Strangers-turned-storytellers from different intersections of age and culture across the Four Corners gathered in Farmington’s Orchard Park last week to discuss race, history and healing with photographer Curtis Ray Benally.
Despite their different walks of life, they sat and confronted the past together in an effort to imagine something better. That was the intent of Benally’s “Conversations in Photography,” a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project curated by photographer Annie Levy.
Tasked with creating four images that reflect Farmington’s identity, its racial tensions, and its possibilities for change, Benally invited community members to help shape the narrative.
Through personal stories – from memories of the 1974 Chokecherry Canyon murders to reflections on generational healing, cultural symbols, and everyday encounters – participants explored how race continues to shape life in the region and what it might take to build a safer, more unified future for the next generation.
Benally – also known as Turkeyboy – is a prolific photographer who covers local sports, graduations, community and private events. He said his selection for the project came on short notice with a fast-approaching deadline. He had to quickly organize a group for his selected topic of racial relations in the Four Corners.
He said he selected the topic because it focused on a problem that began long ago but remains to this day.
Benally began the meeting with a prayer in Diné before introducing the scope and purpose of his project, which included coordination with Farmington, Minnesota, south of Minneapolis.
He chose four subjects of focus, the first of which was the Connie Mack World Series. Farmington – New Mexico’s Farmington – has hosted the series since 1965. Benally said he’s captured hundreds of action shots of the games over the years.
“It’s a crazy, nine day exhausting week, but a fun time,” he said, adding his first project photo was of Ricketts Park, home of the famed tournament.
The second location he chose was near Shiprock where he was born on Thanksgiving – hence his nickname, Turkeyboy. When he married a Catholic woman they had two ceremonies the same day — one at the Catholic Church in Shiprock and the one at Mitten Rock, where his mother was from, he said.
The third location he chose for its controversial implications – a Navajo symbol called “Whirling Log” which looks very much like a Nazi swastika – that’s located on a building across the street from Orchard Park.
Benally said he wants to clarify, educate and reclaim the symbol which has been a positive part of Navajo culture long before it was pirated by the Nazis.
The final photo, Benally said, was yet to be determined and could be decided by group consensus at the May 31 conversation in photography.
Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett participated in the conversation, saying his role as mayor is to be a “unifier” and he cares about making Farmington better for present and future generations.
He said 40% of Farmington residents and half the students in Farmington schools are Native American.
“I consider this as much a Native American community as it is any other community,” he said, noting he asked Benally in a phone call what he considers the “temperature” of race relations.
Just then, a Native American man who was hanging out at the Park and was invited to join the group loudly said, “crazy, you wouldn’t believe what goes on after dark. Everything changes, wicked, lot of crazy everything. I live on the streets.”
“Well, that’s what worries me about you being on the streets, because I know it’s not good,” Duckett said.
Lucia Ignacio is the surviving daughter of David Ignacio, one of three Native American men murdered in Chokecherry Canyon in April 1974. She said her dream to join the Army was “shattered” after her dad’s murder, but she continued with her education.
“This hatred, discrimination, it don’t bother me because I’m getting along with everybody, and then that’s where I’m at in the healing process,” Ignacio said.
She said it was hard to talk about her father’s murder when her kids asked about him, so she advised them to read the “The Broken Circle, A True Story of Murder and Magic” by Rodney Barker. Advising them not to fight or hold anger, Ignacio told them to “just spread more love” to inspire people.
Eugenia Charles-Newton, Shiprock Chapter Navajo Tribal Delegate, said everyone comes from different places, but together people make the community whole. She said when her family asks about the Whirling Logs symbol, she tells them it belonged to them before it was turned into something bad.
“It’s a sign of strength, like a warrior,” Newton said, adding it appeared on blankets and clothing.
“How do I start before I get all rowdy,” said Elvin Keeswood, a former Marine, member of the American Indian Movement and founder of One Nation Gourd Club.
Tracing his history, Keeswood said he grew up in “mixed race” (direct quote environments because his dad worked in construction at many locations.
“We didn’t see color, we seen each other,” he said.
He said he learned what hate was when he attended school in Kirtland and found himself rejected by white kids and other Native American kids.
That made him realize some people do see color – in a way that “dictates who you are and how you’re talked about,” he said.
“I had to balance that, and later on, I really understood how to balance it the right way,” Keeswood said, adding his uncle was also a victim in the Chokecherry Massacre..
Duane “Chili” Yazzie, former Shiprock Chapter President, civil rights advocate and activist, said he is a grandpa, a farmer and a first defender. He recalled being involved in the protest marches at that very location, Orchard Park, on Main Street in 1974.
“We marched because our relatives were killed by white boys. I’ve been around this racism discussion for all that time,” Yazzie said. “That doesn’t stop. I think racism will be with us until … we’re no more on this earth.”
He said the biggest march had over 2,000 participants, crediting other organizers Fred Johnson, John Redhouse and Wilbert Tsosie, and emphasized Esther Keeswood was the one “who probably lit our fires.”
Numerous marches were held after the convicted teenagers were handed light sentences.
In closing, Yazzie said he would contribute and do whatever he could to help.
Danielle Goldtooth said she likes to tell people she was raised in a “household of generational healing.”
“I grew up as a listener next to my great grandmother as she was weaving,” Goldtooth said. “Some of the best and most interesting celebrations for graduations happen in Four Corners region.”
She said the most relevant thing in religion and culture is “a core belief that we must love our neighbor.”
Dominique Richardson, head basketball coach at Bloomfield High School and former Newcombe High School basketball coach said it was a “culture shock” coming from San Antonio, Texas as a Black man to the remote location of Newcombe where he encountered a herd of sheep and their aggressive shepherd dog upon arrival.
He recalled playing basketball against all-white schools and hearing racist slurs – “chicken, watermelon, Kool-Aid” – directed at him when he was about 16 years old.
Richardson said seeing the community come together supporting sports teams featurin players of all races is one of the biggest rewards of coaching.
Emmet Fowler of Navajo and white heritage, said he served as a basketball referee for 22 years. He recalled a Farmington High School coach sitting a player down for a racist comment to a Navajo Preparatory School player during summer league scrimmages.
The event closed with Benally discussing photo options for his fourth selection. He decided to take separate group photos of everyone’s hands and feet circled together, representing togetherness and harmony.
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