Bahe: Support Needed for Big Mountain Dineh Sept. 4, 2015

NaBahe Katenay Keediniihii

SheepDogNation Media   

   

September 4, 2015 – Late summer and early fall 2015, Big Mountain keep vigil for BIA – Hopi Law and Ranger threats, a resistance that is quite dynamic in terms of the hardships of accepting losses and the spirited-will to maintain defiance.

Elders Mary Lou and Clarence Blackrock are both 90 years old, along with their children and grandchildren, were all well prepared in fall 2014 for the threats of livestock confiscation. They maintained vigil throughout the nights for that predawn police raid, but their animals were saved. Just this past August and after the BIA – Hopi rangers’ assessment, the elder couple decided that rather than facing a greater loss, they chose to give away a major portion of the herd to their children and other relatives. Their grandson, Gerald, who has been the only herder was upset but he knew he cannot go against whatever decision his grandparents made.

As of this date, there has been no new reports about the threat of confiscation that was made to elder resister, Rena Lane. In any dealings with law enforcement during a time of siege or protest, police tend to set a mode of diversion and anxiety and by their own determined (perfect) time, they will initiate force actions. However, Rena and her family can still expect that invasion and not having any physical presence of witnesses or herders, the animals might be taken any moment. This will put things back as it were in fall of 2014, someone getting arrested and hoping funds can be raised to pay off the U.S. BIA and their agents.

Inspiring things did occurred and a sense of defiance remain, a herd of cattle were put into hiding and the late Pauline Whitesinger’s herds still defy the BIA’s monitoring. The bravery and magnitude of will that two local Big Mountain Dineh carried out were perhaps very small but in a universal aspect, it adds to that hope for peace and liberation.

One of the grandsons from the local communities rode his horse about 8 miles to another elders’ homestead, and with the approval of the two, widowed elder ladies, the cattle were driven into one of the nearby canyons. Despite the saturated grounds from the heavy rains, this one particular young man on horseback, left the cattle herd deep inside the canyon where there was plenty of “illegal” grazing and water. The young man returned a day later to check, and he noticed that the BIA Hopi rangers attempted to follow the cattle hoof tracks, but the impassable dirt roads made them turn around. However, these elder ladies’ cattle are still under threat.

The late Pauline Whitesinger’s small sheep herd remain “at large,” we the on-land resistance coordinators and supporters sometimes do not know where this grandson-herder has the sheep. We keep wishing that this determined grandson get more support even though he seems very self-sufficient. He does need some means of communication like a cell phone and remote solar charging equipment. He also needs a better bicycle like a sturdy mountain bike.

Need for continued support means to truly and spiritually put your thoughts into coming out to this remote place where a few of the last, tough and land-based indigenous elders still try to survive. Put yourself into that willingness to de-colonize and acquire some knowledge aboutsustainable practices instead of just chanting (such words) in a protest picket line. Prepare yourself, logistically even though your preference of foods may run out, accepting to drink the waters provided there, the wacky seasons of climate change, no cell phone reception, no electricity, but know that nature and the bright clear night sky will embrace you with godly admiration. Contact us, if you can provide any resources or logistics mentioned or that are needed in a struggle like this. I'll refer your inquiry to other network facilitators, too, since we function on a collective basis.  

The world just need to realize that even though this is a small group of Indians defying American colonialism in a remote place, there has to be a demand for justice and that the U.S. policy of uprooting culture and religion for fossil fuel extraction demonstrate a gross violation of international human rights. On behalf of the few remaining Dineh elders and youths, we urgently asked for your input, solidarity and volunteer time for on-land support.

Thank you for reading and your time. 

~(NaBahe Katenay Keediniihii) – SheepDogNation Media       

Sheep Dog Nation Rocks: Hopi speaks out against Navajo relocation

By Bahe Katenay
Navajo from Big Mountain
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks
Published with permission

