Jean Whitehorse speaks out on her experience with sterilization

The Octavia Fellin Public Library hosted Jean Whitehorse, a specialist with the Crownpoint Outreach center, for a discussion on forced sterilization March 13. Government sterilization programs have affected many indigenous women – including Whitehorse herself.

The daughter of Navajo Code Talker Edmund J. Henry Sr., Whitehorse was taught the Diné way of life, which was the Hozho, or the Navajo way of thinking. Her grandmother taught her to understand harmony, balance, and traditional ways. But this education ended as she was forced to attend a boarding school.

“I and my brother were sent off and we didn’t know why, we couldn’t speak our language and often we were punished for it,” Whitehorse said. “I didn’t understand what the dorm martinet was saying, and I would turn to the child next to me and ask in my own language.”

After finishing boarding school she was given a one-way ticket to Oakland, Calif., to attend vocational training. She was taught to be a secretary, and efforts were made to keep her from going back home to Smith Lake.

It was in Oakland that Whitehorse learned of Alcatraz, and how it changed the origin and concept of Indian self-determination. She was there November 9, 1969, during the American Indian Movement Alcatraz takeover. She marched on Berkley, witnessed the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s coast to coast. With her eyes wide open, she learned about the assimilation efforts of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This was another way of taking away the language, culture, and traditions of indigenous people, Whitehorse thought, another way for her people, she said, “to disappear.”

It was then that Whitehorse first learned of forced sterilization.

“The first target were the Native American women, we were the first ones – I was one of them,” she said. “The Department of Health, Education and Welfare, had their target, the target was the unborn Native children. The money was funded and allocated through the state and it went into the clinics. The more women they sterilized, the government gave them more money, that’s how it worked.”

According to Whitehorse, the government at the time said Native women were incapable of bringing in their own kind into this world, incapable of taking care of our own children: “They said we were poor, uneducated, we’re on welfare, that’s how the government looked at us. So the DOHEW had funding to start this sterilization, to me or anybody that had family it was like genocide, trying to get rid of people–and this was in the 1970’s.”

Whitehorse described the deceitful circumstances that led to her own sterilization.

“Some of the women tried to take this to court, but the doctors and attorneys covered up everything,” She said. “When I went through this procedure I had only one daughter, I went in one day to the clinic in Crownpoint for an infection on my appendix, they told me to go to the main clinic in Gallup. I went in and was handed a bunch of papers to sign, I thought I was signing just for the operation, but they put in a paper for sterilization. I didn’t know this happen to me until I went to the doctors two years later and they told me I couldn’t have any more babies, I was in complete shock.”

Whitehorse often wonders how many children she would have had, and tells the audience that children are a blessing and to enjoy them. She referenced the idea of “Lost Birds.” A Lost Bird is the name that Native Americans give their missing children: the daughters and sons who are still being taken from tribal reservations by theft or trickery. Children before 1978 were adopted out and placed with non-Native families, some of these children never knew who they were and some tried to make their way back home.

Whitehorse also spoke of the continuing injustice of the government in ways of taking land, resources, water, and other Indigenous topics.

Jean Whitehorse of Smith Lake, is Dzilt’aadj (Near the Mountain Clan), born for To’djch’jjnjj (Bitter Water Clan). She has been recognized for her training of Native people at various chapter houses on the Navajo Nation. She has also advocated for Native American rights and was present at the Indians Of All Tribes (IOAT), occupation of Alcatraz.

For more information on upcoming events at the library contact (505) 863-1291 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

By Dee Velasco
For the Sun

Staff report

A 14-year-old Gallup boy was in critical condition at a Gallup hospital Monday afternoon after being shot in the stomach in what Gallup Police say is connected to the theft of a crossbow last Wednesday.

The name of the juvenile has not been released since he is a suspect in the theft of the crossbow. The name of the suspect in the shooting also has not been released because he has not been charged as of 6 pm Monday.

Gallup Police Captain Marinda Spencer did say, however, that the shooting and the burglary are connected.

What we know at this time is that police were dispatched to a house on Parmelee Street about 7 pm Wednesday in connection to a report of a stolen crossbow.

There they talked to Michael Shain, who is not a suspect in the shooting.

Shain told police that his crossbow had been stolen earlier that evening from his house. He also said he saw a juvenile in the area if his house at the time of the theft.

The crossbow was actually stolen twice.

Shain said he had been practicing with the crossbow earlier in the day and had laid it down on the ground and had gone back into his house. When he returned he discovered that the crossbow was gone. He saw a juvenile by his shed and yelled at him and the boy ran away.

Shain said he did not see the juvenile running with a crossbow but when he searched, he found it in the buses.

Later that day, he went back to his house and found the door unlocked and his crossbow as well as three arrows missing. He suspected that the juvenile had come back and stole the crossbow.

When Shain gave that report to police, he was told that a juvenile matching that description had reported missing by his parents who lived a block away from Shain.

Police went to the home of the juvenile and talked to the parents who said they still had not heard from their son. Police told them if their son returned to contact police as soon as possible.

During a search of the outside of the parent’s home, they found parts of the crossbow but not the crossbow itself.

As for the shooting, Spencer said that report was still being worked on Monday afternoon but she said she could say that the shooting occurred at or near the residence where the crossbow was stolen.

UPDATE: The man suspected of stealing a revolver from Ted's Pawn this morning has died. GPD Capt. Marinda Spencer said police found the pickup truck matching the description parked at American Heritage Plaza. Police initiated a traffic stop, but the suspect ignored police commands to exit the vehicle.

"The next thing they hear is a gunshot," she said.

Paramedics arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene. The name of man is being withheld until the next of kin is notified.

This is a developing story.

UNKNOWN NATIVE AMERICAN MAN

5’ 05”, 160 LBS and Brown eyes

(Suspect pictured in the red pull-over)

Today, shortly after 10 am, an unknown Native American in a red hoodie entered Ted’s Pawn and asked to see a .357 magnum revolver. The clerk handed the gun to the man who then reached into his pocket and pulled out a round. The man loaded the weapon and pointed it at the clerk then ran out with the gun. He was last seen leaving the area in a white older model Ford 4 door pickup.

Staff Reports

On May 1, 2017, a tragic rollover crash happened on NM State Road 118 in Gallup. Two adults were killed and three children were seriously injured. The driver of the vehicle, Elijah King, was suspected of being drunk at the time of the crash. King was detained at the scene; however, he claimed another man was driving.

New Mexico State Police officers in Gallup responded and conducted an extensive investigation. Their efforts produced solid evidence showing that King was driving drunk at the time of the crash. This evidence later led to King's conviction.

Immediately after the crash, NMSP officers obtained a blood draw from King, took pictures of his injuries, obtained some incriminating statements from him during an interview, and also arrested him for vehicular homicide.

The New Mexico State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit reconstructed the crash scene. A search warrant was obtained and executed to obtain DNA evidence from the vehicle. In the days following the crash, NMSP officers and agents interviewed several key witnesses and gathered surveillance footage from several locations, some of which showed King getting into the driver's seat at a gas station, just minutes before the crash.

After extensive interviews, investigation, and follow up, officers were able to prove without a doubt King was the driver at the time of the crash. King pleaded guilty in McKinley County District Court to two counts of Homicide by Vehicle from DWI and three counts of Child Abuse Resulting in Great Bodily Harm. On March 5, he was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison

The New Mexico State Police would like to thank the 11th Judicial District Attorney's Office and District Attorney Paula Pakkala for their part in bringing this case to justice. The New Mexico State Police is committed to serving the citizens of New Mexico, working for justice, and fighting to ENDWI.