Recently, I read (contrary to what is claimed in this article) that the
Navajo people have only occupied the disputed areas for the past several
hundred years, whereas the Hopi claims go back much farther. I'd also
like to get an unbiased account (if such a term even makes sense in this
context) as to what interests the U.S. government or any resource extrac-
tion companies might have in the dispute.
Also, I was talking with an American Indian person recently who is the
executive director of a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves
the needs of off-reservation American Indians who expressed the opinion
very forcefully that non-Indians have no business whatsoever in getting
involved in this whole matter, and should leave it all to the Hopis and
Navajos to work out.
As it is, it seems all we're getting is a very one-sided (mostly from the
Navajo side) account of events, and I would very much like to find a way
to get some balance. What do the Hopis feel about things? To what extent
are the two sides reconciled between themselves? What is the objective
evidence that the dispute is at base a cheap trick by the U.S. government
and/or by mining corporations to get the people off their land so it can
be exploited? How do other native people feel about the situation? What
resources are there for understanding the situation other than the subjec-
tive accounts we've been getting from the Navajos?
Please send responses to "nn.general@gnosys.svle.ma.us". Thanks.
--Gary ]
From the Navajo-Hopi Observer, May 29, 1991. Reproduced without permission.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hasgood Says Navajo Side Of
Story Is Missing In The Media
By Cate Gilles
Contributing Reporter
Navajo issues regarding relocation have not been coming out in
most of the media according to the organizer of the Navajo-Hopi
Land and Relocation Conference.
The conference was held in Window Rock about three weeks ago, or
two weeks before the Hopi Tribe held a press conference at Big
Mountain.
Hopi Tribal Chairman Vernon Masayesva and other Hopi tribal
representatives were invited to the Window Rock conference, but did
not attend. The only speaker from Hopi was Thomas Banyacya.
Eugene Hasgood, who organized the Navajo-Hopi Land and
Relocation Conference, said representatives of 13 of the 15 Navajo
communities affected by relocation attended.
"People spoke from places we never hear from in the press, like
Pinon," he said.
Hasgood said he had held high hopes the conference would provide
grounds for unity between members of both tribes, based on a common
desire to preserve traditional ways of life and spirituality.
The conference highlighted that people who continue to live on
partitioned land are having a hard time surviving.
Relocation, said Roman Bitsuie, head of the Navajo Tribe's office
on relocation, has scattered and disrupted families and
communities.
Six days before Chairman Masayesva's press conference at
Big Mountain, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco
released a decision in Manybeads v. U.S.A. and Masayesva v.
Haskie. The decision surprised some; instead of denying or
upholding religious freedom for native people, in return the
process of resolution to the hands of the Navajo and the Hopi
nations.
The court ordered mediated settlement talks to begin by
June 10 and appointed California Judge Harry McCue as the
mediator. If the tribes cannot or will not jointly work towards a
resolution, the final decision on the desert lands far from San
Francisco will return to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah said in a release
that, "This action by the federal court is a recognition that
human beings are affected by these disputes. This is a breath of
fresh air in a situation that has only victimized Navajo and Hopi
people."
Zah expressed hope that the groundwork laid in working
together on projects, such as the Tuba City Airport and the
Turquoise Trail, could bear fruit in these negotiations.
During the press conference at Big Mountain, Chairman
Masayesva and other representatives of the Hopi tribe charged
Navajo residents with environmental through woodcutting and
overgrazing. These representatives also alleged they had been
denied access to sacred shrines in the contested area.
The Hopi chairman did not hold out much hope for the
process mandated by the court.
In a release, he said, "The Hopi Tribe has traveled the
mediation path on relocation so many times that we can now walk
it with our eyes closed... We have given the Navajo every
opportunity to cooperate with us in providing access to their
shrine areas. I really don't know what we are to mediate, but we
will comply with the court order in Spite of the Hopi people's
clear objections to negotiation and mediation on relocation."
The Navajo Tribe responded to the Big Mountain press
conference with disappointment.
"Navajo and Hopi people are going to be neighbors for a
very long time. We must resolve these issues together, in a
positive way. We cannot give in to the temptation to polarize and
inflame the issues for the sake of headlines," Zah said.
Pita Wood, who comes from Big Mountain, said the
accusations of environmental damage were not justified.
"We have been living on that land for hundreds of years.
It's our mother. We use what is on the land in a right way, we
don't cut green trees, like (Hopi Chairman) Masayesva said in the
paper... if we did that our children wouldn't have anything to
burn when they grow up. When there were a lot of Navajos out
there, outsiders couldn't come in, but now there's only a few
families left where I live and we can't watch the land like we
used to," Wood said.
Bitsuie was also disturbed when he read recent news
accounts.
"These accounts are very one-sided. It reminds me of when
the Hopi Tribe was telling the press there would be a 'range war'
unless the Joint Use Area was partitioned. The truth just never
seemed to come out," he said. "...The Navajo people are living on
the ancestral lands, which they have occupied since they emerged
from the ground. The land is their religion and it is who they
are. Why else would they stay there in the face of the hardships
they must endure?"
-- / hopi star lord | \ hopi@scicom.alphacdc.com |