Relocation

[dinewalking_PREV (deleted)]

In 1974, the U.S. Congress-allegedly to settle a land dispute between the Dine' and Hopi-partitioned 1.8 million acres of Indian territory in Northern Arizona that the two tribes had used jointly for centuries. Over 10,000 Dine' were ordered to relocate. Public Law 93-531, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act, created a Relocation Commission to plan and administer the removal of the Dine' and Hopi who lived on the land. Dine' and Hopi in the area were advised to sign up for relocation and move "voluntarily" or they would be forced to move by July 7, 1986. A barbed wire fence now separates the Dine' and Hopi tribes, and those who live on the wrong side of the fence have become trespassers on their own land. Although U.S. lawmakers claimed they were attempting to mediate a tribal dispute, Navajo and Hopi elders say their "land dispute" was concocted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Hopi Tribal Council and energy developers in order to open up the land for mineral development. "We're caught in the middle between the energy companies and the U.S. government," Pauline Whitesinger, a Dine' spokesperson, told the New Mexico Independent. "There is no dispute between the tribes."
"There was never any fighting out here," said Thomas Banyacya, spokesman for the traditional Hopi leaders. "They only wanted to get their hands on our mineral resources."
The Dine' and Hopi homeland at Black Mesa lies atop one of the richest coal reserves in the Southwest. Bordering on Four corners, the energy basket of the United States, the area holds a multi-billion dollar mineral reserve.
"Since they couldn't get to the resources through the traditional Hopi leaders," said Banyacya, "they set up the tribal council which the [U.S.] government uses to sign things without our consent."
100 Hopi and 6,000 Dine' have already left their homes. Most of those who remain on the land oppose the 1974 law and have refused to leave. Their defiance has been costly. The traditional Navajo way of life, dependent primarily on a sheep-based economy, has been destroyed. Under the law, the Navajo had to cut the number of livestock that they grazed on the land by 90 percent. Sheep in the area have been reduced from 120,000 to less than 2,000.
The 1974 law also put a moratorium on building and repair, a provision that has left two generations of Navajo without hogans-the traditional Navajo dwelling-or corrals.
Roberta Blackgoat, elder of the traditional Dine' community of Big Mountain claims that Congress has "bludgeoned" the Dine'. "Our hogans and corrals are in disrepair, our roads are not graded and we've had no tribal services for the past decade."
Dine' who have refused to relocate, said a Phoenix. BIA Area Director are now "totally dependent upon federal largess."
"In [the Dine'] tongue, there is no word for relocation," said Whitesinger. "To move away means to disappear and never be seen again." The cultural chasm between traditional Navajo and federal policy-makers is underscored by the fact that many of the elders believe relocation can be stopped through prayer, meditation and ceremony.
To many Hopi and Dine', the Peabody Coal Co. has become a symbol of the aggressor. The massive draglines from Peabody mines already bite deeply into Black Mesa, the spiritual center of the two ancient cultures located in the northernmost part of the Navajo and Hopi reservations. Black Mesa is hundreds of square miles of high valleys, deep canyons and muddy washes that turn to dust in the summer. Hopi shrines are scattered through the dense mountains covered with pinon and juniper trees.
The Dine' and Hopi who consider the mountain sacred have long opposed strip mining of Black Mesa. But, Peabody Coal Co., with approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was able to negotiate leases from the Hopi and Dine' tribal councils for the nearly 65,000 acre area. Black Mesa mine, one of the largest surface mines in the country, is one of the nation's largest coal producers
The Peabody leases show a legacy of federal intervention in Indian politics that eased the way for energv interests seeking access to the jointly held Dine' and Hopi lands. The concept of owning land by title violated traditional Dine' and Hopi law. But to the energy industry, land title was necessary to successfullv negotiate an exploratory lease.
Nothing has changed and this stuggle continues. Seeyouma

[lookadinee (deleted)]

`I remember the how much inter-tribal racism it caused. I never understood it when I was growing up in Tuba City, which overlaps/borders the Hopi village, Moenkopi. The way it was told to me was the Hopi members back in the 80's were upset with the amount of land given to them from the Uncle Sam within the boundaries of the Dine' Nation. Then, as Peabody was paying the Dine' tribe more $$, it was raising the Navajo-Hopi tension...

