NAVAJO-HOPI "LAND DISPUTE" UPDATE: JANUARY 4, 1995
DON'T PANIC!
Grace Smith called me this morning, to ask what was going
on. A lot has happened since the last UPDATE, most of it in
Window Rock. The Navajo Nation Council passed a major resolution
on the "land dispute", one which can be interpreted in a number
of ways. Mrs. Smith told me she had heard that Dan Jackson,
angry over the resolution, was in Washington "lobbying" members
of Congress to evict the Dine' from the Hopi-partitioned lands.
(Federal officials don't lobby Congress, they "brief" it, as they
say) She wanted to know if I had heard anything, and said a lot
of people were calling her about the possibility of an
eviction, there were rumors. That's what Grace Smith said.
We have not heard anything of the sort. If there was a move
afoot in Congress to evict the Dine' families, for sure someone
would call us.
The Resolution
As a result of the hearings which were held by the
Intergovernmental Relations Committee, The Navajo Nation Council
held a special session to review the status of the Navajo-Hopi
"land dispute", the settlement negotiations, the Agreement in
Prin ciple, and the position taken by the Navajo Nation.
Council had previously met in August on this issue, a
resolution was put before it, Freddie Howard (at the instigation
of Percy Deal) added a bunch of floor amendments, and the whole
mess was tabled.
The Intergovernmental Relations Committee (IGR), which had
gotten involved this summer at the request of some of the Big
Mountain people (Sara Begay), held 13 day-long hearings all over
the reservation. A mountain of testimony was taken, including
statements from the Relocation Office and the U.S. Department of
Justice. The entire hearings have been compiled and are
available from the Legislative Branch. IGR put together some
preliminary findings - staff is still working on the final
document - then met jointly with the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission
to craft a new resolution. The resolution was duly passed by
both the Land Commission and IGR and sent on the Council.
So much for procedure. What really happened was that the
people on the land let it be known that they were not happy with
the Agreement in Principle. The livestock impoundments have
continued, Hopi police and rangers are continuing their nocturnal
visits and daytime surveillance, nobody believes that the Hopi
Tribe will not abuse its authority once it gains jurisdiction
over the Dine' families, the Hopi Chairman has not backed down
from his promise to rid the HPL of Navajos within the next four
years, everyone, including the U.S., Judge McCue and the Hopi
Tribe, is continuing to be coy and evasive about what happens at
the end of the 75-year lease period. Etc. Etc. Other communities
are concerned, especially about the concessions which were made
to the Hopi Tribe in the Agreement in Principle. The families
felt they were misled in last summer's "ratification vote", when
they were told there would be further negotiations. As you
rem,ember, once the "vote" was in, the mediator and the Hopi
Tribe told everyone that negotiations were over and
implementation of the agreement would begin. Then the Hopi tribe
refused all requests from the Dine' families for meetings. So it
went.
Ironically, it is the detailed contract provisions which the
Hopi Tribe and the U.S. insisted should be included in the
Agreement in Principle, plus the "unitary agreement" clause,
included again at the insistence of the Hopis, that gave Council
its rationale for passing the resolution. The unitary agreement
clause provided that failure to implement any provision of the
AIP as written would void the entire agreement. By this summer
there were about six major parts of the AIP which could not be
fulfilled.
WHAT THE RESOLUTION DOES
The resolution has 27 whereas clauses and 11 resolved
clauses. When the attorneys were working it over they called it
the "mother of all resolutions". It recaps the history of the
Dine', including the emergence and the tasks which were laid on
the Dine' by the Holy People, the coming of the white people, and
so on. It also gives a brief history of the mediation and
discusses the Agreement in Principle. Next UPDATE, I will quote
from it, don't have time now.
The resolved clauses are the key. I declares that
relocation is a threat to the Dine' religion and to all the
Dine'. Council states that it will do everything in its power to
protect the religion. It declares the Agreement in Principle to
have expired under its own terms and to be no longer in force.
It declares the intention of the Navajo Nation to build on the
progress made in mediation to reach a permanent settlement, and
names a new negotiating team including the President, Attorney
General, and Legislative Counsel. It calls on President Clinton,
Attorney General Reno and Interior Secretary Babbitt to negotiate
with the Navajo Nation's team. Finally, the resolution rescinds
the settlement offer made on August 5, 1993 - the offer of land
and water that was made by President Zah at that time and
approved by Council on the following day.
The reaction from the people on the land was favorable.
Quite a few of the resisters were there when the resolution
passed - Mae Tso, John Yazzie, Alfred McCabe, Frances Bahe,
Louise Begay, Rose Francis, Alvin Clinton, a lot of others. they
all were happy with the result. They all wanted to continue
negotiations, but felt cornered by the AIP and the Hopi lease
proposal. In discussions I attended, mainly at Teesto, the
question people were trying to answer for themselves was whether
or not to continue with mediation. Even those who were for
continuing the process said they would refuse to sign leases
unless there were major changes.
We were wondering what the response would be from the Hopi
Tribe and the U.S. The response from the Hopi Tribe - ironically
in that they were the ones who constantly told us they did not
want mediation, and indeed still have a resolution on their books
declaring mediation is over - was that mediation is NOT over, and
that they are willing to negotiate with the Dine' families to
keep the AIP alive.
Meetings
I have to get up early tomorrow and make Flagstaff by 10 -
it is 180 miles - for another meeting of the community
representatives. This will be a good time to talk to people and
see if we can regroup now the election is over. On 1/12
President Hale will visit Teesto for a Dine' Bikeya Committee
meeting, and on 1/13 the Hopi Tribe has agreed to meet with the
Teesto people. Grace Smith told me there was a meeting on Sunday
at Kee Shay's place, Big Mountain and asked Roman and me to
attend. I am planning to go if the weather permits. Roman will
be out in the area (he's from there) so will probably make that
one too.
Horses
When winter comes on and the grass gets scarce, people start
cutting fences and poaching grass wherever they can. People
around Window Rock, like elsewhere on the reservation, turn their
horses, sheep and cattle loose, you see them all over the place.
It's supposed to be illegal, ha, ha! There is one herd of horses
led by a smart black stallion with prehensile lips. He opens
garbage cans and kicks the garbage out for his mares, then they
spread it all over. Hits our street about 3 times a week.
I was talking to Claudeen Arthur, the Legislative Counsel a
couple weeks ago. She lives nearby, she told me the horses were
breaking into the storage where she keeps the food for her dogs.
"They can eat up fifty pounds of dog food in no time at all", she
said. She went on to tell me her daughter got tired of picking
up strewn garbage and shot the black stallion with her twenty-
two. He whinnied and ran off but was back the next day. She
shot him again. He stayed away for a few days and then came back
and ripped EVERYTHING up. So she gave up.
Things like this happen all over the reservation and often
as not lead to land disputes that last for years and involve
whole families. Each chapter has a grazing committeeman who
spends a LOT of his time trying to sort out these disputes.
There is a new thing now called Peacemaker Court, where they use
a combination of traditional religion and values, plus dispute
resolution and maybe a little Oprah thrown in, get people
together and get them to work out their disputes. I went to a
Peacemaker session and was amazed to see these tough people
crying and hugging each other, even though they had been enemies
when they came into the room.
Happy New Year
We got back to Window Rock from our Xmas trip just before
midnight on December 31. I heard the noise and went out.
Everyone was shouting and whistling, banging on pots and pans,
setting off firecrackers. No gunfire! Well, hardly any. I
whistled as loud as I could, went back in. Happy New Year, all
of you out on the net.
jn