One reason for posting this article is that someone has submitted a
followup, which I am not relaying to NATIVE-L, accusing me of bias and
of "demonizing traditional elders and their supporters."
Here is another copy of the note I added to the earlier posting:
| I am relaying the following article, which was submitted to the NATIVE-L
| list by an organization calling itself "Sovereign Dineh Nation" in the
| interest of permitting subscribers of NATIVE-L (and those of you out
| there in Usenet and APC-land) to read what the more radical kinds of
| supporters of Navajos resisting relocation from lands claimed by the Hopi
| people are saying. I am attaching another copy of the official press
| release posted to NATIVE-L by the Navajo Nation earlier today which tries
| to clarify the actual situation.
I did not use the word "radical" in talking about Navajos, but rather in
describing supporters of those who are resisting relocation. I should
have referred to supporters of those who may refuse to accept the court-
ordered settlement arrangements, since, as the statement from the Navajo
Nation office makes clear, only those who refuse to accept that agreement
are subject to involuntary relocation after a period of ninety days from
the time they are contacted and given the option of signing the agreement,
which does not force them to waive their rights in the ongoing appeal of
the Manybeads lawsuit (about which I have no details at the present time).
In making the statement I have just quoted, I do not mean to indicate
that the statement from the Navajo Nation is definitive, only that it
represents an attempt to clarify the actual situation by issuing a
a categorical denial of there being any plans to begin evictions on or
near the first of April, which some bulletins I have read urging people
to acts of protest have hinted might be possible (those statement are
worded fairly carefully - they do not actually claim that evictions are
likely on that date, but if not read carefully, one can easily get the
impression that such a claim is being made).
The NATIVE-L mailing list is not a forum for arguing about such matters,
though I often wish it were possible to operate a series of forums that
could provide us an opportunity to examine a variety of issues in a way
that lets all sides present evidence and air their views (and no, the
NATCHAT list, which is not presently operating, due primarily to a lack
of the necessary facilities to operate it in a manner that lets such
issues be examined fairly and thoroughly, is not the answer - it will
remain shut down for the time being and until further notice).
There are surely good points to be made on all sides - and if we had a
way to let all sides be fairly and adequately represented, it might be
possible to use these electronic facilities to get a better understanding
of the issues. However, there has never been representation from anyone
claiming to speak for a Hopi point of view - most of the information has
come from organizations with names suggesting that they speak for the
Navajo/Dine' people as a whole, when in fact such is not at all the case.
From the information I have been able to gather and the limited time I
have had to analyse it, I am not convinced that the matter is simply one
of an evil coal company working together with an evil Federal government
to drive traditional people off the land so that coal and/or uranium
resources can be exploited - however, it *might* actually be the case.
The fact is that without being able to construct a debate in which all
parties agree to participate and/or are fairly represented, it is not
possible to provide the kind of information upon which people can base
well-founded opinions or even develop comprehensive understandings. In
short, it is too easy for those who have the communications resources,
both technically and organizationally to use a mailing list like ours
for the purpose of manipulating public opinion, which is something I will
not tolerate.
I have made offers several times to organizations like the one calling
itself "Sovereign Dineh Nation" (SDN) and "Dineh Alliance" to use NATIVE-L
to post an article telling those who are interested how they can join a
mailing list that they set up (I'm fairly sure that they have one) so that
those who are interested in receiving regular bulletins from them can do so.
They have never taken me up on this offer. Therefore, I would advise that
those who are interested in learning more about their perspective visit the
SDN Web site at "http://www.primenet.com/~sdn/" The NATIVE-L list does not
have the resources to devote this single issue a great deal of electronic
"bandwidth" - because there are many issues affecting Native peoples that
need to be covered and we need to limit the number of articles we transmit
daily to avoid swamping those who are interested in these issues but who
have a limited amount of time to keep up with all of the information that
would flow through the list if it were to be operated in a less restricted
manner.
If anyone has anything to say about my handling of this issue, please
address your comments to me personally ("gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us"), not to
the NATIVE-L mailing list. I may not be able to reply to all messages
sent to me, but I do promise to read and consider everything I receive
as carefully as possible.
Regards,
Gary
--
Gary S. Trujillo gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts {bu.edu,spdcc,cdp}!gnosys!gst