FLAGSTAFF -- When the Dineh resisters at Big Mountain declared their independence in 1977 they further declared they would submit their conditions beyond and bypass the Navajo Nation or the BIA. They would present their conditions directly to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
What am I talking about? Well, they held this Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission hearing in Flagstaff (in December) and I wonder how can a governmental organization be intent on hearing such conditions?
However, it's kinda kool that a Hopi person eventually reminded everyone about the real situation of human rights violations on Black Mesa. I don't know what this Navajo Nation commission seeks, but at the United Nations level, the Dineh have presented the conditions of violations committed by institutionally-designed policies of racial and genocidal practices.
Excerpt the article, "Human Rights Commission hears testimonies of 'racism,'" by S. J. Wilson in the Navajo-Hopi Observer, December 31, 2008
FLAGSTAFF -- Four of the five members of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission recently visited the communities of Winslow and Flagstaff to hear public testimony regarding race relation issues in areas including housing, education and civil rights ...
Bob Lomadafkie, a longtime citizen of Flagstaff and a member of the Hopi Tribe, spoke about the effects of relocation on members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes, and the allegiance held by many traditional Hopis against the relocation of their Navajo neighbors.
"We were opposed to relocation; we feel it was wrongfully imposed on the Dine'," Lomadafkie said. "We also addressed the pow wow in Flagstaff; there was a lot of negative talk that put Native Americans in a bad light."
Lomadafkie is on several boards for Flagstaff organizations and is involved in issues such as homelessness and the recruitment and retention of Native American students at Northern Arizona University (NAU) - where he finds that one of every four students is Native American - predominantly Dine'."
Read article in Navajo Hopi Observer:
http://navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=7454
Signed by Sheep Dog Nation Rocks:
That Annoying Sheep Dog
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)

Sheep Dog Nation Rocks: On being a true human being

Ancient Ways Abandoned to Fend for Themselves at Big Mountain

By Bahe Kateney, Navajo from Big Mountain

Sheep Dog Nation Rocks shares the words of Pauline Whitesinger, Navajo on Big Mountain, on the way to be a true human being:

"In the old days, a day would start when you leave your dwelling place and as you make your first step outside your doorway, your day begins. What lies ahead is not clearly predictable because you may ‘tripped.’ You need a family or community to be part of your day and within that, there is a culture. Others would be there to share with you or support you in case you ‘stumble and fall.’ It was taught to me when I was young that we should limit the use of the word, ‘no!’ We were to always be there for someone in need and have empathy because ‘you’ may need that help someday.
Today, you may ask for help like borrowing tools to mend your clothes or repair something. The method of borrowing is a test of the human ability to be considerate, and it is an expression of attitude. How you achieve in that test will ultimately determine your mental balance, if you have empathy and humbleness, and it basically determines where your ‘heart’ is at: love and kinship. Certainly, these things were expected of every new born back in the old days. For instance, the new born will give to the community or if he is a boy, he will cultivate the fields or become builder of dwellings. This is probably how my father was raised because he was always there to help build a lodge or help maintain the values of the community.
I don’t think I can define Life. It has to be how much the human mind can take. Utilizing faith is key so, that you can pray when it is difficult and never give up on that faith no matter how painful. The modern-day, human mind seem less durable and it resorts to degrading others, or alcoholism. Modern way of life has separated our children from us and they have become ‘uncivilized.’ The family units of the Indian are gone. The reliance on horses and sheep herding is the past and the automobile is now the future.
My childhood times required us to haul water by hand and I remember making the climb out of this canyon, Sweet Water. I helped with carry bundles of firewood and sometimes when we moved, I helped carry the grinding stones. A day’s job did not involve going to the grocery store to get soda pop, a dangerous form of drink which we didn’t realized, and other unknown American products. Read more ...

http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/

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Bahe Katenay: On Big Mountain, building the earth lodge

By Bahe Katenay
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks

Published with permission

Navajo Big Mountain matriarch Pauline Whitesinger stands next to her earth lodge that began collapsing in late 2007. Photo copyright Bahe Katenay.

