New Mexico poorest county (Gallup, Shiprock: crime, house, school)

[lukeache]

According to my research, McKinley County is the poorest county in New Mexico. It includes the city of Gallup and adjacent communities. It did not surprise me that a mostly Native American county would be the poorest, but can anybody tell us more about the region and what exactly makes it the poorest area of New Mexico? Thanks!

[Crackerjack]

That area from Shiprock, to Crownpoint, down to Gallup, has always been poor. I think because the Navajos have so many problems. They have a major alcohol problem. They have many health issues. Many are obese due to genetics and eating the American diet rather than the natural diets their ancestors ate. Many feel trapped on the rez and don't see living outside of their zone. It is a sad place. I really don't know what the answer is, but maybe somebody, one day, will try to tackle it.

[Salemrose4ever]

Well in response to the posting you did about Mckinley county being the poorest, Have you ever visited the area? Do you know what makes the area the poorest? And the remark about "it doesn't surprise me that an all Native area was poor" is really pathetic if you haven't even taken the time to research or visit the area. All I can suggest to you is figure out first why, then open up your mouth cuz if your not from around here then you can't see it ....because technically Native Americans don't consider being rich as having a two car garage with a two story house and a 9-5 job with all the perks...family is what makes the Native people rich...try to visualize that concept and see if your area is a rich one...

[MelNM]

From an economical standpoint, I would agree with Crackerjack. I lived in Gallup for five years recently. The majority of the Navajo people are poor in a material/economical sense. I taught reservation kids my first year there, and saw this firsthand. The home life there is not great either. I heard many stories from my children I taught, and it broke my heart. I only met a couple of the parents of the children in my class because most just did not value education. Because of that, many of the children have a very hard time in school. So, because of those problems, I would say most kids there grow up not valuing education, which, in those circumstances, is usually the way out for a better life for them.

And, the drinking problem among the Navajos there is very real, as is domestic violence. I used to get mad at people I knew (and, well, still do) about talking about the "drunk Indians." But, I did see that it really is a problem there. In fact, all of these problems were covered in orientations I had to attend when I first started teaching there.

In spite of all of this though, I loved the area, and the reservation children I taught were some of the sweetest, most loving I have met!

[abenally04]

Originally Posted by Crackerjack

That area from Shiprock, to Crownpoint, down to Gallup, has always been poor. I think because the Navajos have so many problems. They have a major alcohol problem. They have many health issues. Many are obese due to genetics and eating the American diet rather than the natural diets their ancestors ate. Many feel trapped on the rez and don't see living outside of their zone. It is a sad place. I really don't know what the answer is, but maybe somebody, one day, will try to tackle it.

Why do many people think of Native Americans as being lazy, drunks, and not educated and thats not a fact you rely mostly on stereotype. Not all Native Americans live that way. As Native American myself, I grew up on the reservation, my parents did not fight, my parents did not at all drink and abandoned us. From a Native American perspective view living on the reservation we don't rely on "technology" to live life. Living on the reservation is full of life you get to explore many new things. Explore tradition, and value our religion.

The place maybe sad but we don't need all these things on the reservation. We don't need a McDonalds, a business center, or a big skyescraper to live. If we choose to live that way than we will and no one can change that.

AND PLEASE DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!

[abenally04]

Originally Posted by lukeache

According to my research, McKinley County is the poorest county in New Mexico. It includes the city of Gallup and adjacent communities. It did not surprise me that a mostly Native American county would be the poorest, but can anybody tell us more about the region and what exactly makes it the poorest area of New Mexico? Thanks!

What research did you find? Obviously nothing. If you completed or should I say "according to your research", shouldn't you have found the answer to learn more about the region and what exactly makes it the poorest area of New Mexico?

I would suggest you do a little more of your so called research and get your facts together. Not all Native Americans are poor, it doesn't take a Cadilliac Escalade or fine dining to live our way of life.

[LLD]

Let's keep things civil and non personal please. And I think preciseness in definitions is important here. Poor was originally being used in the economic sense, not the philosophical or cultural sense so it will be more useful to the discussion to make that distinction when you can.

It is no secret that poverty in the economic sense is unfortunately associated with several Native American areas, along with some problems of alcholism and various kinds of crime and abuse. That said, all of those things are also associated with NON Native American populations. So we should not make any kind of sweeping generalizations or assumptions when talking about possibly "hot button" topics.

Be precise in your choice of words so we can limit misinterpretations as much as possible and have a non-heated discussion on this topic. Lukeache, if you have done some research, then provide your stats or background. Giving the ethnic/racial mix of an area is much more useful than making a blanket statement that you aren't surprised that there are NA's in the poorest country in NM. Frankly I'm not surprised there are NA's anywhere in New Mexico, because we have lots of NA's here!

[bigduly]

Mckinley county might be a poor county, but we are rich in some ways. I myself am a Zuni Indian. We are truely rich in tradition, culture, and our language. This to us is all we need. Having a job and making six figure salaries is not what were all about. Yeah, it might be nice to make that much and drive Cadilliac. But here we value our families and our culture.

[LLD]

Nice post bigduly. But I don't think we have to think in terms of poverty or six figure salaires being the only choices. I can't find any info from a quick web search that supports what Lukeache asserted about McKinley being the poorest county so I'll be interested to see his evidence. It may well be the case I just can't find anything explicit. I'd have to "derive" it by looking at all the figures for all the counties.

I did find a set of McKinley County demographics though on wikipedia (which we always have to take a bit with a grain of salt if we don't check the references since sometimes there have been issues there).

Here are the demographics:

As of the census² of 2000, there were 74,798 people, 21,476 households, and 16,686 families residing in the county. The population density was 5/km² (14/mi²). There were 26,718 housing units at an average density of 2/km² (5/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 16.39% White, 0.40% Black or African American, 74.72% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 5.47% from other races, and 2.52% from two or more races. 12.40% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 21,476 households out of which 46.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.70% were married couples living together, 22.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.30% were non-families. 19.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.44 and the average family size was 3.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 38.00% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 17.60% from 45 to 64, and 6.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 93.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $25,005, and the median income for a family was $26,806. Males had a median income of $26,963 versus $21,014 for females. The per capita income for the county was $9,872. About 31.90% of families and 36.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.30% of those under age 18 and 31.50% of those age 65 or over. The county's per-capita income makes it one of the poorest counties in the United States.

McKinley County is one of only 38 county-level census divisions of the United States where the most spoken language is not English and one of only 3 where it is neither English nor Spanish. 45.75% of the population speak Navajo at home, followed by English at 38.87%, Zuñi at 9.03%, and Spanish at 5.72%.

[Grasonville]

Originally Posted by bigduly

I myself am a Zuni Indian. We are truely rich in tradition, culture, and our language. This to us is all we need. Having a job and making six figure salaries is not what were all about.

I am willing to learn new things. Please explain how "having a job" is not what you are all about.

(OR - did you mean a SIX FIGURE job?)

While I understand the richness of a cultural heritage and particular cultural values isn't it important to be able to support yourself through your own work?