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Navajo Nation

Coordinates: 36°11′13″N 109°34′25″W / 36.18694°N 109.57361°W / 36.18694; -109.57361
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Navajo Nation
Naabeehó Bináhásdzo
(Diné Bikéyah)
Indian Reservation
Flag of the Navajo Nation
Flag
Anthem: none
Dah Naatʼaʼí Sǫʼ bił Sinil
used for some occasions
EstablishedJune 1, 1868 (Treaty)
Expansions1878–1930
Chapter system1922
Tribal Council1923
CapitalWindow Rock
(Tségháhoodzání)
Subdivisions
5 Agencies
Government
 • BodyNavajo Nation Council
 • PresidentBen Shelly
 • Vice-PresidentRex Lee Jim
Area
 • Total67,000 km2 (26,000 sq mi)
Population
 (2000)CIB holders
 • Total173,987
 • Density2.6/km2 (6.7/sq mi)
Time zoneMT/MDT
Websitewww.navajo.org

The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering 26,000 square miles (67,000 km2), occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. It is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States.

Name

In English, the initial name for the area was "Navajo Indian Reservation" governed since 1923 by the "Navajo Tribal Council." On April 15, 1969, the official name on the seal used by the government was changed to "Navajo Nation," stating that from that day on "all correspondence, stationary, letterheads [...] of the Navajo Tribe use the designation 'Navajo Nation' to locate the tribe."[1] In 1994, a proposal to change the official designation from "Navajo" to "Diné" was rejected by the council, stating that the name "Diné" represented the time of suffering before the Long Walk, and that "Navajo" is the appropriate designation for the future.[2]

In Navajo, the geographic entity with its legally defined borders is known as "Naabeehó Bináhásdzo." This contrasts with "Diné Bikéyah" and "Naabeehó Bikéyah" for the general idea of "Navajoland."[3] More importantly, neither one of these designations should be confused with "Dinétah," the term used for the traditional homeland of the Navajo people, situated in the area between the mountains Dookʼoʼsłííd (San Francisco Peaks), Dibé Ntsaa (Hesperus Mountain), Sisnaajiní (Blanca Peak), and Tsoodził (Mount Taylor).

History

For the history prior to 1868, see Navajo people.
Border changes and expansions of the Navajo Reservation from 1868 to 1934

After the Long Walk and the Navajos' return from their imprisonment in Bosque Redondo, the "Navajo Indian Reservation" was established according to the Treaty of 1868. The borders were defined as the 37th parallel Northern latitude in the North; the southern border as a line running through Fort Defiance; the eastern border as a line running through Fort Lyon; and in the West as longitude 109°30′.[4] Though the treaty had provided for one hundred miles square in the New Mexico Territory, the actual size of the territory was only 3,328,302 acres[4] — slightly more than half. This initial piece of land is represented in the design of the Navajo Nation's flag by a dark-brown rectangle.[5]

However, due to the fact that no physical boundaries or signposts were set in place, a lot of Navajos ignored these formal boundaries and returned to where they had been prior to captivity.[4]

The first expansion of the territory occurred on October 28, 1878, when President Rutherford Hayes signed an executive order pushing the boundary 20 miles to the West.[4] Further additions followed throughout the late 19th and early 20th century (see map). Most of these additions originated in executive orders, some of which were confirmed by acts of Congress; for example, the executive order which added the region around Aneth in 1905 was later confirmed by Congress in 1933.[6]

The history of the Eastern border was mostly shaped by the Dawes Act of 1887. In an attempt to "civilize" Native Americans, the federal government divided selected tribal lands into small parcels (allotments) and promised U.S.-citizenship to those who had been deemed successful at farming the land according to the standards of the time. Unfarmed or "unsuccessfully" farmed parcels were subsequently declared "unclaimed" and auctioned off to Anglo-American settlers. The program continued until 1934. While the Navajo reservation proper was excluded from the act's provisions, the result for the Eastern border was a patchwork of reservation and non-reservation land, known as the "checkerboard" area.[7]

Geography

See also: Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation, and Tohajiilee Indian Reservation
Map showing populated places on the Navajo Nation
Canyon de Chelly

The land area of the Navajo Nation is 24,078.127 square miles (62,362.06 km2), making it by far the largest Indian reservation in the United States. It is almost exactly the same size as the state of West Virginia; it is slightly larger in land area, but slightly smaller if water area is included 24,096.295 square miles (62,409.12 km2).

