As I understand the situation, there is no actual dispute between the
Hopi and the Navajo whatsoever. The whole thing is a ploy by the U.S.
government and Peabody Coal, and the fight is really a fight between
these parties and the Hopi/Navajo. However, the government is using a
rather typical "divide and conquer" strategy which is not really very
effective on the Native people themselves but does serve well as a P.R.
tactic. By creating the illusion with the public that "these Indians
don't know how to get along with each other", it is much easier for
Peabody to achieve what they want to achieve.
Basically, the Hopi and Navajo have always gotten along with each
other and no one had any problems with territory. Some individuals
or families lived on what was supposed to be the other tribe's land
and no one made any big deal over it. The two tribes have always
had social and ceremonial events side by side, and have traded Hopi
crops for Navajo sheep and vice versa.
The people who caused the land division that started this whole mess
were Peabody Coal, who have been leasing land from the Navajo for some
time. For the most part, the Navajo haven't minded the coal mine being
there because it employs a good many of them. However, Peabody wanted
to expand their agreement, and part of the expansion they wanted was on
Hopi land. The Hopi have always been fairly unreliant on outside help
or employment and were not as cooperative in allowing Peabody to lease
their lands. So the government set up a bogus (not elected by the
people) tribal council similar to the one they set up with the Navajo,
and with these people as representatives of the Hopi, Peabody persuaded
some higher-ups in government (some of whom, it later turned out, owned
stock in one of the three corporations that owns Peabody!) to re-allocate
the reservation lands so that the land Peabody wanted would be located
entirely in the Navajo reserves, while the Hopi reserves would take up
the slack elsewhere in the (present) Navajo land.
To this end, the government put up BARBED WIRE FENCES to divide the
two reserves along the new boundaries (whereas before there were NO
physical markers to separate them and no one cared). Anyone who was
a Navajo suddenly had to move over to their side and anyone who was
a Hopi had to move to theirs. Since the land Peabody wanted from the
Hopi was mostly unoccupied, it was mostly the Navajo who got the raw
end of the deal, because the "new" Hopi land now expands into areas
that have been occupied by Navajo families for hundreds of years.
These families have now just got to pack up and move into tract houses,
where they a) have nowhere to run their livestock and so they have no
means of livelihood, b) have to pay income and property taxes when
they have no income and did not ask to own property, and of course
c), live in a house that is not in keeping with traditional ways and
is not where their ancestors are buried.
Many of those being relocated are elderly and have little chance of
finding employment even if they wanted to.
Anyway, the important point that needs to be made here is that is
was the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT who put up fences to divide the reserve
lands, and that this was at the request of Peabody Coal in complete
disregard of the wishes of the Native people. Therefore to ask to
hear the respective "sides" of either the Hopi or the Navajo is
playing right into the hands of the real villains. This is not an
intertribal dispute but just a rehash of the same old dispute between
white enterprise and Native desire to protect the land, phony tribal
councils and press releases notwithstanding.
There is an excellent documentary video on the subject which I saw
several months back, and is definitely worth seeing since it presents
a lot of hard evidence. I believe it was called "Broken Rainbow",
and was produced by a group here in Los Angeles....I will check it
out further and post any more info that I can find about how to order
it.
= Lee =