BIG MOUNTAIN, Black Mesa (Arizona), November 18, 2008 – A nice peaceful morning in the Dineh resistance stronghold known as Sweet Water was again disrupted by a uniformed officer from the Office of Hopi Lands. This officer who had a badge that indicated he was with the Hopi tribal police claimed he was not serving a “noticed” on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, nor the U.S. government. The small 82 year old matriarch, Pauline Whitesinger, was trying to speak in the Dineh language to the thick and tall Indian officer that cannot understand Dineh and who was ‘assigned’ to meet with (grandma) Pauline about her “unauthorized” reconstruction of a traditional earth lodge.
He had photo-copies of Pauline’s earth lodge with some additional documents that he referred to as ‘complaints’ from a recent officer that discovered this construction in May 2008. As another Dineh gentleman showed up at the scene, the officer immediately walked over to seek a translator –something he should have seek within his own law enforcement department. The officer only wanted two questions answered:
‘Why is she building this hogan without Permission?’
‘What is she going to do with this hogan or why does she need it?’
The Dineh gentleman attempted to clarify the issues by asking if the tribal police agency keep a record of conversations made with Grandma Whitesinger or other documents related to her position about residential rights that she has been denied. The officer had no knowledge about recent records or about the history of this resister’s position toward the relocation and the land-partitioning policies throughout the 30 plus years, or throughout all the years that equaled this young officer’s age.
“Why she does this without permission is because she does not recognized the authority of the U.S. government or (your) alien and foreign authority,” the Dineh man clarifies.
“Grandma, here, still recognizes the supreme authorities of the local deities and she also honors her ancestors’ legacies. She truly and deeply believes that is where she receives the ‘official’ authorization to rebuild this traditional lodge.”
The translator adds, “The hogan is part of her ancient culture and it is necessary to her being. Not only is it for ceremonial purposes but it is her home where she will be warmer in the winter as opposed to that cinderblock and un-insulated house. There, you have heard the same repeated answers to your same concerns!”
The officer who seemed to be wasting his time by bringing up the same concerns and question asked as he tried to keep his authoritarian composure, “What do you mean ‘alien’?!” The translator’s reply again is rhetorical, “Well, since you are not here on behalf the feds or the BIA, are you here on behalf of the traditional Hopis?”
As if he had to answer that question, the officer explained, “The traditional Hopis are all gone!”
The translator reassures, “Your official duty today is alien because of that, because you represent something alien and a traditional Hopi would not tell us that we, Dineh, exist without permission…”
“No, (we) are a ‘new’ generation,” states the young but determined and armed officer.
Still at ease, the translator wishes no further dialogue concludes, “Yeah, a ‘new’ generation with alien-forms of idea and perceptions…”
Grandma Pauline who hates these sorts of police visits tells the translator, “I like to hear a summary of what you two have said to each other, but I also want to say this to him. Since May of this year your fellow officers and perhaps, you yourself as well would drive by slowly or sometime they would stop along that road, there. Then, very recently when I asked some helpers to begin working on the roof of the lodge, a ranger truck parked on that road and they seemed to be looking through binoculars. After all the prowling around and all this time, you finally come to me asking two questions.
“Leave the lodge alone! Let me dwell here freely! My only intention is to exist here as my forefathers have and I don’t intend to bother you.”
A Commentary with Recommendation:
After the lost deputy left, Grandma Pauline made further comments about the state of society, Chief Loner wonders also: “Where is that activism? Especially, indigenous activisms like AIM or other urban Indian bands of activist? Is activism only a fashion or an expression trend?”
This grandmother matriarch has stood her ground out in the remote country of Big Mountain for over thirty years. Now, it really seems that society sees her the same way the oppressors does, “those lawless Navajos.” Members of society who expressed humanitarian thought through Gandhi or MLK, or those who recently ‘voted’ to put colour in the White (marble) City of the district of Columbus do not seem to care about spirituality and ancient culture.
Does (it) only come down to fulfillment? Like, “I have voted and I won so, my efforts were fulfilled.”
There is evidence that the traditional Hopi resisters to modernization have questioned the state of society and perhaps, they felt that society has no time for ancient cultural and spiritual ways. So, as long as one, individual traditional life knows they have fulfilled their spiritual obligation and if the rest of the community chose to adapt to the “new generation,” an individual traditional life will conclude it has fulfilled his or hers.
Society and non-Indian activism are more into an eco-management mentality by addressing institutional-designed environmental policies and questions. The old Indian traditions of land base society are now obsolete. Pauline Whitesinger in her remote corner of the universe somehow and always know about the state of the world politics without going on the internet or reading bibles on how to be an activist and to have ‘love.’
Grandmother Pauline who is still strong said something that was quite shocking, “I don’t care anymore. I will build that lodge and (they) can come out with their heavy machine and level the hogan! I don’t care anymore because I’m old and cannot maintain my herd of sheep and goats, and (they) can haul all them away, too. At least, I may have fewer worries and just sit in this little house everyday and look out onto the empty lands.”
Grandma’s final comment about that morning’s disruption was that the ranger-police was actually not wasting his time:
“He is the initial point of a plan. What will follow after today’s visit might become a stupid move for them. All these years the United States has been trying to make the so-called, ‘Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute’ happen…”
© Sheep Dog Nation Rocks 2008

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)