A Melting Pot, Part 2

Members of 23 different Indian tribes live in Gallup. It is a town that is known for its ethnic diversity. There is a new high school in town that is named for a person of Japanese ancestry that grew up in Gallup and still makes the city his home, Hiroshi  Miyamura. He earned a purple heart in the Korean War and, for that reason, Miyamura's sports teams are called the Patriots and their colors are purple and silver, the colors on a purple heart.
  During World War II, the federal government was attempting to send about 800 Gallup residents of Japanese ancestry to an internment camp and the people of Gallup fought it, but eventually lost. This is a remarkable feat considering the segregated society that permeated American life in those days.
  With the recent expansion of the Navajo Indian Reservation, the city of Gallup is nearly surrounded by the reservation. Now the only way to come into Gallup without being on reservation land is from the east, on Interstate 40. However, about 20 miles east of Gallup, the interstate does go through Navajo land for a few miles. This recent addition, which still does not show up on maps, was long a "checkerboarded" area that consisted of reservation land, privately owned farms and ranches, state government land and mine company lands. Navajos long referred to it as "The Checkerboard." Now it is officially part of the reservation even though a few private inholdings remain that were grandfathered in. This area has always appeared on the Navajo Tribal flag because even though, until recently, it was not officially part of the reservation, it was predominantly Navajo land.
   In fact, the Navajo Tribe recently opened its first casino just outside the city limits of Gallup. It is called Fire Rock Casino.The reservation boundary now extends south of Gallup until it meets the Zuni Indian Reservation.
  The downtown business district of Gallup is predominantly adobe or stucco, which is a typical look for a New Mexico town. The McKinley County Courthouse is an adobe structure that consists of two parts. The older part opened in 1914 and is mostly law offices and has a courtroom. The newer part opened in 2003 and houses county administration, plus another courtroom. It is a gleaming modern structure with a large picture window in the front of the building that faces Veterans Memorial Plaza, which is a large plaza dedicated to America's war veterans. It has statues, monuments, interpretive displays and landscaped paths. It also honors the Navajo Code Talkers. This plaza was constructed by closing one block of West Hill Avenue in front of the courthouse to provide unimpeded access from the courthouse to the plaza.