> RE: The Navajo-Hopi land dispute
>
> I just can't sit here and listen to this politically
> correct jibberish anymore. I am Hopi. I grew up on the Hopi
> reservation and I know for a fact that there IS AND ALWAYS HAS
> BEEN CONFLICT BETWEEN HOPIS AND NAVAJOS!!! I am not the only
> Hopi who knows this....and since most of you out in NativeNet
> land think I am....When I go home this summer I will randomly
> poll some Hopis (any suggestion on how many and what questions
> I should ask?) on the issue. I am sure when you hear it
> straight from the horses mouth it will be more convincing.
Perhaps I should have been a bit clearer in my already long
post about the Big Mountain relocations.
First of all, my remarks pertained only to the area of land that
is in dispute because of Peabody Coal, and not to any other
disagreement. I HAVE talked to both Hopi and Navajo people on
the reservations about this issue, so I do not dispute your claims.
As for the ACTUAL Hopi/Navajo land disputes, which have nothing
to do with the ones being fabricated by Peabody, that is none of
our business and outside entities should stay out of it; there-
fore I will not comment on them. I have no desire to be just
another would-be do-gooder sticking my two cents into issues that
have nothing to do with me and in which my assistance was not
requested. As a Hopi, obviously you have a much bigger stake in
it.
For the purposes of NativeNet though, my comments pertained to
ONE issue in which two non-Native entities ARE involved, namely
Peabody Coal and the federal government. Non-Native people, as
well as Natives who are not Hopi or Navajo, CAN (and have been
asked to) do something about this particular issue by writing to
these organizations and letting them know we're onto them and
we don't support their actions.
If you as a Hopi have any suggestions as to what uninvolved
parties can do to help the OTHER ongoing Hopi/Navajo disputes,
that's OK, but if you did then don't you think your solutions
would be prejudiced toward the Hopi side? That would certainly
be understandable, but if both the Hopi and the Navajo start asking
uninvolved "sympathizers" to take sides with them, you will
simply be generating a lot of bad press about how Native people
can't govern their own affairs and Big Brother has got to step
in. Is this the viewpoint you would like the mainstream American
public to have?
I understand that the Hopi have occupied their land for a much
longer time than the Navajo, and that the Navajo have often been
accused of brown-nosing federal agents for land. I also personally
have great respect for Hopi culture. However, neither I nor anyone
else not directly involved should deign to take sides in an inter-
tribal dispute; to even call attention to one is, to me, to under-
mine the much larger struggle to convince the dominant culture that
it has something to gain by changing its attitude toward indigenous
people.
= Lee =