NAVAJO-HOPI "LAND DISPUTE" UPDATE: APRIL 4, 1995
Tomorrow is another all-HPL meeting at Teesto, where the
family representatives will get ready for their next face to face
meeting with the Hopi Tribe. I will try to summarize all that
has happened in the last three weeks. It has been very busy,
with the Dine' families coming together as a group to negotiate
on their own behalf. This has not been easy and has required a
lot of meetings, mostly in Hardrock or Teesto. That's a lot of
road time.
March 9: The Stone Wall
On March 9, the Dine' families representatives met with the
Hopi Tribal negotiators in Flagstaff. The Hopi team had a week
to look at the Dine' families' position statement (described and
excerpted in the last UPDATE and circulated verbatim to those on
our E-mail list). The Hopi team handed over a paper which
essentially ignored the requests made by the families and instead
demanded that they agree to "implement the AIP".
The Hopi Tribe had promised the mediator that they would sit
down to with the families to discuss the religious issue. Instead
of talking about religion however, the Hopi Tribe instead
attempted to put another demand on the dine' families. This
time, the demand was for the families to tell them, in writing,
whether they support the Agreement in Principle or whether they
support the Navajo Nation Council's position taken in resolution
CD-107-94.
The Other Shoe Drops
The Hopis' March 9 paper, unlike most of what we get from
them, was obviously not written by their attorneys. It made us
wonder whether the Hopis took the families' concerns seriously;
after all when the Navajo Nation sends them anything related to
the "land dispute", what they send back reads like a white
attorney wrote it.
We wondered if the Hopis' first team might be working on
something else. As it turns out, they were all in Washington for
general lobbying and for the Relocation Office's annual
appropriation hearing. The Relocation Office, as I noted in the
last UPDATE, offered to assist in the forced relocation of the
Dine' families. Ferrell Secakuku also testified before the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee. In his written testimony
Chairman Secakuku asked Congress to establish a relocation
deadline. According to Claudeen Arthur, who was there, when he
spoke he indicated the Hopi Tribe wanted involuntary relocation
if that was necessary to complete the removal of the Dine within
the upcoming three-year relocation appropriations cycle.
So that was where the Hopi Tribe was putting most of its
effort.
A Moccasin Drops
President Hale, Herb Yazzie, Claudeen Bates Arthur and Roman
Bitsuie were there. President Hale also testified, asking for a
1-year moratorium on relocation while a study was done of all the
various problems it has caused. Later the group met with some of
the key Congressmen and Senators. According to Claudeen John
McCain yelled at them for 20 minutes, he's so tired of saying
there will be no changes in the Relocation Act. He also said
"five times" that there would be no forced relocation. I guess
if he really meant that, he would take that provision out of the
Relocation Act.
McCain and Senator Kyl both told our people that the Navajos
and Hopis had to come up with a solution. Same line as usual,
but I think it may mean they are not going to let anyone walk
away from the mediation. They also said they were tired of
appropriating money for relocation. At a meeting with Interior
representatives they were told that "Secretary Babbitt will not
get involved", even though the C-O Bar Ranch (a Babbitt family
property) is no longer an issue.
Apparently the main actors in Washington were not convinced
by the Hopi argument that the Navajo Nation and the Dine'
families are "trashing the mediation", as Claudeen put it. She
also believes that both the Hopi Tribe and the U.S. negotiators
are being urged to continue discussions with the Dine' families.
The negotiations MUST continue, is the message everyone is
getting.
These are all things I learned at a pre-mediation strategy
session held by the Dine family reps and the Navajo Nation at the
offices of Brown and Bain in Phoenix, March 17. The meeting was
held in a big 20th floor conference room, around a long, shiny
art deco table made of every kind of rare tropical hardwood you
can imagine. Brown and Bain had croissants stuffed with tuna
salad brought in, also designer cookies, mineral water, the
works. I always get a kick out of seeing yuppie heaven taken
over by Dine'.
The Mediation Will Continue
The mediation held next day, again at Brown and Bain, was
for the purpose of deciding whether to continue the process or
close it out and make a final report to the 9th Circuit Court.
