The View From The Hogan 3   July 1999       204 days till "the final solution"

Notes from Big Mt.

    Yaa'tee

    Once again it's been a very busy month on the land. A new set of notices
have gone out to the residents telling them their "excess" animals will be
taken from them. Basically the people are being reminded that at some
undefined point in the future their livliehood will be threatened. As one
supporter noted "Grandmothers are never quite sure when to be prepared to
defend their homesite and livestock." This is just a part of the continued
attempt by the BIA/HTC/US Govt to harass these people into leaving this
coal-rich land. By making sure that their flocks are too small to be able to
support a family, the families need to find other sources of livliehood,
which usually means going off the Rez to find wage work. Eventually this
causes the break up of the family, or the family will tire of this harassment
and decide to "voluntarily" relocate. Not only is this economic terrorism, it
is also psychological terrorism. Part of the impoundment notice reads "in
order to achieve full compliance with all the grazing permits the agency
range staff will begin conducting random unnnaounced inventories throughout
the year. We are addressing you of this possibility so that you are not
alarmed or surprised by our presence on a weekend or at irregular hours."
Imagine getting a letter that tells you that at some point in the next year
someone will enter your home and rape a member of your family! To those of
you that do not know these traditional people, this may sound like a gross
over-exaggeration, but the truth is that in ways we can little understand,
the land is a part of these people, the presence of an armed threat
travelling on their land violates these people just the same as if their
hogans were being entered. The sheep are not "economic units", any observer
of the Navajo will tell you that the closest term we have in the white-mans
language to define the sheep is "relatives". By threatening the sheep, and
constantly "patrolling" the land a climate of fear is established.
    The Hopi Tribal Council continues with its inept and amateurish media
campaign on the situation here. This week in the local paper is an "article"
on Kee Shays situation that is little more than a reprint of a HTC press
release. Kee Shays family live alongside the fence that seperates the
so-called HPL from the So-called NPL. When the fence was constructed, it cut
right through his families customary use area, leaving the winter camp on one
side of the fence, the summer camp on the other. Because of this the family
have not been involved in the "accomodation" process, and has continued to
make use of their land, The Hopi Tribal Council considers his family
trespassers. "according to the tribe, Shays actions are considered harmful to
both Navajo and Hopi families." "When outside individuals illegally trespass
and allow their animals to graze on lands that already suffer from diminished
capacity, we hurt both Navajo and Hopi families living on HPL." "Shays
actions in arguing his case through the media is clearly an effort to disrupt
and use for his own benefit the ongoing peaceful process of accomodation"
"The media needs to be more responsible in not agitating situations that
could hurt the interests of Hopi and Navajo families on the HPL." What on
earth are they talking about?!!! The Shays' have always been members of the
Big Mountain community, to classify them as outsiders is absurd. And how is
he threatening the Hopi Tribe? The nearest Navajo resident on HPL is over 10
miles away, and the nearest Hopi resident well over 20 miles away. So whose
grass is he "stealing". As for the media "agitating" the situation, all I can
say is I sure hope the media is not "agitating" the situation in Kosovo by
reporting on what is happening.
    My interpretation of this "article" is that the HTC is setting the stage
to implement their "Exclusion Law" in preparation to remove all support the
resisters here have. With this insidious law the HTC will be able to define
who is an "outsider", and they will be able to define what constitutes a
threat to the tribe. If they are allowed to get away with it the people here
will be living under virtual martial law. They (the HTC) certainly don't want
the media to report on that.
    (sometime later)Well, it seems that my prediction that the Hopi Tribal
Council (and their masters, Peabody and the U.S. Govt.) are escalating their
moves against the peoples supporters turns out to be unfortunately true.
    Wed June 16th. At 5 this evening , Hopi Rangers arrived at the Witness
Camp to escort Arlene Hamilton (the co-ordinator of the camp) off the "Hopi
Reservation". Yesterday she had been served a "proposed exclusion notice" and
given 15 days to answer in writing why she should not be "excluded. 2 days
ago she was still being told on a daily basis that the permit she had being