Adjacent to or near the Navajo Reservation are the Southern Ute of Colorado, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, both to the north; the Jicarilla Apache to the east, and other tribes to the west and south. The Navajo Nation's territory surrounds the Hopi Indian Reservation. A conflict over shared lands emerged in the 1980s, when the Department of the Interior attempted to relocate Diné living in the Navajo/Hopi Joint Use Area. The conflict was resolved, or at least forestalled, by the award of a 75-year lease to Navajos who refused to leave the former shared lands.

Situated within the Navajo Nation are Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Monument Valley, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, and the Shiprock landmark. The eastern portion of the reservation, in New Mexico is popularly called the "Checkerboard" because Navajo lands are mingled with fee lands, owned by both Navajos and non-Navajos, and federal and state lands under various jurisdictions; furthermore, three large non-contiguous sections entirely surrounded by New Mexico are also under Navajo jurisdcition: the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, the Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation, and the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation.

The tribal Trust lands have no private land ownerships, and all Tribal Trust land is owned in common and administered by the Nation's government. On the other hand BIA Indian Allotment lands are privately owned by the heirs and generations of the original BIA Indian Allotee to whom it was issued. With Tribal trust lands, leases are made both to customary land users (for homesites, grazing, and other uses) and organizations, which may include BIA and other federal agencies, churches and other religious organizations, as well as private or commercial businesses.

Daylight Saving Time

The Nation is the only region within the state of Arizona that observes Daylight Saving Time, in view of the fact that parts of the Nation are located within two other states. The remainder of Arizona is the only part of the continental United States that does not change its clocks.[8]

Population

See also: List of communities in the Navajo Nation

Tribal membership and citizenship

Main article: Navajo people

The 2000 census reported 173,987 Navajo citizens, 58.34% of all ethnic Navajos, living on the Navajo Nation's territory.

The Navajo Nation requires a blood quantum of one-quarter for a person, the equivalent of having one of four Diné clans, to be an enrolled tribal member and to receive a Certificate of Indian Blood (CIB). In 2004, the Navajo Nation Council voted down a proposal to reduce the blood quantum to one-eighth, which would have effectively doubled the number of individuals qualified to be enrolled Navajo tribal members.

Minorities

Main articles: Anglo-America, Hopi, and Paiute people

Minorities include Anglo-Americans and Hopis, as well as Piutes around the area of Navajo Mountain, officially recognized as "San Juan" Paiutes since the 1980s.

Administrative divisions

See also: Chapter house (Navajo Nation)

The Navajo Nation is divided into five Agencies, with the seat of government located in the Window Rock/Tségháhoodzání. These agencies are similar to provincial entities and match the five Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agencies. These five Agencies within the Navajo Indian Reservation are Chinle Agency, Eastern Navajo Agency, Western Navajo Agency, Fort Defiance Agency, and Shiprock Agency. The BIA agencies provide various technical services under direction of the BIA's Navajo Area Office in Gallup, New Mexico. Agencies are further divided into Chapters, similar to counties, as the smallest political unit.

Government

As reorganized in 1991, the Nation's government has a three branch system: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.

Navajo Nation Delegation to Utah State Legislature

History

Rejection of Indian Reorganization Act

The Navajo government has refused three times to establish a new government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Members twice rejected constitutional initiatives offered by the federal government in Washington, first in 1935 and again in 1953. An initiative in 1963 failed after some members found the process to be too cumbersome and a potential threat to their self-determination. A constitution was drafted and adopted by the governing council but never ratified by the members. The earlier efforts were rejected primarily because members did not find enough freedom in the proposed forms of government to develop their livestock industries, in 1935, and their mineral resources, in 1953.

