Filipina girl is Navajo princess

Non-Navajo is Twin Lakes princess

By Cindy YurthYou had to look--and listen--closely to see that Twin Lakes Elementary School last week crowned a non-Navajo as its princess.

"She had the outfit, she had the tsííyeel ... she looked just like a little Navajo girl," said Carmen Clark, the new princess' Navajo language teacher.

In fact, Charlize Fernandez is 100 percent Filipina ... though she's spent seven of her eight years on the Navajo Nation.

"We're Navajos at heart," said Charlize's mom, Jane Fernandez.Comment:  Nice to see that Indians can be as multicultural as anybody else.

For more on the subject, see "Feminist" Mohegan Princess, Native Named Miss Alaska USA, and Beauty Pageant = Female Pride.

Below:  "Newly crowned Miss Twin Lakes Elementary School Princess Charlize Colle B. Fernandez poses with her father, Hindley Fernandez, May 21 at Twin Lakes Elementary School in Twin Lakes, N.M. Fernandez, a 2nd grader and of Filipino descent, introduced herself in Navajo." (Times photo--Donovan Quintero)