Press Release: Navajo Resisters not included in meeting scheduled
by Sen. McCain to review relocation issue.
On Friday August 6, 1993, the Navajos resisting relocation
mandated by Public Law 93-531 learned that Senator John McCain
asked Navajo and Hopi Tribal Chairmen, Peterson Zah and Vernon
Masayesva to come to Washington DC to discuss the relocation
problem. While it is admirable of Senator McCain to intercede and
look for a solution, it is inappropriate to not include those most
affected. The Navajos resisting relocation should be included in
the meeting Sen. McCain has called for!
The dispute over land between Hopi and Navajo Tribes is bound to
continue until the United States Government takes the rational
approach of including those most affected, the Navajo living on the
land, in the problem solving process. On two occasions a
sub-commission of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has
passed resolutions which "encouraged" the United States Government
to find a resolution to the land dispute by ensuring "the effective
participation of the families and communities affected in the
negotiation and implementation of any settlement agreements."
As recently as August 5 of this year, a proposed solution to the
so-called land dispute was rejected by the Navajo resisting relocation
from land they have lived on for generations. They overwhelmingly
rejected the proposal because of its insensitivity to Traditional
Navajo religious beliefs and customs. Although on paper they were
part of the negotiating process, in effect they had very little
direct input into the process.
Contacts: Grace Smith, Dineh Resistance (602) 289-4968
George Petit, Tucson Support Group (602) 792-3028
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Without Permission from the Arizona Republic, Friday, Aug. 6, 1993.
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Deal To Settle Tribal Dispute On Lands Fails: Navajos veto lease plan
By Bill Donovan & Jerry Kammer
The Arizona Republic
Rocky Ridge -- A federal mediator's attempt to settle the
century-old Navajo-Hopi land dispute apparently collapsed here
Thursday as Navajos rejected a plan that would have granted them
75-year leases on land that is part of the Hopi Reservation.
Almost all 253 Navajo families living on land that was
partitioned to the Hopis in 1981 had earlier rejected the lease
proposal, which was the product of more than two years of
negotiations among Navajo and Hopi leaders and federal mediator
Harry McCue.
But Navajo President Peterson Zah made a bid Thursday to
keep the talks going by offering to exchange three acres of Navajo
land for every one acre of Hopi land now occupied by the Navajo
families who have refused to cooperate with a federal relocation
program.
"It is my sincere hope that the willingness I am showing
today for the Navajos to make such substantial concessions in
pursuit of a lasting resolution of the dispute will give this
mediation process a second wind and the ability to move forward to
a meaningful solution," Zah said in a statement released after the
meeting.
But Hopi Tribal Chairman Vernon Masayesva, who has rejected
previous Navajo land-exchange proposals showed no interest in
further talks to consider the Navajo proposal.
"As far as the Hopis are concerned, this (the rejection of
the mediator's proposal) is it for us," he said, although he later
held out the possibility that the Hopi Tribal Council would
consider the Navajo proposal.
Several speakers at the meeting were residents of Big
Mountain, the home of some of the most traditional members of the
Navajo Tribe and the center of resistance to relocation.
"Big Mountain is a sacred area to us that we will never
give up," said Louise Benally, one of the few Navajos who spoke in
English.
"To do so would destroy our culture," she said to loud
applause.
McCue began the negotiations more than two years ago at the
request of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which
was considering a lawsuit by Navajos from Big Mountain that claimed
forced relocation violated their constitutional right to practice
their traditional religion.
That religion binds them to the land, which is covered with
sacred sites and shrines, the Navajo claimed.
Even if the Navajos had accepted the McCue proposal, it
still would have needed the authorization of Congress. Any proposed
federal legislation to enact the plan likely would have faced stiff
opposition because of proposed concessions to the Hopis.
The most controversial part of the McCue plan called for
the federal government to transfer to the Hopis more than 500,000
acres of public land near Flagstaff. That proposal sparked furious
opposition from many Flagstaff residents who vowed to demand that
Congress not use public land to settle the intertribal dispute.
The dispute began late in the 19th century as the
sheep-herding Navajos made increasing use of the grazing lands
around the mesas of the village-dwelling Hopis.
After decades of federal vacillation and acceptance of
Navajo use of the land, a federal court in 1962 ruled that 1.8
million acres were owned jointly and equally by the two tribes even
though Navajos had settled the entire area.
In 1974, Congress authorized partition of the "Joint Use
Area" equally between the two tribes, and the relocation of members
of one tribe living on land awarded to the other. The partition was
finalized in 1981.
Although some 2,300 Navajo families and 100 Hopi families
have accepted federal relocation benefits, the 253 Navajo families
remain on the land, pledging to resist any attempt to force them to
leave.
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Michele Lord + If you have come here to help me,
+ you are wasting your time.....
+ But if you have come because
+ your liberation is bound up with mine,
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + then let us work together.
Aboriginal Woman
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