Dallas American Indian Community Members Call for Dismissal of Urban Intertribal Center Who Made Racist Comments

Community members want administrators fired.

Published April 28, 2019

DALLAS — Members of local Dallas/Ft. Worth American Indian community are calling for the termination two employees of the Urban Intertribal Center of Texas (Center) for disparaging remarks they made during a leadership meeting earlier this month.

Founded in 1970, the Center is a non-profit community organization providing medical, dental, employment and training, social and cultural services to urban Native Americans.  Major funding agencies include US Indian Health Services, US Department of Labor, Texas State Medicaid Program, and private donations.

The remarks were made by Interim Center Director Kendria Taylor and Deborah Breshears, clinic program director, during a leadership meeting on April 3 for the Center’s administrators, in the presence of American Indian employees.

The leadership was discussing the concerns of the community during a meeting. The community has been reaching out to both the CEO and the Board Members as to why Taylor has been assigned as Interim CEO when she is a board member (against the by-laws), why is she receiving compensation (against the by-laws) when she is still a board member (against the by-laws), and many other concerns about funding, judiciary responsibilities, board member qualifications.

The CEO’s retort to the community’s concerns, including tribal affiliation,  was that she is part of the “Kick A H** Tribe.” The Clinic Director and the CEO were the only individuals to find her racial comment amusing. The Clinic Director, whose Tribal affiliation is also in question, replied that she was part of the “Slap A H** Tribe”.

The Intertribal Community Council of Texas (ICCT) sent a letter to the Center’s board of diretors, demanding the immediate terminations of the two administrators. The correspondence stated, “These leaders of an American Indian health clinic making disrespectful, pejorative, and insulting remarks are UNACCEPTABLE!”

“We will deal with this swiftly but on the other hand, we will give this the attention it deserves,” Jimmy Stephens, Board President, responded. Keith Pahcheka, ICCT’s spokesman response was, “If this incident had occurred in another minority business or institutional setting, the racially charged remarks by these individuals would be grounds for immediate dismissal.”