[News] Navajo from Big Mountain: US media and politicians orchestrate wars

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Navajo from Big Mountain: US media and politicians orchestrate wars
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/


By 
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2008/3/28/103424//user/uid:331>Brenda 
Norrell,
Posted on Fri Mar 28th, 2008 at 10:34:24 AM EST
PUEBLO, Colo. – Bahe Katenay, Navajo from Big 
Mountain on the Navajo Nation, said the US media 
created the stories of the so-called Navajo Hopi 
Land Dispute, which was orchestrated by Peabody 
Coal and US politicians, the same way the US 
orchestrates the war in Iraq for its resources.

“There was never a dispute,” Katenay said of the 
so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute. He said the 
lands were long shared by Navajo and Hopi. “The 
Hopi had their trails through there.”

Katenay said the United States media created the 
stories of the so-called Navajo Hopi Dispute, the 
same way the US media creates and fuels other disputes and wars.

“One of the examples of this is the Iraq war 
right now.” Katenay said the media claims there 
is a dispute in Iraq. Those US claims led to the 
U.S. occupying and dividing the country and the people.

“Over there it is more brutal and more horrific. 
But it is the same sort of thing they did in Big 
Mountain and Black Mesa. They divided the two tribes.”

Katenay said the Navajo and Hopi tribal 
governments do not represent their people.
“The tribal governments are basically a board of 
directors. They are not a sovereign assembly. The 
Navajo government does not represent the Navajo 
Nation and the Hopi government does not represent 
the Hopi Nation,” Katenay said in an interview 
with Longest Walk Talk Radio, www.earthcycles.net/

Katenay, one of the original Long Walkers in 
1978, joined the Longest Walk 2 Northern Route in 
Pueblo and described the orchestrated scenario 
and the so-called “Navajo Hopi Land Dispute,” 
which grew out of the Indian Land Claims Commission.

Katenay told how a Mormon attorney for Peabody 
Coal, John Boyden, came to Hopi country and 
attempted to form a Hopi Tribal Council for the 
purpose of seizing leases for coal mining.

“It failed each time because the traditional Hopi 
people were a sovereign people and rejected the 
Hopi Tribal Council. They still had power in the 
villages. The traditional people supported the traditional chiefs.”

Finally in 1964, Peabody’s attorney John Boyden 
picked Hopi people and formed a Hopi Tribal 
Council which was recognized by the US 
government. However, the Hopi Tribal Council was 
not recognized or given authority by traditional Hopi.

Katenay said federal laws and proceedings 
complicated the issues for Navajos and Hopis and 
the BIA played a role. The BIA had its hand in 
tribal governments and federal laws. Referring to 
the so-called range war, Katenay said there was 
no range war and there is no proof that it ever 
existed. It was a staged scenario which Congressmen fueled.

Among those Arizona Congressmen in the 1970s were 
Rep. Sam Steiger who introduced the relocation 
legislation, Barry Goldwater and Morris K. Udall.

“They spearheaded this legislation back then.”

Then, other Southwest Congressmen took notice 
because of plans to seize the Colorado River 
water and Navajo and Hopi resources. The 
concocted scenario that there was bloodshed on 
the Navajo Hopi lands was a means to an end.

Last year, Big Mountain celebrated 30 years of resistance.

Katenay, resisting relocation since 1974, began 
as a translator. He left community college to 
return home to assist the elders. Later, he 
returned to college in 1994 and now lectures on 
the history and facts of Black Mesa.

“I believed in their struggle to resist.”

Katenay said this era of the Internet is 
deceptive when it comes to communication. “With 
fast communication, we are losing communication.” 
Further, in the United States, Americans are 
without a culture and focus on the individual and comfort.

“Americans do not have a culture. The Navajos and 
Hopis’ worlds have been flipped upside down, but there, they have a culture.”

Katenay said Americans believe their culture to 
be baseball, hotdogs, fast cars and war. “Most 
Americans say, ‘We’re proud to bomb Iraq and destroy many countries.’”

With three decades of resistance at Big Mountain, 
Katenay points out that many of the elders are gone now.

“We only have a handful of old people who are 
determined to make a stand if they have to and hold on to their land.”

While Navajos continue to resist, Katenay said 
the Navajos who were relocated paid a huge price. 
There were 14,000 Navajos who received relocation 
homes, but at least 150,000 -- including extended 
families -- were impacted by relocation.

The United States government relocated Navajos 
from Black Mesa to contaminated lands, New Lands 
near Sanders, Arizona. The land was cheap because 
it was abandoned by white ranchers after the 
contamination of the Church Rock, N.M., uranium 
tailings spill on July 16, 1979. It was among the 
worst spills in US history and flowed down the Rio Puerco.

Navajos who remain in Big Mountain now live with constant surveillance.

“The people of Big Mountain are under 
surveillance all the time.” Katenay said Navajos 
are not allowed to gather firewood or traditional 
medicines. When people gather, even for a child’s 
birthday party, they are under surveillance.

“They have to live guerilla style, go out and 
gather their firewood and herbs at night.”

Peabody’s coal mining has left deep scars in the land and the water depleted.

“Our water has been depleted and sacred springs are gone.”

Now, Katenay says the power of humanity would 
disappear at Big Mountain without volunteers’ 
support for the elders, who can help with 
planting and herding sheep. In May, Katenay said 
there will be a project for volunteers to learn 
about planting corn and squash, about Mother 
Earth and Father Sky. He said all people are welcome.

“We don’t care who comes, just like this Longest 
Walk. We need to all come together, not just Dine’ and Hopi.”

On Big Mountain, people will learn about planting 
and Dine’ culture. “A cornfield is a very sacred 
place, there is no misconduct,” he said, 
describing the harvesting and husking of corn.

Reflecting on the resistance, Katenay said a 
handful of Navajos resisting relocation and coal 
mining disrupted the schemes of the United States government and Peabody Coal.

“We’re still there. Peabody has not expanded its 
mine into Big Mountain area.” Katenay said 
neither the power plants nor the cities that 
Peabody planned for Big Mountain area ever appeared.

“The elders stood and disrupted the American process.”

Listen to the interview, audio file (bahiemp3) at: www.earthcycles.net/

Photos of the Longest Walk Northern Route:
<http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/>http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/




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