Now that I'm reflecting on my past, it's terrible how Uncle Sam turned tribes against each other over the $$ that we were only introduced to about 2-3 generations ago!

[agentk9 (deleted)]

`Sadly, this is Uncle Sam's way of letting the "other people" deal with each other, while trying to appear that they're charitable enough to "fairly" divide the land among us. Which, of course, is bull. I sure hope the Hopi and Dine nations dont play into Uncle Sam's trick and join together rather than fight. But of course, sociology teaches us that even man, just as all animals, conform to territories.

The proverbial saying goes, "Thing's get worse before they get better." It seems that with Uncle Sam's oppression of various people after all these generations and wars, they've only learned to get richer off of things getting WORSE and not better.

[desertpunk4600]

.Radical dude

[piecrust]

`The truth is that Navajo people's ancestors arrived in Arizona in the early 1700's. Their ancestors originated in Canada where their Dene cousins live today. But it does not matter where the Navajo people came from. Their home is now in Arizona. Some of their old ways are really useful. They can predict the weather by looking at the moon. They are very intelligent and talented in many things. They left no trash around and that was before the contact with the European people. There are a lot of good things to point out about the Navajo ways except that witchcraft is not a good thing but pre history tribes in Europe also practiced witchcraft stuff. So Navajos are no different from others. Not all Navajos practiced witchcraft.

[wanblii (deleted)]

piecrust wrote: `The truth is that Navajo people's ancestors arrived in Arizona in the early 1700's. Their ancestors originated in Canada where their Dene cousins live today. But it does not matter where the Navajo people came from. Their home is now in Arizona. Some of their old ways are really useful. They can predict the weather by looking at the moon. They are very intelligent and talented in many things. They left no trash around and that was before the contact with the European people. There are a lot of good things to point out about the Navajo ways except that witchcraft is not a good thing but pre history tribes in Europe also practiced witchcraft stuff. So Navajos are no different from others. Not all Navajos practiced witchcraft.



What? you need to check your history a little better on the dine people. The navajos have been around the south west for thousands of years, their descendants of the anasazi. Go ask a traditional navajo who knows their stories what you think of their history. Figures though, you just had to bring up 'witch craft' in your little analysis of the dine.

[buddhaworking1]

`

'Revive this one:

Now's the time to get traditional Hopi to apply for leases on HPL, with a private agreement with those resistors "on the land". Resistors could then, when approached by "hopiless rangers"/BIA/Feds, hold up a copy of the lease with reference to "caretaker" status. We could build, rebuild, increase stock, simple water infrastructure, all under the LEGAL COVER of "caretaker".
It's not a perfect solution, but a symbol (lease/caretaker) to scare-off the troops for quite some time. Remember, this "washing-done" is a temporary illusion.
How do we beat "public law"? 'with commercial law.

[nahashchid (deleted)]

`Ya’at’eeh', Earth Mother's lungs are being poisoned & her cough is hurting her heart more than ever. The illness of greed & control by the white mans corporate hunger & thirst is making her belly barren. He does not want to live in peace he cannot live in peace. They are all alike, they have been given a chance to live and grow but they do not know who their brothers are. We are all made by the same Creator but they do not understand that & reject it. How can you or I understand this kind of insanity that runs in the winds of their skulls? we must protest the further genocide of Dine' & Hopi, from govenment & corporate corruption. they are trying to steal our water rights away & it is supported by 2 senators from AZ, McCain and Kyle. they went to Tuba City to gain support from both these tribal governments for their bill, Senate Bill 2109, legalized killing of a nation!!!! I am sorry I fired off like that but I am sad that this abundant life is slowing dying. I am happy that i have Dine’ relations & i am re-learning the ways of Dine’, i want to prepare to defend my country, ha'goo'nee'.

