Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts... and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

UNKNOWN, CIVIL RIGHTS HERO MIGUEL TRUJILLO FOUGHT TIRELESSLY TO WIN NATIVE AMERICANS IN NEW MEXICO THE RIGHT TO VOTE.

THE MOAB VALLEY MULTICULTURAL CENTER MURAL FEATURING IMPORTANT FIGURES LIKE MAYA ANGELOU, HARVEY MILK, AND NELSON MANDELA SERVES AS A BRIDGE TO CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING.

FROM SCARY FAIRYTALES TO HER GRANDMOTHER'S MISMATCHED WARDROBE, STORIES FROM DINARA MIRTALIPOVA'S LIFE GROWING UP IN UZBEKISTAN INSPIRE HER.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

A FIGHTING SPIRIT >>Gordon Bronitsky: I always refer to Miguel Trujillo as New Mexico's great unknown civil rights pioneer.

His name faded from history which I still think is a great loss.

I never met him because he had had a stroke when I was doing the research in the late 80s but his family ultimately invited me to give his eulogy at the church in Isleta which was an amazing honor and I made a promise to his daughter Josephine that I've kept and that I'm keeping as I give this and I said to her, "I promise I will talk every chance I get about Miguel Trujillo and what he did."

>>Faith Perez: What political and social problems did Native Americans face before they were granted voting rights?

>>Gordon: One word - powerlessness.

Indians had no political power in New Mexico because they did not and were not allowed to vote.

As somebody once said, "if you're not at the table, you're on the menu."

Even though the United States granted native people citizenship in 1924, that was at the federal level.

New Mexico and Arizona were the last states to allow Indians to vote which was in 1948 and then here in New Mexico it was Miguel Trujillo who took legal action to do it.

>>Faith: Tell me about Trujillo's early life.

>>Gordon: His father died when he was very young which meant his mother raised him and his siblings.

He initially attended school at Isleta but then went to the Albuquerque Indian School and he faced a lot of pressure to drop out of school and support his family.

His mother pressured him, his community did but he was, he really wanted an education and he was greatly encouraged by one of the teachers at the Albuquerque Indian School, a woman named Isis Harrington.

So after he graduated from the Indian school, he went to Haskell and paid his own way, as much as, he worked summers in the beat fields of Colorado and Kansas.

While he was there he met a woman from Laguna named Ruchanda Paisano and they were married he then moved to Laguna and began teaching at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Day chool there and he continued pushing for education.

He first of all got a Bachelor's at UNM which was incredibly difficult.

There was, there were no scholarships for Indian students.

Nothing, and he got a Bachelor's degree just in time for World War II and then he enlisted in the Marines and served in the Pacific.

>>Faith: What happened when Miguel Trujillo first tried to register to vote in Los Lunas?

>>Gordon: Well, after World War II, he tried to register in Los Lunas and his daughter Josephine said that the man who refused him the right to register was actually a friend of his.

They knew each other.

And like actually, many Mexican Americans, many African-Americans basically said, "we just fought for freedom, why can't we vote"?

and it was very difficult first of all, New Mexico was a Republican state.

It was Republican, really until at least World War II and they just didn't want to register 20,000 Indians who they were fairly positive would vote Democratic.

And certainly Indians before World War II had suffered a great deal more.

There are a number of newspaper accounts of Navajos in Gallup attempting to register and just being beaten.

There were a number of cases where Indians tried to register to vote but had were threatened with job loss and just withdrew.

Even African-American returning soldiers were mutilated and hung but he persisted.

He was a tough guy.

He and his attorney, who was a man named Felix Cohen, decided to fight.

Felix Cohen is worth talking about.

Felix Cohen wrote the Federal Handbook of American Indian Law.

He founded the entire field of Indian law.

So they took a long look at the law.

The law which was based on New Mexico's Constitution of 1912 denied the right to vote in state elections to Indians not taxed which really referred ultimately to trust land.

They mounted an appeal to the Appellate Court on the grounds of the 14th and 15th amendments.

They pointed out first of all that Indians do pay taxes, they pay sales tax, income tax and other taxes and that people who did not pay tax on land, for instance, people who lived in apartments did vote and they said that it was a violation of the 14th Amendment - The Equal Protection Clause, which said that no one would be denied the right to vote on the grounds of race, color, or previous servitude because it was also designed, it was enacted right after the Civil War and so ultimately the that section of the New Mexico Constitution was overturned in 1948 by the Appellate Court which finally granted Indians the right to vote.

>>Faith Perez: After Trujillo gains voting rights for Native Americans what happens to him?

>>Gordon Bronitsky: A lot of the pressure came oddly enough, afterwards, beginning in the late 40s and certainly in the 50s.

Rather than championing Indian rights, the government shifted towards relocation to move Indians off those reservations into the cities and preferably like far away and termination which meant essentially that tribes that were terminated were no longer recognized as tribes.

The Menominee of Wisconsin, tribes in Utah, tribes in California were simply terminated and that meant, I think for a lot of tribes, I think it put pressure on them to just be quiet, be still, don't push because you can lose everything on that.