asking for was "almost ready"
    Let me describe the Witness Camp to you. The first thing you notice is
the 2 white tepees jutting above the trees. There is a kitchen structure and
area, a sweat lodge, an outhouse, and scattered through the Pinyon and
Junipers are the tents of the visiting students. Every day there is a
constant stream of Dineh visitors to the camp, some travelling long distances
(one 101 year old lady started to hitch hike the 20 miles to a relative to
come to the camp). They come to teach classes. They come just to visit. They
come to eat. They come to ask for help with chores. They come to bring food
to the camp. The atmosphere and all interactions are of the utmost respect.
Every day armed Hopi Rangers or monitors arrive to nose around. They are
treated with respect, and in most cases have behaved respectfully. One Ranger
had it explained to him by one of the respected Grandmas that she felt really
unsafe with him bringing his gun into camp, so he took it off and locked it
in his vehicle before coming in to camp. Word is he got into trouble for
daring to behave like a human being!! He should be promoted. There is a
palpable feeling of community at the camp. I listened as A Dineh Community
Health Nurse spoke to the students. Her job is to travel around and visit the
elders in their isolated homesites and check on their health. She spoke of
how whenever impoundment notices, armed Rangers prowling about, eviction
notices, low level overflights, etc occur the health of the elders suffers
dramatically and noticably. She spoke of her own sense of fear as she had to
travel around alone, sometimes followed by armed rangers, and in an emotional
voice she told how the first time she drove by the witness camp and saw the
tepees her heart lifted that the resisters were getting visitors, help and
support. Every student I spoke with had nothing but positive things to say
about the people here , their way of life, and the respect everybody has for
each other. The harassment of the people became something real for them. How
is it possible for the HTC to claim the camp as a threat? The people here
HAVE EVERY RIGHT to have visitors, they have every right to have support in
the chores of their daily life, and they have every right to try and reclaim
their sense of community that the governement and HTC have done everything
they can for 25 years to destroy.
    postscript. It seems that the morning after the Rangers came to the camp
to "escort" Arlene off the rez, many, many people phoned the Hopi Tribal
Offices to complain. Later that day the Chief of Hopi Rangers came to the
camp and said "it had been a mistake". Gosh.... could it be that some people
taking a few minutes of their time to make a phone call could actually have
an impact?
    It has been my experience that once people find out what is really going
on here, they feel impelled to do something about it. Before he himself
became a tyrant, Josef Stalin wrote "Nothing could be more dangerous to
tyrannical authority than the peoples’ curiosity." Unfortunately the
mainstream media rarely report on what is happening here, and when they do it
is just to repeat the government propoganda that this is just a dispute
between two tribes, rather than the truth which is that this is the
continuation of 500 plus years of genocide against the caretakers of this
Turtle Island. I would ask that you forward this E-mail to everyone you know.
If, out of every hundred people who read this, just one person takes some
action, then the scales tip in the right direction. "we are each an army of
one" as Leonard Peltier says. Many people are concerned with Human Rights,
Native Rights, Religious Freedom, Environmental destruction, Corporate Power,
and Governmental abuse. What is happening here involves all these issues, and
I believe (in fact I stake my life on it) that if enough people choose to pay
attention to what is happening, this travesty can be prevented. Please pass
this on. It is not "spam". If anyone has any questions about how the
situation here has come about, I would be only to happy to explain what I
know.
    Ho Hum! More low altitude overflights. On the afternoon of June 19th a
couple of helicopters flew low and directly over the homesite. The first was
one of the unmarked gunships that flew over recently. The second was a USAF,
silver painted, model. My first response as they fly over is outrage and a
sense of violation, followed by a disbelief at how much taxpayers money is
being spent to harass these elders. I have no idea just how much it costs to
put on of those things into the air for an hour. A damn sight more than I
spend in a year thats for sure.
    July 2nd. Low level overflight by small fighter aircraft at 3:30 and
again at 6:30. The zig-zag flight path took them directly over the homesites.
    We hear of continued harassment of families that signed the agreement.
