[Tancred]

Maybe somebody who know more about New Mexico can clue me in. How did all those Palestinians end up there? How did they end up being so competitive with the American Indians? Do the Indians resent their trade?

[stalin]

I think that the idians make the jewelry and the palis sell it.

[Cachelot]

How did all those Palestinians end up there? How did they end up being so competitive with the American Indians?

I think you'll find that this area was always a part of Palestine. What's going on is simple the peaceful Palestinians taking back the land wrongfully occupied by Indians.

[roylene]

The answer is yes they do. The Arab stuff is over priced and junk for the most part. The natives are angry. But the real question is why do the like Gallup? If you had ever been there you would wonder the same thing. Exept for Earl's where pie and coffee are a real bargin, I can see no point for anyone going to Gallup.

[Lil'freeper]

Gallup is kind of a pass-thru town. It straddles an interstate and a major set of train tracks. Great place to get gasoline and a burger and then be on your way. It is right on the edge of the Navajo res and is surrounded by wind-carved cliffs of white Navajo Sandstone. It has a very lonely, desolate feel to it. Very barren- not much grows.

My imagination suggests that Gallup feels like 'home' to these immigrants, only without the wars and with more opportunities. More power to them- if they want to work and assimilate into the culture- and this area is loaded with local color (quirky) and culture.

[EggsAckley]

*ping*

Needing your knowledge of NM here.

[MARTIAL MONK]

The answer is money. A poor immigrant can walk into Gallup with little English and no money and become very wealthy in a few years. Their's is a trading culture and we are idiot consumers,

In Gallup it all comes together. An endless supply of fools from the interstate eager to spend money, a perception
of a local product, a rustic theme to keep expenses low, arab traders willing to bend the rules and sell faux
jewelry to faux people. Gallup is a nasty town but it has
(officially) twenty two millionaires and in reality probably thrice that.

This opportunity always has been available to whites and Indians. Why do they prefer to work for six bucks an hour
at Walmart and bitch about the rich arabs? The answer is in the culture.