And because he continued to push, the Bureau of Indian Education basically threatened to ship him to North Dakota and by then his mother was not only elderly but quite ill. North Dakota probably was not a good option and he was supporting his wife and his kids.

Ultimately he, I think toned it down a lot and they ultimately moved him to Intermountain Boarding School in Brigham City, Utah where he taught until he retired in 1959 but continued to be active at Laguna and in Indian education organizations and in senior organizations.

I think he just pushed all the time.

He pushed for education.

He continued to be a big believer in that and considering what he had done to get his education when it was extremely difficult.

>>Faith: What can we learn from Trujillo's fight for justice today?

>>Gordon: Keep fighting.

I believe it.

We have this myth in New Mexico I think, of three cultures living together peacefully and that's not true whether for Hispanics or Native Americans, it took fighting, it took struggle.

I really am a student of history but one of the things history teaches us is that much of our government, much of our history is struggle.

Nobody gave anybody anything on a silver platter ever.

And I just think that's really good to know that we stand on other people's shoulders so we can see further but we stand on their shoulders because they fought.

So I feel that really strongly.

BUILDING BRIDGES >>Art always contributes to the community.

And I think the mural it gives credit to people that we're not always thinking about even though they were all very important people and very important activists.

I think someone may walk by and remember Malala or remember Nelson Mandela.

And so, I think that in combination with art, it one makes community more beautiful and it allows people to remember something they may not necessarily be thinking about while they're here in Moab.

- First and foremost, we're a we're community resource center, which means that anytime our doors are open, anyone in the community can walk in and, you know, whatever situation they've got going on, whatever problem they may need help with, we will.

We'll do our very best to help them meet that need sometimes through our own services, sometimes through, you know, working with community partners and other agencies.

And we also do a lot of community outreach and education and a lot of youth outreach and education.

So, you know, sometimes we're dealing, you know, putting out fires, dealing with homelessness and mental health and substance use.

And then sometimes we are making instruments from all over the world with kids, and that can all happen in like a single afternoon.

- The Multicultural Mural Project was started in 2014 to the best of my recollection, and it was completed.

It took about three years to complete because the multicultural center isn't an arts organization.

We, you know, we're a social service organization, but we do see and appreciate and often use the arts as a way to meet our mission of building bridges across language and culture, through family support, community collaboration and education.

So the idea of of this mural was really a fantastic way to meet our mission, to involve people from our community, artists and all of the people who participated on the the selection committee for for which activists would be highlighted.

And then from the very beginning, we saw it as an opportunity to use an education piece as well.

It really began with the need to cover up an eyesore area on our property.

There was a junkyard on our property and we we knew we wanted to cover that.

And so we had decided we would we would build a fence.

And if we were going to build a fence, you know, we wanted to put our own flavor on that.

And we wanted to do a public art project that was, um, demon-, demonstrative of our values and what we're doing here, and that would contribute to the celebration of diversity here in Moab and all around.

- The peace that I created for the multicultural mural was the the piece for Harvey Milk spent a lot of time in San Francisco Bay Area in the Castro district and learned a lot about Harvey Milk and developed, you know, a sense of I wouldn't say like a connection, but a sense of understanding and kind of a commitment to helping spread the message that Harvey Milk and his followers were also trying to share and spread as well.

And so when I moved to Moab, to this high desert, and had the opportunity to create a mural about a person that I had a connection with from from my youth or, you know, my young adulthood, it felt really meaningful.

And another way that I could kind of give back to this community while still honoring my own past and my roots.

- So the piece that I did was Jane Goodall.

I have always really, really been infatuated with Jane Goodall.

It was like the life that I saw myself living at some point, like working with chimpanzees and just like, you know, becoming best friends with them.

So and I saw that went on there.

I was duly excited because I think she's a really incredible person.

And I saw it as an opportunity to add an animal and I was like, No one else is going to be doing that.

I've got to get to Jane Goodall.

So that was the one I went for.

- It was a time tears and trial.

Standing Bear and 26 others decided to reclaim their land.

To stand in return, to go home to Nebraska, to return to the ground.

Beside the swift running water, the small band of Poncas made it home after ten weeks of toil.

- We spent a lot of time in the classroom and sometimes that's, you know, our staff going into the elementary school or into the preschool or the middle school.

And a lot of times that's them coming to us and being in being in our space, whether it's our office or outside and I think it's great for it is like it's, you know, it's an office technically, but it's colorful and vibrant and welcoming.

And even though sometimes we're dealing with really hard, sad things here, we we try and do that in a way that makes it okay.

Let's like, you know, those things are going to happen and we have a comfy space where we can confront that.

And I think having, you know, the outdoor diversity classroom was just another place where that can happen.

- I think a lot of public art spaces or historical sites, you could call them, you know, diversity classrooms with indoor or outdoor diversity classrooms.

But what what makes ours specifically more one of its kind is the curriculum that matches each of the panels.

We asked we had a teacher who volunteered to write that curriculum and it specifically tied to the Utah Public Schools Core curriculum.

We wanted the mural.

There's all these there's a lot of needs that it meant.

