PATRIOTS PRESENT PRIDE AT HOMECOMING PARADE COMMUNITY, B1
Gallup Sun VOL 10 | ISSUE 495
www.gallupsun.com
September 20, 2024
NAVAJO REPUBLICANS
GROUP ASKS VOTERS IF THEY ARE TRULY RED OR BLUE By Molly Ann Howell Managing Editor
H
arrison Yazzie grew up not knowing much about voting. It was something his parents would do each election cycle. They never talked with their children about who they were voting for or where they stood on political issues. A s Ya z z ie entered adulthood, he took a job working as a construction worker. He married his wife when he was 24 years old, and shortly after the wedding they moved off the Navajo reservation. They moved frequently, hopping from state to state. Each of their five kids were born in a different state. As he raised his young family, Yazzie avoided politics. “I was never a big fan of voting during my upbringing and into my 30s,” Yazzie said. “I really didn’t [pay attention to it] because I’d always thought it was something that we didn’t quite understand what was going on.” But then, while he was in his mid-30s, he decided to conduct some research on the Republican Party a nd what t hey stood for. He found the party's values aligned with his values. “I started looking at the Republican side and it almost seemed like they protected individual’s values, like religion,” Yazzie said. WHAT THE V.I.B.E. PAC DOES A few decades later, Yazzie joined the V.I.B.E PAC in 2016. The Voters Informed
By Education Political Action Committee suppor ts Republican value s a nd s pec i f ic a l ly Republican candidates in Arizona. A PAC raises money and makes contributions to campaigns of political candidates or parties. In an interview with the Sun Ina Noggle, a Co-Chair of the V.I.B.E. PAC explained that one of the group’s main goals is to help Navajo people learn that Republican values align with their values. The group often sets up booths around Northeast Arizona during community events and talks to people who approach the booths. They hand out cards comparing how Republicans and Democrats feel about certain issues that are important to the Navajo and other Native people. “It turns out when you talk to them about the different issues and the things they value, t hey t u r n out t o be more Republican than Democrat,” Noggle said. “So it’s kind of interesting to see them kind of realize their values do align more with the Republican values.” T he ca rds l ist si x impor tant issues, and what Democrats believe versus what Republicans believe: • Abortion: Republicans are pro-life and believe human life is sacred. Some of them are of the opinion that no abortion should be legal, while others make exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Co-chair of V.I.B.E. PAC Nancy Roanhorse ex pla i ned why the anti-abortion choice aligns
Jason Joe waves a Trump/Vance 2024 flag during the Navajo Nation Fair parade in Window Rock, Ariz. on Sept. 7. Joe is running as the Republican candidate for McKinley County Clerk in the upcoming election. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jason Joe with the Navajo way of life. “Republicans are more protective of life,” she said. “And you can’t have any freedoms, you can’t have any choices unless you have a life. Democrats want to take life away from the preborn up to nine months, and some say after.” Yazzie said he actually changed his in-laws’ political opinions when he brought up the issue of
The V.I.B.E. PAC held a fundraising raffle on Sept. 14 in Sanders, Ariz. They raffled off an AR-15, which was provided by Peacemaker Guns & Ammo in Gallup. From left, Karen Schell, Ina Noggle, and Julie Konheiser announce who won some of the prizes from the raffle. A Gallup resident named Terrance Morgan won the rifle. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ina Noggle
abortion up to them. He argued that the concept went against their religious beliefs. “I told them ‘You’re a Christian, and life is important, life is a value,’” Yazzie said. • Green energ y: Democrats wa nt to enforce green energy and have everyone in America dr iv ing electr ic ca rs. Republicans don’t want to force electric cars on anyone, but rather leave it up to individual choice. Roanhorse said that electric cars aren’t feasible for Native Americans living on a reservation. “Cha rg i ng places would be even further away [than gas stations],” she said. “A lot of [people living on the reservation] don’t even have electricity. They’re out on the Rez and there’s no way to recharge those batteries.” She worried that many people would get stranded in their electric vehicles out on the reservation. • School choice and what’s taught in schools: For mer Republ ica n Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed the first ever universal school choice bill (House Bill 2853) into law in 2022.
The bill ensures that any child in Arizona can opt out of public school and join the Education Savings Account program. Parents can access up to $6,500 to spend on private schools, charter schools, or homeschooling. Roanhorse said this bill gives parents more of a say in their child’s education. Democr a t s open ly oppose the ESA program. E a rl ier t h i s ye a r, Democrat Gov. K at ie Hobbs proposed a number of reforms to the program, aiming to bring “accountability” to the system by, among other things, requiring private schools receiving ESA money to fingerprint their teachers (as traditional public schools must). That mandate, along with one preventing ESA families from using their accounts over summer vacation, was included in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget passed in June. Roanhorse said that not giving parents choices for their child’s education can truly limit the children on Native reservations. “We need choice in education,” she said. “The reservation is replete with poor, failing schools. A lot of people graduate [from these schools] and they’re not prepared for college or the work place. So you need parental choice.” Roanhorse explained that public schools are forced to teach Critical Race Theory, racial division, sex education, and
what she calls “gender confusion,” all without parental consent. “I n publ ic schools they’re teaching sex education, they’re teaching gender confusion, and they’re talking about racial division,” she said. “Our country has never been so divided. We didn’t even think about what color or race you were until the Democrats started saying ‘Critical Race Theory’ and giving preference to different races based on their race instead of just their knowledge of the subject and their expertise.” • The Mexican border: Republicans believe that President Joe Biden has not done enough when it comes to the issues at the Mexican border. When former President Donald Trump was in office, he adopted a strict border policy. In March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration invoked Title 42, a controversial statute that was meant to serve as a public health measure. The policy allowed U.S. authorities to swiftly expel migrants - including asylum seekers - at the border. Nearly 400,000 people were detained and expelled between its implementation and January 2021, when Trump left the White House. Biden actually kept Title 42 when he came into office, citing the pandemic as justification.
See V.I.B.E. PAC, Page A3
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