Constitution

In 2006, a Committee for a Navajo Constitution started to advocate for a Navajo constitutional convention. The committee's goal is to have representation from every chapter on Navajo Nation represented at a constitution convention. The committee proposes that the convention be held in the traditional na'achid/ modern chapter house manner where every member of the nation wishing to participate, may do so through their home chapters. The committee was formed by three former Navajo Leaders; Kelsey Begaye, Peterson Zah, Peter MacDonald, writer/social activist Ivan Gamble, and other local political activists according to Indian Country Today.[9]

Jurisdiction

The United States still asserts plenary power to require the Navajo Nation to submit all proposed laws to the United States Secretary of the Interior for Secretarial Review, through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most conflicts and controversies between the federal government and the Nation are settled by negotiation and by political agreements. Laws of the Navajo Nation are currently codified in the Navajo Nation Code.

Lands within the exterior boundaries of The Navajo Nation are composed of Public, Tribal Trust, Tribal Fee, BLM, Private, State, and BIA Indian Allotment Lands. On the Arizona and Utah portion of the Navajo Nation, there are a few private and BIA Indian Allotments in comparison to New Mexico's portion which consists of a checkerboard pattern of all the lands fore mentioned. The Eastern Agency, as it is referred to, consists of primarily Tribal Fee, BIA Indian Allotments, and BLM Lands. Although there are more Tribal Fee Lands in New Mexico, It is the intention of the Navajo Nation to convert most or all Tribal Fee Lands to Tribal Trust.

Legislative

Main article: Navajo Nation Council
See also: Chapter house (Navajo Nation)
Navajo Nation Elections
Background
Presidential elections
Presidents and Vice Presidents
Navajo Nation Council Chamber, a National Historic Landmark

Navajo Nation Council, formerly the Navajo Tribal Council, is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation. As of 2010, the Navajo Nation Council consists of 24 delegates representing the 110 Chapters, elected every four years by registered Navajo voters. Prior to the November 2010 election, the Navajo Nation Council consisted of 88 representatives. Navajos made the change in an effort to have a more efficient government and to curb rampant tribal government corruption.[10]

Probe of Tribal Council

In October 2010, 77 current delegates to the 88-member Navajo Nation Council were charged with offenses including theft and fraud in the use of tribal slush funds just weeks before the 2010 November election. Not guilty was what the Councilmen charged pleaded, to those tribal charges of fraud, conspiracy and theft.[11]

Judiciary

See also: Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation

Prior to the Long Walk of the Navajo, Navajo judicial powers were exercised by peace chiefs (Hózhǫ́ǫ́jí Naatʼá) in a mediation style process.[12] At Bosque Redondo, severe crimes were handled by the U.S. Army, while lesser crimes and disputes remained in the purview the villages chiefs. After the return from Bosque Redondo in 1868, listed offenses were handled by the Indian Agent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs with the support of the U.S. Army, while lesser disputes remained under Navajo control.

In 1892, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agent, David L. Shipley, established the Navajo Court of Indian Offenses, and appointed the judges thereto.[13] Prior to that judicial authority had been exercised by the Indian Agent.[13]

In 1950 the Navajo Tribal Council decided that judges should be elected; however, by the time of the judicial reorganization of 1958, the problems with delayed decisions and partisan politics convinced the Council that appointment was a better method of selecting judges.[14] Appointments are made by the president subject to confirmation by the Navajo Nation Council; however, the president is limited to the list of names vetted by the Judiciary Committee of the Council.[15]

The current judicial system for the Navajo Nation was created by the Navajo Tribal Council on 16 October 1958, with establishment of a separate branch of government, the "Judicial Branch of the Navajo Nation Government", which became effective 1 April 1959.[16] The Navajo Court of Indian Offenses was eliminated; however, the sitting judges became judges in the new system. The resolution established "Trial Courts of the Navajo Tribe" and the "Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals", which was the highest court and the only appellate court. In 1978 the Navajo Tribal Council established a "Supreme Judicial Council", a political body rather than a court, which, on a discretionary basis, could hear appeals from the Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals.[17] Subsequently, the Supreme Judicial Council was criticized as bringing politics directly into the judicial system and thereby undermining impartiality, fairness and equal protection.[18]

