The fallout from the George Zimmerman trial was in the air Friday, as President Obama made a surprise speech about the verdict in the White House press briefing room. But at the National Native Media Conference in Tempe, Ariz., where the Native American Journalists Association was meeting, other topics ruled the day. The words “George Zimmerman” or “Trayvon Martin” were hardly uttered.

When asked why, attendees offered remarkably similar responses, variations of, “Welcome to my world. Native Americans receive unequal justice all the time.”

“We have our own system of injustice, and we’ve been living it for 100 years,” Tim Giago, Oglala Lakota, veteran Native journalist and founding president of NAJA, told Journal-isms.

“We’re used to it. We have to prove our innocence,” replied Lucinda Hughes-Juan, Tohono O’odham, a freelance business writer and business instructor at Tohono O’odham Community College.

“Native Americans have always dealt with similar circumstances,” said Ronnie Washines of the Yakama Nation Review, a Yakama and a former NAJA president.

Each could cite examples.

In South Dakota, Giago said, a Native American was given a five-year sentence for driving while intoxicated, while a white man received probation.

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