Diné John Redhouse: Invasion and Genocide: The War on Native People is Ongoing
John Redhouse, Navajo and Ute, launched his new book on bordertown racism, and described how the history of the Four Corners region, with massive coal-fired power plants and oil and gas fields, ultimately led to Farmington, New Mexico, becoming the Hate Crime Capitol of the World. During book launches in Pyramid Lake, Nevada, Albuquerque and Farmington, Redhouse describes the organized resistance to the racism and torture murders of Navajos by white teenagers in the bordertown.
Article by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 12, 2025
Censored News at Indybay, New Today
ALBUQUERQUE -- "This book has been crying out to be published," John Redhouse said, as he named the great writers he was inspired by as a high school graduate in Farmington when he joined the National Indian Youth Council. "The Red Power Movement was, and still is, very much alive in the Southwest."
John launched his new book in Pyramid Lake, Nevada, "Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, Contested Territories: The Four Corners in the Turbulent 1970s." This second event was at Books on the Bosque bookstore in Albuquerque.
Joining Redhouse in Albuquerque, Jennifer Nez Denetdale, professor at the University of New Mexico, said she read a guest column written for Navajo Times in the 1980s, when the Navajo Nation extinguished its land claims to all aboriginal land.
In that column, John's extensive research showed that the Navajo leaders had entered into an agreement and extinguished its aboriginal land claims for the price, on the dollar, at 1846 land prices. John wasn't invited to write guest columns at Navajo Times after that, Denetdale said.
During the book launch in Farmington, New Mexico, Redhouse, Dine' and Ute, described the Long Hot Summer of 1974, describing the resistance to the torture murders of Navajos in the bordertown of Farmington by white teenagers.
Redhouse described how the coal mining, and oil and gas industry, drew racists to this bordertown.
John said there are times when there is no choice but to "strike back with the decisiveness of a rattlesnake."
"There are situations, like in the coal fields of Burnham -- where the Navajo people have lived for centuries -- you have a coal company out there destroying graves, destroying ancestral sites that go back four to six hundred years. They are being destroyed physically, your grandmother is buried in a family cemetery and it is slated for forced removal -- when they are doing things like that, that are physical and final, when they're doing things like that you do what is appropriate."
The series of book launches began at Pyramid Lake in Nevada.
"I love my people," said Redhouse. "Today is a dream come true."
John shared the history of the resistance movement spanning 55 years, beginning when he was 17 years old. After growing up in the bordertown of Farmington, John learned from the leaders in the movement -- from the grandmothers at Big Mountain and the fishing rights leaders in the Northwest, to the young Pueblo warriors at the University of New Mexico and the National Indian Youth Council.
Redhouse is joined by his wife Carol Wright, Western Shoshone from Smoky Valley, during today's book launch at the Pyramid Lake Museum and Visitor Center.
Wright spoke on water rights at Pyramid Lake, and how she fought to save the lake for her children's future. Wright described educating the Nevada press, and the news wire UPI, about water rights.
"We kept on going in our fight to save the lake."
The Native American Rights Fund, NARF, was encouraging compromise on water rights. "I got in some good arguments with NARF on that," Wright said.
Redhouse said the Red Power Movement began in 1492, and reached a new level in the 1960s and 1970s. There were many survival issues in the battle for the land and water.
"You are born into the struggle."
"Ninety-eight percent of our people were killed since 1492, and 98 percent of our land was taken away," Redhouse said.
"Every day our land is being taken."
"Those are the elements of war."
Ultimately it was a question of survival and genocide.
"My people are at war -- and so I am at war."
"We are remnants of the Warrior Society."
The one thing he could do was writing. "I chose that as the next stage of my life's work."
Redhouse chose that for the next 31 years.
Read the original series at Censored News.
ALBUQUERQUE -- Farmington was the Hate Crime Capital of the West in 1974
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/dine-redhouse-farmington-was-hate-crime.html
FARMINGTON, New Mexico -- On the Fourth of July, John Redhouse Pinpoints Coal Fired Racism in Farmington
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/on-fourth-of-july-john-redhouse.html
PYRAMIND LAKE, Nevada -- Sharing 55 Years, John Redhouse Launches New Book on Bordertown Racism
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/live-today-john-redhouse-launches-new.html
Watch Red Nation YouTube (Watch Live Recordings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhCJeWIjMMU
Purchase book:
Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, Contested Territories: the Four Corners in the turbulent 1970s, by John Redhouse, Foreword by Jennifer Denetdale, Introduction by Melanie K. Yazzie
Co-published with Red Media
https://www.commonnotions.org/bordertown-clashes?srsltid=ARcRdnrMb6na6sjZM-Cs7ufBPD7NdtLQjmAobfHKaXLj74Wa4-mWGSCW
Article copyright Censored News
For more information: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/liv...