In December 1985, the Navajo Tribal Council passed the Judicial Reform Act of 1985, which eliminated the Supreme Judicial Council, redenominated the "Navajo Tribal Court of Appeals" as the "Navajo Nation Supreme Court", and redenominated the "Trial Courts of the Navajo Tribe" as "District Courts of the Navajo Nation".[19]

Navajo courts are governed by Title 7, "Courts and Procedures", of the Navajo Tribal Code.[19] From 1988 to 2006 there were seven judicial districts and two satellite courts. As of 2010, there are ten judicial districts, centered respectively in Alamo (Alamo/Tó'hajiilee), Aneth, Chinle, Crownpoint, Dilkon, Kayenta, Ramah, Shiprock, Tuba City and Window Rock.[20] All of the districts also have family courts, which have jurisdiction over domestic relations, civil relief in domestic violence, children both custody and protection, name changes, quiet title and probate. As of 2010, there were seventeen trial judges presiding in the Navajo district and family courts.[21]

Executive

The Navajo nation is governed by a president elected every four years.

Law enforcement

Main article: Navajo Nation Police
File:Nn131.jpg
Navajo Police Chevy Tahoe

Local and federal law enforcement agencies that routinely work within the Navajo Nation include the Navajo Division of Public Safety, with the Navajo Nation Police (formerly the "Navajo Tribal Police"), Navajo Nation Resource Enforcement (Navajo Rangers, the BIA Police (Ute Mountain Agency, Hopi Agency, and Division of Drug Enforcement), Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife - Wildlife Law Enforcement and Animal Control Sections, Nation Nation Forestry Law Enforcement Officers, Nation Nation EPA Criminal Enforcement Section, Apache County Sheriff's Office, McKinley County Sheriff's Office, US Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Navajo governing council continues a historical practice of prohibiting alcohol sales within reservation boundaries. Leaders and some member groups actively oppose the sale of alcohol, and have taken several measures to find and offer treatment for those members who are suffering from alcoholism.

Government issues

Northern Navajo Fair Shiprock, New Mexico (2009)

Wage employment opportunities, public schools, hospitals, and public utilities have brought Navajo people in larger and larger numbers to urban centers such as Shiprock, Tuba City, Ganado, Fort Defiance and Gallup. A strong sense of tribal identity has kept Navajo culture and social cohesiveness intact, despite the many changes of the last century.

The Navajo Nation works to provide new business opportunities and partnerships with individuals, small business owners, and large commercial/industrial and tourism establishments. In order to become more efficient and accessible, the Navajo Nation is working to upgrade and implement its programs to benefit these burgeoning business relationships.

Opportunities for starting or expanding businesses on the Navajo Nation are not limited to members of the tribe. The Navajo Nation is currently recruiting outside private commercial/industrial and tourism development.

In recent years, the Division of Economic Development (DED) completed a range of developments including the completion of Phase I, Karigan Estates. The development plan included housing for middle- to high-income Navajo families, an office building complex, a restaurant, a commercial area and a day care center.

Economy

In recent historical times, the Navajo economy was based on sheep and cattle herding, wool and yarn production, blanket and rug production, and turquoise and silver jewelry making. More recently additional arts such as sand painting, feather work, pottery and others have been added. Mining, especially of coal and uranium provided significant income to the tribe in the second half of the 20th century, but the uranium market slowed near the end of that period, and the volume of coal mined has declined in the early 21st century. The Navajo Nation's extensive mineral resources[22] are among the most valuable held by Native American nations within the United States.[23]

One important business within the reservation is the operation of handmade arts and crafts shops. A 2004 study by the Navajo Division of Economic Development found that at least 60 percent of all families have at least one member working in this line.[citation needed]

File:Rezbizfirst.jpg
The first issue of Rez Biz magazine.

Navajos work at stores and other businesses on the reservation or in nearby towns, and the Navajo government employs thousands in civil service and administrative jobs.

