This season we are including episodes about our allies within BIPOC. Aida Pacheco’s episode on Latinos was the first in the series. Now, we turn our attention to the Native American community and talk about how COVID-19 hit some of the tribal groups. Our guest is Dr. Yolandra Gomez Toya, class of ’88 who is a Native American pediatrician. Yolandra (or Yollie) explains that Native identity is complex and not monolithic. In this first segment of Learning our Native American Allies, we we talk about what two particular tribal groups in New Mexico experienced during the COVID pandemic.
But it is not possible to talk about COVID in any community without talking about related issues. How do disparities in access to healthcare, educational resources and infrastructure impact Native American communities? Native American communities have less access to adequate healthcare and infrastructure to support their communities. For example, when COVID arrived, were there enough medical facilities to treat the disease? How far did people need to travel to get help? And what about schooling for children? How do children access online learning if there is no internet where they live? There are so many question, we could only scratch the surface in this episode, but hopefully it is enough to get you interested in Learning Our Native American Allies.