§
by Brenda Norrell
Sat, Jul 12, 2025 8:38AM
ALBUQUERQUE -- "This book has been crying out to be published," John Redhouse said, as he named the great writers he was inspired by as a high school graduate in Farmington when he joined the National Indian Youth Council. "The Red Power Movement was, and still is, very much alive in the Southwest."
John launched his new book in Pyramid Lake, Nevada, "Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, Contested Territories: The Four Corners in the Turbulent 1970s." This second event was at Books on the Bosque bookstore in Albuquerque.
Joining Redhouse in Albuquerque, Jennifer Nez Denetdale, professor at the University of New Mexico, said she read a guest column written for Navajo Times in the 1980s, when the Navajo Nation extinguished its land claims to all aboriginal land.
In that column, John's extensive research showed that the Navajo leaders had entered into an agreement and extinguished its aboriginal land claims for the price, on the dollar, at 1846 land prices. John wasn't invited to write guest columns at Navajo Times after that, Denetdale said.
During the book launch in Farmington, New Mexico, Redhouse, Dine' and Ute, described the Long Hot Summer of 1974, describing the resistance to the torture murders of Navajos in the bordertown of Farmington by white teenagers.
Redhouse described how the coal mining, and oil and gas industry, drew racists to this bordertown.
John said there are times when there is no choice but to "strike back with the decisiveness of a rattlesnake."
"There are situations, like in the coal fields of Burnham -- where the Navajo people have lived for centuries -- you have a coal company out there destroying graves, destroying ancestral sites that go back four to six hundred years. They are being destroyed physically, your grandmother is buried in a family cemetery and it is slated for forced removal -- when they are doing things like that, that are physical and final, when they're doing things like that you do what is appropriate."
The series of book launches began at Pyramid Lake in Nevada.
"I love my people," said Redhouse. "Today is a dream come true."
John shared the history of the resistance movement spanning 55 years, beginning when he was 17 years old. After growing up in the bordertown of Farmington, John learned from the leaders in the movement -- from the grandmothers at Big Mountain and the fishing rights leaders in the Northwest, to the young Pueblo warriors at the University of New Mexico and the National Indian Youth Council.
Redhouse is joined by his wife Carol Wright, Western Shoshone from Smoky Valley, during today's book launch at the Pyramid Lake Museum and Visitor Center.
Wright spoke on water rights at Pyramid Lake, and how she fought to save the lake for her children's future. Wright described educating the Nevada press, and the news wire UPI, about water rights.
"We kept on going in our fight to save the lake."
The Native American Rights Fund, NARF, was encouraging compromise on water rights. "I got in some good arguments with NARF on that," Wright said.
Redhouse said the Red Power Movement began in 1492, and reached a new level in the 1960s and 1970s. There were many survival issues in the battle for the land and water.
"You are born into the struggle."
"Ninety-eight percent of our people were killed since 1492, and 98 percent of our land was taken away," Redhouse said.
"Every day our land is being taken."
"Those are the elements of war."
Ultimately it was a question of survival and genocide.
"My people are at war -- and so I am at war."
"We are remnants of the Warrior Society."
The one thing he could do was writing. "I chose that as the next stage of my life's work."
Redhouse chose that for the next 31 years.
Read the original series at Censored News.
ALBUQUERQUE -- Farmington was the Hate Crime Capital of the West in 1974
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/dine-redhouse-farmington-was-hate-crime.html
FARMINGTON, New Mexico -- On the Fourth of July, John Redhouse Pinpoints Coal Fired Racism in Farmington
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/on-fourth-of-july-john-redhouse.html
PYRAMIND LAKE, Nevada -- Sharing 55 Years, John Redhouse Launches New Book on Bordertown Racism
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/live-today-john-redhouse-launches-new.html
Watch Red Nation YouTube (Watch Live Recordings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhCJeWIjMMU
Purchase book:
Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, Contested Territories: the Four Corners in the turbulent 1970s, by John Redhouse, Foreword by Jennifer Denetdale, Introduction by Melanie K. Yazzie
Co-published with Red Media
https://www.commonnotions.org/bordertown-clashes?srsltid=ARcRdnrMb6na6sjZM-Cs7ufBPD7NdtLQjmAobfHKaXLj74Wa4-mWGSCW
Article copyright Censored News
For more information: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/liv...
§
by Brenda Norrell
Sat, Jul 12, 2025 8:38AM
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