Until 2004, the Navajo Nation declined to join other Native American nations within the United States in opening a gambling casino. That year, the nation signed a compact with New Mexico to operate a casino at To'hajiilee, near Albuquerque. Navajo leaders also negotiated with Arizona officials for casinos near Flagstaff, Lake Powell, Winslow, Sanders (Nahata Dziil Chapter), and Cameron (the Grand Canyon entrance).

Dine Development Corporation was formed in 2004 to promote Navajo business and seek viable business development.[24]

The Black Mesa and Lake Powell railroad serves one of the coal mines in the Diné region, carrying coal to the Navajo Generating Station at Page, Arizona. Another mine in the area, Peabody Energy's Black Mesa coal mine near Kayenta, a controversial strip mine, was shut down on December 31, 2005 for its emission credits. This mine had fed the Mohave Power Station at Laughlin, Nevada, via a slurry pipeline that used water from the Black Mesa aquifer.

In early 2008, the Navajo Nation and Boston-based Citizens Energy Corp. reached a deal to build a 500-megawatt wind farm some 50 miles (80 km) north of Flagstaff, AZ. Known as the Diné Wind Project, it will be the first commercial wind farm in Arizona. However disagreement between the central Navajo government and the local Cameron Chapter have led to confusion as to whether Citizens Energy or another company vetted by the local government will be able to develop on the chapter land.[25]

The unemployment level fluctuates between an overall 40 and 45 percent for the nation of reported taxed income, but in some communities it can go as high as 85 percent or as low as 15 percent.[26]

Utah Dineh Corporation Inc

The Utah Diné Corporation is a Nonprofit organization which was established in order to maintain the Utah Navajo Oil Reserve revenues in the Aneth Oil Field section of Utah. Much of this area is within the Utah Navajo side of San Juan County, Utah.

The Special Trustee for American Indians testified to the House Committee on Natural Resources and stated that his office did not have the capacity to administer the Utah Navajo Trust Fund in a manner required by the 1933 Act.

Therefore, the inception of the Utah Diné Corp. was establish in order to maintain the Utah Navajo Oil Royalties once Senate Bill 1690 is a bill was proposed and sponsored by US Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT). It was to amend the Act of March 1, 1933, to transfer certain authority and resources to the Utah Diné Corporation, and for other purposes. [27]

At this time, the Navajo Nation does not tax corporate income, inventories, and personal income. Additionally, the Nation does not have property or unemployment tax (although this is subject to change).

In general, taxation on the Navajo Nation is lower in comparison to other places in the United States. This is particularly true for businesses which are newly established or which have expanded their operation onto the Navajo Nation. There are a number of federal and state tax incentives currently in place.

Currently, The Navajo Nation charges a 4 percent tax on all retail sales, all local business on the Navajo Nation pay this amount.[28]

Housing and transportation

Currently, Navajo Housing Authority, the tribally designated housing entity for the Navajo Nation, has begun construction of new homes on the Navajo Nation with new materials which are more cost-effective and less prone to fire damage. Among the six agencies of the Navajo Nation, NHA housing developments exist. There is also the option for many families to build scattered-site homes on their traditional homesite lease.

"Hooghan," means the home for Navajos and it is the center of learning, and the traditional style of home of the Navajo is the hogan. Most modern housing in the Navajo Nation is detached single-family homes and mobile homes. Most homes in the Navajo Nation were built in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, although older built homes do exist. Single-family homes are mostly rural-styled homes constructed of wood. Because many homes do not have access to natural gas and electricity, most homes use wood or propane for heat and cooking. Due to the reservation's remote geographic location, many structures do not have telephone or public utility services and lack complete kitchen or plumbing facilities. However, infrastructure development has grown significantly through the years, affording Navajo families the modern conveniences of DSL, satellite television and even wireless access in some communities. The government subsidized phone program has brought even the most remote locations of the reservation in contact with the rest of the Navajo Nation.

Roads within the reservation vary in condition. Most federally operated U.S. highways are in excellent condition year-round and are suitable for vehicles of any size. Roads are generally unpaved in many rural areas and small villages. In the central parts of the Navajo Nation, near the Black Mesa (Arizona), roads are often only poorly maintained, and are sometimes in nearly unusable condition after very heavy rains. In general, except for the most remote regions, road conditions in the Navajo Nation are usually acceptable for routine use.