[nahashchid (deleted)]

`fourth of july is coming up but who's freedom is it really? not ours as we the indigenous peoples are still fighting for our freedom... t'aadoo honishlo (does not exist)

[scully134]

`Well stated brother nahashchid. I completely agree with you and as for 'celebrating' the 4th of July, I will not be. It is a white man's holiday.

As all the 1st Nations are still living in the prison camps the whites call reservations there is no way that this 'government holiday' is one that I will be celebrating. I think that Moses Bring Plenty stated it best. 'United Snakes of America, Let My People Go!' Moses can tell it like it is and I do love to listen to him speak.

Until the Reservations are opened and our people are allowed back into their homelands and allowed to move freely and allowed to pray freely and are free of persecution and discrimination a 'holiday' celebrating freedom is nothing but a sham!

This Independence Day Celebration is a slap in the face to the 1st Nations and all our people should stand up and scream at the top of their lungs, "THERE IS NO FREEDOM IN THIS COUNTRY AS LONG AS YOU LOCK UP THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY!!"

[buddhaworking1]

`Hey, We're ALL "indians" now! no matter what color, money, anything. we're all indians now. yeah, we're all F'd in the A. so it's time for ALL 'us to come together.

[nahashchid (deleted)]

`John McCain has never been a friend to Dine. Sorry but i couldn't finish what i wanted to say about McCaine, i get a message saying something about a "debug"& doesn't recognize some of the words i'm using but i think it's a lot BS & i'm being muffled.

[malakotawelo]

`all peoples have been exploited by this same bloodline of tricksters and thieves...even the white people on the low end of the totem were being used, they just do not realize it for the most part...

but i guarantee that many of them are coming around, and seeing the truth...maybe not all of it, some are still stuck in a narrow way of thinking, but give it time, the truth will be hard to deny when it is in front of their eyes...

we all have to remember that no matter what our lineage, we have to learn from the mistakes of the past... they use all these superficial differences to pit us against each other so we dont have the will or the vision to see what is really going on...that is how they tricked the nations into fighting amongst each other when the settlers arrived, and also how they tricked them into fighting foolishly... the weight of responsibility rests evenly on all of us in America...

brother nahashchid, i agree McCain was never a friend of anyone but himself, but none of those in Washington or any branch of government are truly our friends...we are resources to be exploited and controlled, not free men in their eyes...they dont want free men, but loyal subjects...in time they will run themselves into the ground, but we have to be smarter...

[rainbowowolf (deleted)]

Once Again These White Dogs
have used Greed & Destruction to Forward Their own Wealth

We of the Global Tribal Nations
have Seen Their Fear Induced Behaviours for Centuries

Under Tribal Law
ALL Prosper & Suffer Together

The Healing Truths are here to Stay
Unity and Sovereignty is NOW a Reality in Our LifeTime.

[pandawan]

sunisgreen wrote: `Just a simple census..how many natives you know who ski, snowshoe, snowmachine/atv or use nature for their own common interest/recreation? Here in alaska..you will not find one. The land is our mother and we respect her, as such. The distruction of her, is the distruction of us..the true people of the land/animals. (ha) just like our moms..you act up, she'll be acting on you..mother nature will do the same, but natures furior is worst.



I know quite a few inuits who skis (2), uses ski-doos (+12), fish and hunt with guns (+/- 20). They have stopped living in iglous since the 1930's. I know a few (+/- 40) natives "from the woods" who go fishing with nets, uses motor-boats, hunts with automatic crossbows, drive 4x4 and cars. However they remained in touch with nature and unconciously reads weather forecast by the sun, clouds, animals and trees. They know where to hunt, and when. I think that the commoner doesn't realise it, there is alot more people living in sync with nature then we seek to imagine.