50 years ago: Times thrown out of Nakai rally

The big news this week 50 years ago centered around the Navajo Times and a decision by Two Gray Hills Chapter officials and the Nakai Administration to throw a Times reporter out of a rally being sponsored for Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai.

It was no secret that Nakai didn’t like the Navajo Times. He had complained numerous times that the paper was promoting his challenger Sam Billison by putting articles on the front page from Billison saying all kinds of lie about Nakai and his administration.

When these accusations first came out, the management of theTimes, on the front page of the paper, explained that Billison was a great deal more media savvy than Nakai and would put out two or three statements a week. He was also always available for an interview.

Nakai, on the other hand, would put out no statements, would not allow anyone to interview him and for some strange reason, refused to make public the times and locations of his rallies, making it almost impossible for the paper to cover him.

So somehow the Times learned that Nakai was having a rally at the Two Grey Hills Chapter and assigned a non-Indian reporter to cover it.

The paper doesn’t say who the reporter was but before he was kicked out of the rally, he reported that Taylor Dixon, the chapter’s president, was seen whispering with Navajo Vice-Chairman Nelson Damon and looking in the reporter’s direction.

After that conversation, Dixon announced that the rally was closed to all non-Indians. The paper said there were only two non-Indians in attendance — the Times reporter and a missionary — so it was obvious whom Dixon was targeting.

To make it even more clear, Dixon came over to the Times reporter and told him: “We don’t want you coming here and taking this back to Window Rock. We don’t want spies.”

What’s somewhat ironic is that while chapter officials did not want what they said in the paper for fear it could be used against them by Billison, it was no secret that Billison had a group of his own spies that attended every rally and chapter meeting that Nakai or any of his top people attended.

So throwing out the Times wouldn’t keep what was said at the meeting secret.

Another point: When he was elected, Nakai promised to be the most open tribal leader in the tribe’s history.

On July 27, 1964, he even issued a statement titled “Freedom of the Press” in which he pointed out the nation’s long history of promoting freedom of the press.

“We, here on the Navajo Reservation, also believe in freedom of the press. We recognize the responsibility of the press to report all matters of interest to the Navajo people,” the statement read.

With that being said, he issued an order at that time for all tribal officials “to provide the press with full information concerning all divisions and department activities, plans, programs and achievements.”

Once thrown out of the Nakai rally, the reporter headed to Crownpoint where a rally was being held by Paul Jones, the vice-chairman candidate under Billison. He was welcomed at that rally.

The Times began something that week that it would do off and on for the next several years — it told its readers about the bravery of Navajos in the Vietnam War.

This week’s account was about Marine Pfc. Vincent Alfonso who was from Newcomb, New Mexico.

A few months back, during Operation Hastings some six miles from the DMZ zone, Alfonso had saved the lives of four of his fellow Marines.

His squad — “A” Company, Third Marine Division — was holding off a Viet Cong ambush and had begun to better position itself to fight the enemy. Most of the squad had withdrawn to find a better spot to fight but four were unable to follow because every time they would try to join the rest of he squad, the VC would open up with their automatic weapons.

“Seeing their plight, the young Navajo Indian without thinking grabbed his machine gun, inserted a fresh belt of ammo and climbed up to the top of the small rise which served as cover.

“Here, with a fellow Marine bracing him from the rear, he fired long bursts from the hip into the enemy position,” the paper said.

He was able to pin down the enemy, giving his fellow Marines a chance to get back to the rest of their unit.

Alfonso and his fellow Marines killed 30 VCs that day, the paper said, while no Marines were injured.

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