People have been told not to drive around on the land. "You are being
accomodated so long as you stay within your area".
    The Hopi Tribal Councils propoganda machine is busy this month. A letter
to the editor titled "So called Activists use Hopi Tribe" an employee of the
Tribe attacks the support the people here are getting. According to this
so-called Hopi, activist and human rights workers are just using the Navajo
and Hopi to further their own agenda and stir up trouble. She goes so far as
to claim that 99.9% of the information on the internet about this situation
is lies! Coming from an organization whose whole existence is based on a lie
this is pure bullshit. She also states that "activists will be removed". Of
course, being just a sheepherder and not an activist myself I can feel quite
safe, right? All the propoganda being put out by the HTC continues to try and
claim that any attack or criticism of the HTC is an attack on the Hopi
people, whereas everything I read put out by the resisters and their
supporters makes it quite clear that it is understood that the HTC is an
illegally imposed colonial governement that is oppressing its own people as
well as the Dine, no-one is suggesting that these actions come from the Hopi
people themselves. I personally have heard Hopis refer to their rez as a
Police State. All in all, this months offering from the HTC's public
relations operation is rather pathetic and transparent. I guess that the cost
of expanding and arming the para-military Hopi Rangers leaves the HTC no
funds to hire a proffesional Public Relations Firm.
    Unfortunately there are a few people who raise money and in other ways
use these people and this issue to further their own agenda. For instance,
right now there is an individual operating out of Montana who is claiming
that his words are coming from Roberta Blackgoat. If that were not bad
enough, he has gone so far as to forge her signature. Roberta has asked me to
tell you that she and her relatives are extremely upset by the actions of
this individual. If you come across anything purporting to come from
"Independent Dine Nation" ( no such entity exists) please know it does not
originate from here.
    If you are in the process of, or thinking of, offering money or some
other form of support to the people here, I would have you ask yourself the
following questions. Do you KNOW that the support will reach the people
here?, and if so, do you KNOW that it is in a form that the people want?
Obviously the only way to be sure is to actually come here yourselves, but
that is not always possible, but the next best thing is to COMMUNICATE WITH
THE ELDERS DIRECTLY.
    The annual Sun Dance at Camp Anne Mae has been denied a permit. Though
the people here find it deeply offensive (and who wouldn't) that they must
get a permit for a religious ceremony, they went ahead anyway and applied for
one. Over 4 months ago! The HTC waited till 2 weeks before the SunDance to
deny them "permission". The Sun Dance will go ahead anyway, many hundreds of
people are committed to it. Will The HTC use this as an opportunity to
provoke confrontation and continue with their attempt to impose martial law?
We'll see.
    Back in the real world the weather continues to be strange here. The day
after we finished planting the cornfield it rained all day, with thunder and
lightning. These male rains are at least a month early. A few days later we
had record lows with temperatures 20 - 25 degrees below normal. Now we're
back to normal, windy and hot. The flock goes out before sunrise and come
back in for the middle of the day, then go out again in the evening. During
the heat of the day all sensible creatures hole up in the shade. The corn
waits patiently for the rain.
    The other evening I was driving around with one of the Grandma's, The sky
was filled with dark, moisture -heavy clouds, but only a few drops were
reaching the ground. "I guess the clouds are waiting for a permit from the
Hopis before they drop their rain." she quipped.
    It sure seems like now would be a good time to phone the Hopi Tribal
Chairman and let him know what you think about the harassment of elders and
their supporters, the religious persecution, military overflights etc. Let
him know you are paying attention to what is going on here. Wayne Taylor can
be reached on the following numbers: (520) 734 3000, & (520) 734 2441.
    They are still trying to "rub-out" Indians. This is not History. This is
not happening in some obscure other part of the globe. Surely it's time to
stop this?

    But then, what the hell do I know,.... I'm just a sheepherder.

            "Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul"

                Your prayers, support, and correspondence are invited
                
                For all my relations

                    Bo Peep

reachable via unclejake74@hotmail.com