11/19/93 Meeting with Ada Deer
A report by Elmer Clark
Alvin Clinton and I, accompanied by Dug Steele and Ron Lessard, met with Ada
Deer, the recently appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Our
primary objective was to convey directly to Ms. Deer the deep concerns that
the Navajo residents of the HPL (Hopi Partitioned Land) had with the proposed
intensive livestock impoundment program by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)
Hopi Agency. In conveying our concerns, it was hoped that Ms. Deer might
committ to reconsider the proposed intensified livestock impoundment program.
We made it very clear that it is in the best interest of all parties that the
mediation continue without any interference or activities by either the Hopi
Tribe or the Hopi BIA that might put the mediation in jeopardy. If mediation
is going to continue, then allow the mediation to proceed with a conducive
and positive atmosphere; one that will promote a positive attitude and good
faith between the Navajo and Hope Tribes. If the Hopi BIA Agency were to be
conducting an intensified livestock impoundment program paralleling the
mediation talks, then this is going to raise some serious questions by the
Navajos. It will cause to diminish or alter any talks between the two tribes
with good will.
The Department of Justice representatives, who also represent the federal
government in the mediation efforts tried to defend the proposed livestock
impoundment program by saying that the new proposed "impoundment costs and
fees" is the "actual cost"; that the government has been extremely generous
in keeping from charging the Navajo the "actual costs" in the past. The DOJ
representative, Peter Steenland, also alluded to the information that it is
the Navajo Nation that pays for the livestock impoundments and not the HPL
residents themselves that pay for the retrieval of their impounded animals.
However, we reponded that we're not here in Washington to talk about actual
costs or that the Navajo Nation will continue paying for impounded animals.
One of the Interior Staff, Mr. Patrick Hayes, altogether denied that there
was no such livestock impoundment program being considered by the BIA. How
naive.
I believe that Ada Deer was very understanding and sensitive to the fear and
anxiety that the Navajo HPL residents were experiencing because of the
proposed impoundments. She said she "felt for us and touched her inner being
deep within". We do appreciate this sensitivity and understanding by Ms.
Deer, but likewise we "felt" for her. It seems that she wants to do
something , but she is helpless because she is surrounded by all these
"goons", bureaucrats that resist any type of change. These are people like
Ray Smith who has worked for the Hopi BIA Area Office in Phoenix for many
years, a person who has pushed the livestock impoundment program year after
year. Today he is in Washington through some sort of promotion. The same is
true of Mr. Hayes. These people are beginning to influence and mold Ms. Deer
into another heartless, insensitive and callous Washington bureaucrat who
then might one day fall into the same old rut of how Washington has
mishandled and botched the land dispute problem. Ms Deer is new in her
position and new to the Navajo Hopi land issue and should be supported in
every way to develop an unbiased perspective.
We recommend that Ms. Deer carry out her committment to "turn the BIA upside
down and shake it". She first needs to "clean house" to start with some
fresh people. She needs to get rid of some of the "career" people, the
people who have clogged up BIA all these years. If she does not do this,
then it's going to be very hard to "turn the BIA upside down and shake it".
We commend Ms. Deer in her new position. It is with hopes and prayers that
Ms. Deer need to realize that the Navajo Hopi land problem has been
perpetuated by a very bad, unfair, and unjust law. The government's approach
to "resolving" the land issue has not worked and it will not work. Ms. Deer
needs to find another angle to work at the issue. We pray that this new
approach will crystallize and dawn upon Ms. Deer. may the Great Spirit
nurture her towards this new direction.
DINE BIKEYA COMMITTEE meeting with Ada Deer 11/1/9/93
by Dug Steele, FAIR (Friends of American Indians on Reservations)
On Friday afternoon, in her Washington office, Ada Deer of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs met with Dine Bekeya Committee President Alvin Clinton and
Secretary Elmer Clark. They discussed religious abuses and livestock
impoundment suffered by Navajo residents on Hopi Partitioned Land.
Accompanying Mr. Clinton and Mr. Clark were myself and Ron Lessard of Friends
of American Indians on Reservations. Also in attendance were Patrick Hayes
of the BIA, Peter Steenland and Katherine Hazard of the Department of
Justice, Dave Etheridge and Mat Mille-Bach of the Environment, Land, and
Minerals section of the Interior Department. Ray Smith of the Office of
Trust Responsibility also attended.
Elmer Clark told Ms. Deer, "We didn't cause this problem but we now have to
try to resolve it." He asked the BIA to "keep hands off impoundment and give
mediation a chance." And he asked for a definitive committment for the
protection of his people.
Ms. Deer said she felt mediation needs to continue and she encourages this.
She explained that she has a federal agency to run, but in her heart she
feels the suffering of the Dine people on the HPL. She is a Mennomoinee
Indian raised on the reservation in Wisconsin.
Exhibiting a map of religious sites on the HPL and speaking in his native
Dine, Mr. Clinton asked that BIA fences placed on Star Mountain be removed.
He placed his medicine bag on the map.
Clinton asked why the fine to retrieve impounded livestock had recently
increased over ten times what it was. Peter Steenland said it was in line
with other such operating costs. Other government officials present
concurred. Ron Lessard shook his head in disagreement and Steenland asked,
"Ron, do you have a problem with this?"
Ron explained that he couldn't compete with the legalities Steenland was
expressing but that he would address how it was affecting the Dine people
living on the HPL. He told of how elder Dine women wept as they spoke of
losing more livestock, the fear of forced relocation and other harassment.
He told about how these women were unable to concentrate on weaving their
Navajo rugs, their source of income, because of the constant stress they are
forced to live with. (Ron and I recently returned from a trip to the HPL.)
During the 45 minute meeting Ms. Deer took notes as Alvin, Elmer, and Ron
spoke. At the conclusion she thanked us for coming and said she was glad the
meeting had taken place.
_________________________________________________________________________
submitted by Florence Steele fs@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu
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"The white man knows how to make everything but he does not know how to
distribute it." Chief Sitting Bull
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Florence Steele fs@Virginia.edu