of great esteem;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 7, 2025 be declared "American Indian Day" in the house of representatives; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and the secretary of Indian affairs.

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