In Conversation with the Authors of “The Yazzie Case”

Farmington Municipal Schools Central Office Board Room | 3401 East 30th Street, Farmington, NM

UNM Native American Studies and Farmington Municipal Schools welcome the authors of The Yazzie Case: Building a Public Education System for Our Indigenous Future, for a conversation about the book.

The story of Wilhelmina Yazzie and her son’s effort to seek an adequate education in New Mexico schools revealed an educational system with poor policy implementation, inadequate funding, and piecemeal educational reform. The 2018 decision in the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit proved what has always been known: the educational needs of Native American students were not being met.

In this superb collection of essays, the contributors cover the background and significance of the lawsuit and its impact on racial and social politics. The Yazzie Case provides essential reading for educators, policy analysts, attorneys, professors, and students to understand the historically entrenched racism and colonial barriers impacting all Native American students in New Mexico’s public schools. It constructs a new vision and calls for transformational change to resolve the systemic challenges plaguing Native American students in New Mexico’s public education system.