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The View from Big Mountain. A Personal Odyssey. Traveling in Style… The Old Volkswagon Van. My Article for UCSB’s Daily Nexus.
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The View from Big Mountain A Personal Odyssey
My Article for UCSB’s Daily Nexus “Atop mounds of sleeping bags, boxes of food, sacks of old clothes, and a guitar named Blue, they piled into the beat-up Volkswagon van in anticipation of the road trip ahead …” - Tonya Graham, January 6, 1987
Who are “they”? “They” are the eight UCSB students who recently traveled to Arizona, spending half of their winter break learning about the forced relocation of Native Americans from the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area and distributing food and clothing to Navajo resisters…. The students were able to spend several days on the reservation, living with a Navajo family and experiencing Navajo culture first hand. They were all struck by the generosity and hospitality of the people.”
We stayed with Ida Clinton and Her Family “They didn’t hold onto anything. They had no problem with other people coming in and living with them, imposing on them …. They shared their meals, their space, and their energy. It made me try to hold on to material things less.” - UCSB student Robin Shandas
What Ida and Her Family shared … • They briefly told us their life stories • They helped us distribute the food and clothes to nearby families • Ida made us fry bread and mutton stew • Lloyd told us Coyote stories by the fire • We watched Ida weaving a rug at her loom • We slept on sheep skins in their hogan
BMLDOC We visited the Big Mountain Legal Defense/Offense Committee in Flagstaff, Arizona, which helps coordinate Big Mountain support groups around the country. At the time, BMLDOC was working to repeal Public Law 93-531, which called for the relocation of Navajos living on the land now partitioned to the Hopis.
The justification for Public Law 93-531 passed by Congress in 1974 was that the Navajo-Hopi land dispute is so serious that 10,000 Navajos near Big Mountain, Arizona, must be relocated, forcibly if necessary. It would be the largest forced relocation of U.S. citizens since the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II. • But tradition-minded Navajo and Hopi claim there never was a land dispute. They say the dispute was invented to get the Navajos and their livestock off mineral-rich land in the Hopi reservation so it could be developed by mining companies such as Peabody Coal and Kerr-McGee.
Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area • Navajo and Hopi have both lived on the land for many years, in what has been called a “Joint Use Area.” In 1974 federal legislation divided the area in half; now, Navajo who live on the “wrong side” of the fence are being forced to move. Several thousand are resisting …
WHY? “The Navajos and Hopis are currently sitting on an estimated 21 tons of easily accessible uranium, natural gas, and oil. The world’s largest open-pit strip mine operates in Black Mesa in the northern region of the JUA (Joint Use Area).” Note: The relocation has been held up by the pollution caused by a giant uranium spill which has made much of the water in the area unsafe to drink.
Too often, history repeats itself … • The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears."
“We ain’t moving. We ain’t leaving this place, we’re staying right here. We’re ready to fight.” - Teesto resident Jordan Clinton (brother to Lloyd, pictured here)
A Fence No More … Student Lawrence Quinn said his most intense experience on the trip was tearing down a portion of the fence. “It felt so satisfying. The Navajo have never defined land by boundaries. They believe it is communally held … our belief – to divide it up and parcel it out – is miles apart,” he said.
And today? • Some Navajos continue to resist … • Others (though a small number) benefited from a 75-year lease agreement in 1996 to allow them to remain on the land for the time being … • Many others – approximately 10,000 – have been forced to relocate to Nevada and other locations. • Few Hopis have benefited from the lease or mining agreements, as most of the money that has been brought in has stayed within the government-appointed Hopi Tribal Council.
