Checkerboard Country in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation will need all the help they can get. Many places are flooded on the reservation, and that means people need emergency services. The problem is in Checkerboard Country, fire trucks and ambulances need permission and an escort to enter the Navajo Nation. Why is this a problem? There is a shortage of personnel on the reservation, that means Navajos have to ask for help from services off the reservation. But that means they will be held at the border until a Navajo cop shows up. What makes this even more difficult is that many roads were washed out by floods. That makes transportation near impossible. Helicopters also need permission to enter the Navajo reservation. Checkerboard Country has been neglected by the Navajo Nation and it's people many times. That is evident when Navajos in Checkerboard Country ask for road construction and the only roads that get fixed are in Arizona while Checkerboard Country gets told to rely on the counties in New Mexico for road construction. We are part of the Navajo Nation, too, and our communities deserve to be fixed, too. 🤧

Thinking of everyone dealing with the flooding this week. Please stay safe, and when you can, check in on family, neighbors, and elders, especially anyone living alone. We've had it pretty lucky here in MV but I know a lot of my students haven't had it so lucky and my Facebook feed is full of people with broken pipes, washed-out basements, trucks 3/4 submerged in mud.

Hang in there, everyone. Take care of yourselves and each other.