This time. all the parties were at the table: the U.S., the Hopi
Tribe, Judge McCue, Navajo Nation and the Dine' families. As
usual, Tim Atkinson of Arnold and Porter did most of the talking
for the Hopi Tribe. I can still hear his querulous voice as he
says " The Hopi Tribe is no longer negotiating. Our guiding
principle is that there will be no more changes made in the AIP
or the Accommodation Agreement. We will gladly go over these
documents again and explain what they mean to the Navajo
families, but we are not negotiating...If there are people who
won't sign (the lease agreement) then we have to decide what
we're going to do."
Judge McCue took another line. He said the AIP is "silent
on the religious issue" because "from the beginning we always
wanted face to face meetings: it was contemplated these religious
issues would be worked out that way."
President Hale stated that the Navajo Nation was concerned
about the threat to the "tribal religion", and that the Nation
would support whatever agreement the families and the Hopi Tribe
came up with. He also asked that he mediator continue working
and that he mediate or at least be present during the talks
between the Hopi Tribe and the Dine' families.
Roger Attakai, speaking for the Dine' families, said that
the Navajos and Hopis are talking together and working out their
problems. ""We'll try to work this out as a concept. The
accommodation agreement (the lease)doesn't say how we're going to
do it - we're going to sit down and work that out."
Tim Atkinson came back again with "this is not a
negotiation. we are not going to engage in a renegotiation of the
agreement....we don't agree that we are offering an accommodation
because of Navajo religion - we are doing it because there are
elderly people who can't move." He also said that if the Navajo
Nation did not make rent payments, "we need to pursue 25 CFR 640
(the Relocation Act)".
Ferrell Secakuku said "we understand what the families are
saying, religion is tied to the land: religion, livestock, land,
family. Once you have accommodation (meaning the Hopi lease) as
a framework, there will be no restrictions (on religion). He
went on to say that there was "a lot of pro and con in the Hopi
villages" and that the Hopi negotiators needed to go back and
talk with the villages.
At the end, Judge McCue directed Lee Phillips and the Hopi
Tribe to schedule meetings every two weeks. he smoothed things
out a little by saying that in the English language words can
have a lot of different meanings - that is, Tim Atkinson may not
call it negotiations, but what comes next will be in effect
negotiations. He agreed to mediate if it was necessary to reach
agreement on specifics.
After the U.S. representatives, the Hopis and Judge McCue
left, we met to talk things over and eat up the rest of the
yuppie food left lying around. Katherine Smith sang a prayer
song to finish it out. Mrs. Smith's speaking voice is pretty
husky, but she sang high and sweet, like a girl, one of the
blessing songs.
The Hopi Document
At the March 18 mediation the Hopi tribe gave us another
reply to the families' religious concerns agenda of March 2.
This one was a little more literate than the last, but it didn't
give an inch on any of the issues. The next meeting is scheduled
for Friday, April 7. If the Hopi position is the same as given
in their March 18 document, there will be no movement and no
further talks unless the mediator can impose something.
Meanwhile
meetings are continuing, in Hardrocks and Teesto. Louise
Benally and Bonnie Whitesinger had dropped out of the negotiating
group before March 18. Thursday, March 30, there was another
meeting in Hardrock. Mae Tso said she would no longer
participate because she did not believe in negotiating over the
Agreement in Principle or the lease. She said that Willie Begay
might represent Mosquito Springs from now on. Tom Bedonie said
he wanted to represent his are of Big Mountain, as there was a
vacancy, so I think he will be at the table from now on. Rena
Babbitt says she feels divided in herself over whether she should
negotiate, but it looks like she will stay in for a while.
Pauline Whitesinger and Roberta Blackgoat are coming to the
meetings and speaking up but don't sit at the table, at least
yet.
For a while there were only 20 or so people showing up, but
now the turnout is usually 70 or more for the grassroots
meetings. The Dine' Bikeya people are prominent because they
have been meeting for ten years, passing resolutions, adopting
agendas, keeping minutes, voting, everything.
We continue to make all the meetings, provide technical
assistance, like typing, when asked. The Dine' families don't
really need us much, but it makes them feel like they've got the
Nation's support if we show. Occasionally they ask us for
advice. Mary Lucy Joe says it is all getting to be like a big
chapter meeting.
Tomorrow I will post this, then it's off to Teesto.
jn