Education

Navajo girl, Canyon de Chelly, 1941. Photo by Ansel Adams

Historically the Navajo Nation resisted compulsory education, including boarding schools, as imposed by General Richard Henry Pratt.[29]

Nowadays, education, and the retention of students in all school systems, is a significant priority. A major problem faced by the nation is a very high drop-out rate among high school students. Over 150 public, private and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools serve students from kindergarten through high school. Most schools receive funding from the Navajo Nation under the Johnson O’Malley program.

The Nation also runs a local Head Start, the only educational program operated by the Navajo Nation government. Post-secondary education and vocational training are available on and off the reservation. Kurt Caswell, a well known writer and professor at Texas Tech University, taught at Borrego Pass School on the Navajo Reservation and wrote a novel called In the Sun's House: My Year on the Navajo Reservation (Trinity University Press, 2009) which talks about his life changing experiences there.

Since these drop out rates are high among the Navajo Nation, programs such as the Literacy is Empowering Project help combat these problems. It is a non-profit project which promotes literacy and pre-reading skills for Native children to increase standard academic language.[30]

The Navajo Nation Board of Education is an 11 member board instructed to oversee the operations of schools on the Navajo Nation and exercise regulatory functions and duties over education programs on the Navajo Nation. It was established by the Navajo Nation education code, Title 10 which was enacted in July 2005 by Navajo Nation Council.[31]

The board acts to promote the goals of the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act of 2005 which include the establishment and management of a Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education, to confirm the commitment of the Navajo Nation to the education of the Navajo People, to repeal obsolete language and to update and reorganize the existing language of Titles 10 and 2 of the Navajo Nation Code.

It is the educational mission of the Navajo Nation to promote and foster lifelong learning for the Navajo people, and to protect the culture integrity and sovereignty of the Navajo Nation. A Navajo Nation Board of Education meeting is scheduled the first Friday of every month.

Secondary education

There are six types of secondary establishments, including:

Main article: Navajo Preparatory School

Navajo Preparatory School is the only Navajo-sanctioned, college-preparatory school for Native Americans. Its goals are to offer students a challenging, innovative curriculum in science, math, computers, and other traditional academic subjects, as well as help the youth gain a deep appreciation of the Navajo Language, culture, and history.[32]

Located in Farmington, New Mexico, a few miles outside the Navajo reservation, Navajo Preparatory School's mission is: "To educate talented and motivated college-bound Navajo and other Native American youth who have the potential to succeed in higher education and become leaders in their respective communities."

Diné College

Main article: Diné College

The Navajo Nation operates Diné College, a two-year community college which has its main campus in Tsaile in Apache County, as well as seven other campuses on the reservation. Current enrollment is 1,830 students, of which 210 are degree-seeking transfer students for four-year institutions. The college includes the Center for Diné Studies, whose goal is to apply Navajo Sa'ah Naagháí Bik'eh Hózhóón principles to advance quality student learning through Nitsáhákees (thinking), Nahat'á (planning), Iiná (living), and Siihasin (assurance) in study of the Diné language, history, and culture in preparation for further studies and employment in a multi-cultural and technological world.

Health

For a people that historically had almost no cases, currently several types of cancer are in evidence at rates higher than the national average on the Four Corners Navajo Reservation. (Raloff, 2004) Especially high are the rates of reproductive-organ cancers in teenage Navajo girls, averaging seventeen times higher than the average of girls in the United States.

Navajo woman & child

It has been suspected that uranium mines, both active and abandoned, have released dust into the surrounding air and the water supply. Studies done on mice, exposing them to a soluble form of uranium similar to what might enter groundwater from the mines, showed heavy increases in estrogen levels which might explain the increased cancer levels among Navajo girls. The amount of uranium given to the mice was half the level permitted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and one-tenth the level found in some wells on the Navajo reservation.