And it was important to me to make it complimentary to what our students were learning in the schools, to reinforce that, because that in education, you know, we anything we any time we can reinforce that, it really helps to integrate what we're learning.

I believe so.

You know, the mural goes it meets that need, but it goes outside of that, too, right.

So we can we can reinforce what kids are learning in the classroom, but we can go above and beyond that and into critical thinking in many ways.

- Painting my piece, the Harvey Milk piece, was really important to me and special for me.

And every time I see it, when I take my daughter, you know, from our house to the park, we pass by it.

And I get to point it out and teach her a little bit about Harvey Milk.

But as a whole, the whole project, it just brings this immense sense of pride.

And it also reminds me of the importance of investing time in learning about these leaders from all different cultures and not spending too much time focusing on, you know, a specific group of marginalized voices, but recognizing that our community is made up of like all kinds of incredible people.

- It's amazing to be a part of something that's been here for seven plus years now.

When I did it at the time, I didn't really know that I would necessarily continue to be here in seven years.

I didn't really know that the person next to me and the person on the other side of me would become like very good friends of mine.

So it's just really cool to like every time I pass by I think like, wow, that was like a very different time in my life.

But here it is and it's served to now like how many years of, you know, elementary school grades that have come here on field trips and like, that's so amazing.

And I think just getting that recognition is really funny because I don't identify as an artist in my day to day life.

I work at a hospital, so every so often someone would be like, Is that your name on the mural?

And I'm like, Oh, yes, it is.

I did do that, in fact.

So it's kind of this fun.

Like, you know, we all wear a lot of hats here and a lot of people don't necessarily actively, like do art for their living because that would be very difficult.

But most of the artists who contributed to that mural do other things in the community as well.

And this is kind of just like a passion project.

So I think the passion really comes through and it's something I still really feel strongly about.

-Any time you add public art, you know it is adding beauty.

People get to see that beautiful mirror instead of that junkyard.

But a visual representation, too, I think, you know, there's there's the culture, your own personal culture, your family culture, your organizational culture.

But what about the culture of the community that you live in?

And did they, you know, put importance on art or equity or diversity, things like that.

So having something, you know, so large and bright and colorful, I think speaks to, you know, this is a community that that celebrates diversity, wants to inspire people by, you know, highlighting activists and having community projects that are collaborative.

I think all of that speaks to the culture, not just of MVMC, but of Moab and what we want it to be, what we're striving to to have it be.

WOVEN CULTURES "I call it folk art, because folk art means art of the people."

Dinara Mirtalipova paints from her heart.

She draws influence from what's familiar, whether its old, scary fairy tales or the flowered patterns her grandmother wore.

"I grew up in a culture that had lots of those mixed cultures.

Uzbekistan is the place where I was born.

It's like a crossroad of so many different cultures.

It has a very interesting history.

It's like all the way from Genghis Khan to being under the Soviet influence for such a long period of time."

Living in the U.S. as an adult, Mirtalipova turned to art, from sketching to painting.

"I work in mostly in gouache and gouache is a water-based paint.

my scale is very small and with gouache.

It's possible to get those tiny details with the tiny brush.

But sometimes when I paint larger, I go with acrylics because acrylics is more like water resistant and it stays longer."

For years she's been sharing her art online, initially through blogging and more recently through Instagram.

Her online posts have led to all sorts of collaborations.

"I've been mostly sharing my work in my personal work, and to my surprise, I started receiving some requests to illustrate a book, to illustrate the, I don't know, like a spot art for a magazine or like a packaging design and everything, like from like little projects, like stationery to wallpapers and murals."

For her latest children's book due out in 2023, "Woven of the World," she's illustrating familiar Uzbek customs, such as how her grandmother wore clothes with multiple patterns.

"Everything mismatched and it was totally okay by her.

Like she liked to just wear things that are colorful and she didn't really care.

Like, if this color goes well with this color and I kind of find that cute now."

In "Woven of the World," she's illustrating the craft of weaving through a variety of cultural traditions.

"It's not just...

It's about how we're all woven one culture into another."

Mirtalipova is also currently working on book a project with her own daughter writing the poems.

"It's a book about the North Pole Village.

It's like what is happening in the North Pole?

So it involves characters like Mr. Claus, Polar Bear and his little helpers, who do all the charming work of wrapping up gifts and preparing and eating and painting toys."

Mirtalipova says making art is like yoga for her fingers, providing relaxation and a way to separate from the stresses of life.

Self-taught in her practice, she encourages others to create too.

"If the process brings you peace and you enjoy it, you call yourself artist and anyone can become one.

So art should make you feel happy or like it.

I would say, like provoke a reaction.

Like sometimes the reaction may be that you have to wake up and realize what's going on in the world, but sometimes it has just to bring you peace.

So it just and I guess it just depends on the person.

What is it that you are seeking in life?

What is it that's missing?

And if you find art that somehow communicates that, that's awesome."

TO VIEW THIS AND OTHER COLORES PROGRAMS GO TO: New Mexico PBS dot org and look for COLORES under What We Do and Local Productions.

Also, LOOK FOR US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM.

"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts... and Viewers Like You.