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The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, 2: Relocation and Religious Freedom

The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, 2: Relocation and Religious Freedom. Wednesday, November 29, 2000. Final week logistics. There WILL BE sections next week (last day of classes is Friday Dec 8th!). Questions on the reading will be posted on the web-site tomorrow (Nov 30th)

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The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, 2: Relocation and Religious Freedom

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  1. The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, 2: Relocation and Religious Freedom Wednesday, November 29, 2000

  2. Final week logistics • There WILL BE sections next week (last day of classes is Friday Dec 8th!). Questions on the reading will be posted on the web-site tomorrow (Nov 30th) • Your fourth paper is due on Friday, December 8th. Please put your paper by 5 pm in the box in front of your TA’s office. • You MUST hand in a fourth paper; if you do not, the resulting “F” will NOT be dropped (as per the syllabus policy). We expect good, gradeable papers! • For students who have not yet revised a paper: in consultation with your TA, you may revise either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd papers. Revisions are due in your TA’s box by Tuesday, December 12th. It will not be possible to revise the 4th papers. • Deepen the Topic papers due on Wednesday, December 13th. • If you want to receive back either of your two last papers, consult your TA • Please consult the syllabus under “plagiarism policy”. It is a very clear policy.

  3. Public Law 93-531 • 10,000 Dineh living on Hopi Partition Land (HPL) in 1974 • Relocation to be completed by 1981 • $2000-$5000 payments to families; $17,000-$25,000 houses to be built • $37 million appropriated • 1974-2000: 13,000 relocated, at cost of $400 million

  4. The “strange peace”: 1975-1977 • No pressure from 1975-1977: Relocation Commission very disorganized • Navajo interpretation of inaction • Hopi disinterest in the land • 1977: the pressure begins

  5. The difficulties of relocation, 1977-1993 • Non-Navajo assumptions about Navajo land • Six patterns of relocation • Moving to marginal land • Prefab shanties • Public housing/doubling up • Toxic lands • out-migration to cities • remaining on ancestral land

  6. The spiritual toll of relocation • The ultimate wound • Indian Health Service reports • The testimony of Ben Nez” “A lot of people’s minds are sad: even the livestock notices this, even nature knows this. . .A lot of people have died from depression.”

  7. The Accommodation Agreement • Political context of the Agreement: 1985-1993 • The 1996 Agreement • Hopi get $50 million and 500,000 acres • Navajo get to stay if they sign leases

  8. The Fine Print of the Agreement • Lease-holders agree to • cede all property claims upon signing 75-year (non-renewable) lease • that their children must leave at 21, cannot inherit the land • cease burials on the land • sharply reduce herds • desist from any legal claims about land (including, in practice, religious claims)

  9. The problems with living near Peabody Coal • Grave desecration • Offenses to sacred places

  10. Testimony of non-signers, 1 • Mae Tso: “The Agreement does not protect my land. . . For the earth 75 years is not very long. It will soon be over. And then what? The Agreement does not protect my ancestral land for future generations. Where will my bones be buried? The Agreement says they can’t be buried here. Where will my children’s children go? From birth we are connected to the earth, our mother, at our homes, as were our ancestors before us.”

  11. Testimony of non-signers, 2 • Ruth Bennally: “If I cannot give this land to my children, they will no longer be connected to the earth… that will make them fall sick. That is why there is sickness, death and suicide, and alcohol among us. My family has lived at the place where I now live for nine generations. There is no way we can just move to another spot and continue to live as Dine people. How can I say to the Holy People: you have given me this land, instructed me to take care of it, to stay here – but I have signed all this away, and will be leaving?”

  12. Testimony of non-signers, 3 • Roberta Blackgoat: “Let us say the government came to you and said: you can continue to go to church for 75 years – but after that, you and your children can never go to church again. Would you sign that piece of paper?”

  13. Threats faced by non-signers • Cannot conduct home repairs • face confiscation of animals • threatened with forcible eviction

  14. Simple “relocation” or violation of human and religious rights? • http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pageaof.htm • (Big Mountain Relocation Resistance website) • Statements of Leon Berger, Thayer Scudder, and Richard Schifter

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