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem among the Navajo, Hopi and Pima tribes, about four times higher than the age-standardized U.S. estimate. Medical researchers believe increased consumption of carbohydrates, coupled with genetic factors, play significant roles in the emergence of this chronic disease.[33]

One in every 2,500 children in the Navajo population inherits Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a condition that endows the children with virtually no immune system. In the general population the genetic disorder is much more rare, affecting one in 100,000 children. The disorder is sometimes known as "bubble boy disease." This condition is a significant cause of illness and death among Navajo children. Research reveals a similar genetic pattern among the related Apache people. In a December 2007 Associated Press article, Mortan Cowan, M.D., director of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program at the University of California-San Fransciso, noted that although researchers have identified about a dozen genes that cause SCID, the Navajo/Apache population has the most severe form of the disorder. This is due to the lack of a gene designated "Artemis." Without the gene, children's bodies are unable to repair DNA or develop disease-fighting cells. (Fonseca, Salt Lake Tribune, B10)

Effects of uranium-mining

See also: Uranium mining and the Navajo people and Church Rock uranium mill spill

From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled and blasted from the mountains and plains. The mines provided uranium for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret effort to develop an atomic bomb, and for the weapons stockpile built up during the arms race with the Soviet Union.[34]

Private companies operated the mines with the U.S. government as the sole customer. The boom lasted through the early 1960s. As the threat of the Cold War gradually diminished over the next two decades, four processing mills and more than 1,000 mines on tribal land shut down, leaving behind radioactive waste piles, open tunnels and pits. Few bothered to fence the properties or post warning signs. Federal inspectors seldom intervened.[34]

Over the decades, Navajos residing in the area inhaled radioactive dust from the waste piles, borne aloft by desert winds. They drank water contaminated from rain filled abandoned pit mines. They watered their herds, then butchered the animals and ate the meat.[35]

The uranium miners of the West, many of whom were Navajo, had their health compromised by the U.S. nuclear weapons program. According to epidemiologist David Michaels, the Atomic Energy Commission knew that miners on the Colorado Plateau received some of the highest doses of radon (a radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil and rock) ever recorded.[36] Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior, documented the complicity of the AEC and the U.S. Public Health Service in allowing thousands of miners to work in an environment so full of radon that a sizeable proportion of workers would eventually develop lung cancer. The AEC successfully opposed several court cases relating to this issue.[36]

Despite efforts made in cleaning up uranium sites, significant problems stemming from the legacy of uranium development still exist today on the Navajo Nation in the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Hundreds of abandoned mines have not been cleaned up and present environmental and health risks in many Navajo communities.[34] At the request of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in October 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Indian Health Service (IHS), developed a coordinated Five-Year Plan to address uranium contamination in consultation with Navajo Nation EPA.[37]

In addition, Navajo communities now have to face proposed new uranium solution mining that threatens the only source of drinking water for 10,000 to 15,000 people living in the Eastern Navajo Agency in northwestern New Mexico. The Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) aims to provide the public with information on resource exploitation on the people and their cultures, lands, water, and air of the American Southwest.[38]

