Atrocity of relocation

Atrocity of relocation

By Dr. Patricia Nez Henderson

Editor’s note: Dr. Patricia Nez Henderson, Diné, is a senior scientist at the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health, a nonprofit, in Rapid City, South Dakota. She was raised in Teesto, Arizona.

Nearly 40 years ago we suffered the horrible atrocity of relocation.

As I was entering school at the University of Arizona, all the government relocation activities back home were taking place. Families were moving, government workers were building a dividing fence, and federal agents and law enforcement were monitoring all activity. Many people were arrested and incarcerated.

Then came the day when I watched in anguish the suffering of my parents as they were told by the government to leave. Relocation was the word they used. Everything that was ours – our home, storage houses, corrals, the land we use for grazing – was taken away. The government even came in loaded our livestock in trailers and hauled them away. My family was forced to go to some place that was not ours. Our relatives from a few miles away made room for us to build a new home.

I received letters from the Office of Navajo Hopi Indian Relocation. There was no alternative but to accept the relocation benefits package. Payments ranged from $2,000.00 to $5,000.00. A replacement house was also provided, but it was not a home.

Many families were torn apart. Some families refused to leave their homeland. Other families moved to places like Flagstaff and lost their home. Some accepted a relocation track house at Nahata Dziil, known as New Lands.

In the 1974, law that took our home and our livelihood, there was only one inclusion that provided healthcare for the anguish that accompanied the effects of the law. That provision was a health facility to be built on the settling land, Nahata Dziil. Today, there is a single out-patient facility.

I have lost many family members to sicknesses. My father’s life was shortened, from a terminal illness I believe was brought on by relocation.

There has been no Health Impact Study for individuals and family members who were relocated. Many illnesses have occurred among those who were relocated. Many of those illnesses are terminal or have long term consequences. Relocatees suffer from physical, emotional, and mental trauma. There are innumerous sufferings from forced detachment from home and land where families for generations have depended on the natural environment for healing ceremonies. These are assaults on our spiritual way of life. None of this was taken into consideration during relocation. The replacement home was merely a house, vastly unequal to all the value of our homestead, a few thousand dollars, and promises for new development.

Two weeks ago we gathered at a Relocation Summit hosted by the Nahata Dziil Commission Governance. Many shared their personal story. Others who attended had not seen each other since the period of relocation. It was a reunion in many respects. Three members of the Navajo Nation Council attended. Two of them were on the program: Otto Tso and Vince R. James. Curtis Yanito was the third member. We are thankful for these Council Delegates who invested their time.

It is vital for the leadership of the Navajo Nation to elevate the path of destruction of lives, health, and all disparities caused and perpetuated by relocation that the government has ignored.

We can begin with a Health Impact Study led by scientists, physicians, epidemiologists, and traditional healers. From the comprehensive study we can make determinations, assessments, and put together a master plan to institute a long-term wellness center.

This requires a united voice of elected leaders, officials, experts, local leaders, community members, and every Navajo voice. Justice is needed for the thousands who suffered from government actions. This is only the beginning.
I call on President Buu Nygren, Vice President Richelle Montoya, Speaker Crystalyne Curley, and members of the Navajo Nation Council to act today in bringing equity for 40 years of devastation.

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