Notable Navajo politicians

See also

References

  1. ^ Wilkins, David Eugene. The Navajo political experience. Diné College Pres. Tsaile/Tséhílį́: 1999. page 3.
  2. ^ Navajo oppose name change. in Indian Country Today. January 12, 1994.
  3. ^ Young, Robert W & William Morgan, Sr. The Navajo Language. A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, NM: 1987.
  4. ^ a b c d Iverson, Peter & Monty Roessel. Diné: a history of the Navajos. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, NM: 2002. page 68ff.
  5. ^ History. Government of the Navajo Nation. Accessed 2010-11-05.
  6. ^ Hubbell Trading Post. Site History. nps.gov. Accessed 2010-11-05.
  7. ^ Wilkins, David Eugene. The Navajo political experience. Diné College Pres. Tsaile/Tséhílį́: 1999. page 58.
  8. ^ Arizona Time Zone
  9. ^ Lee, Tanya. Navajo group begins process of crafting a constitution Indian Country Today. 19 June 2006 (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
  10. ^ Majority of Diné vote for 24-member council, line-item veto for president – The Navajo Times Online
  11. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/29/navajo-lawmakers-turn-to-prayer-amid-investigation/ Navajo lawmakers turn to prayer amid investigation
  12. ^ Yazzie, Robert (11 February 2003) "History of the Courts of the Navajo Nation" Navajo Nation Museum, Library & Visitor Center, archived 3 November 2010 at FreezePage
  13. ^ a b Austin, Raymond Darrel (2009) "The Navajo Nation court system" pp. 1&ndash36, page 21 In Austin, Raymond Darrel (2009) Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law: A Tradition of Tribal Self-Governance University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, ISBN 978-0-8166-6535-8
  14. ^ "Former justice, legal historian lists problems with electing judges" Navajo Times 29 October 2010, last accessed 3 November 2010
  15. ^ French, Laurence (2002) Native American Justice Burnham, Chicago, page 151, ISBN 0-8304-1575-0
  16. ^ Navajo Tribal Council Resolution No. CO-69-58 (16 October 1958)
  17. ^ Navajo Tribal Council Resolution No. CMY-39-78 (4 May 1978)
  18. ^ Advisory Committee of the Navajo Tribal Council (9 November 1983) "Recommedning the Rescission and Repeal of Resolution CMY-39-78, Which Established the Supreme Judicial Council, and Revocation of Any Inconsistent Authority" available as an attachment to Navajo Tribal Council Resolution CD-94-85
  19. ^ a b Navajo Tribal Council Resolution No. CD-94-85 (4 December 1985)
  20. ^ "Judicial Districts of the Navajo Nation" Navajo Courts webpage, 29 May 2010, last accessed 3 November 2010
  21. ^ "Courts of the Navajo Nation in the Navajo Nation Government: A Public Guide to the Courts of the Navajo Nation" revised January 2010, archived 3 November 2010 at FreezePage
  22. ^ See the three volumes produced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs 1955-1956: Kiersch, George A. (1956) Mineral resources, Navajo-Hopi Indian Reservations, Arizona-Utah: geology, evaluation, and uses volumes 1-3, United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona, OCLC 123188599
  23. ^ Triefeldt, Laurie (2007) "The Navajo" People & Places Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press, Sanger, California, page 62, ISBN 978-1-884956-71-3
  24. ^ "Diné Development Corporation", retrieved 5 Oct 2009
  25. ^ "Rez ready to develop wind power" by Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press, March 28, 2008|150px|
  26. ^ "Navajo Division of Economic Development". Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  27. ^ http://indian.senate.gov/public/_files/BENNETTstatement.pdf Statement by Senator Robert F. Bennett before the Committee on Indian Affairs
  28. ^ "Navajo Nation sales tax to rise one percent on July 1." The Navajo Nation: Office of the President and Vice President. 30 March 2007 (retrieved 15 Jan 2009)
  29. ^ Removing Classrooms from the Battlefield: Liberty, Paternalism, and the Redemptive Promise of Educational Choice, 2008 BYU Law Review 377 The Navajo and Richard Henry Pratt
  30. ^ http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/may/051005fun.html "Reading is fun! Miss Utah Navajo starts book drive" (2005)
  31. ^ http://www.dineeducation.navajo.org/Board%20of%20Education.htm DEPARTMENT OF DINÉ EDUCATION NAVAJO NATION BOARD OF EDUCATION
  32. ^ Navajo Preparatory School
  33. ^ American Indians and Alaska Natives and Diabetes. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.
  34. ^ a b c Pasternak, Judy. "A peril that dwelt among the Navajos." Los Angeles Times. 19 Nov 2006 (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
  35. ^ Raloff, Janet. Uranium, the newest 'hormone'. Science News. Vol. 166, #20. 13 Nov 2004 (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
  36. ^ a b David Michaels (2008). Doubt is Their Product, Oxford University Press, pp. 219-220.
  37. ^ "Summit to address uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation." US Environmental Protection Agency. 13 Aug 2008 (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)
  38. ^ "Environmental Impacts on the Navajo Nation from Uranium Mining." Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. (retrieved 5 Oct 2009)

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