Column | Diné law must guide reform
Diné law must guide reform
By Avery Denny and Leland Grass
Editor’s note: Avery Denny is the president of the Diné Hataałii Association Inc. Leland Grass is the president of the Diné Medicine Men Association Inc.
We are the spokespersons for the Diné Hataałii Association Inc. and the Diné Medicine Men Association Inc., respectively. Both organizations met on Sunday, May 17, 2026, to review the Navajo Government Development Commission government reform proposal titled “Diyin Nohookáá Diné’é Bi Beehaz’aanii Bitsí Siléi Sa’ah Nagháí Bik’eh Hózhóón – Collective Will.”
The proposal’s title is a misuse of our sacred language. We found the proposal to be totally devoid of the values and principles underlying Diné traditional fundamental law. Instead, we find that it contains provisions that are counterproductive to the preservation of the Navajo Nation and the Diné culture and traditions. The use of these sacred words to hide the harmful effects of this proposal must not be tolerated. Several other sections in the body of the document misuse Diné terms, but more importantly, the misuse reflects not only a misunderstanding of Diné fundamental law, our foundational law, our culture and traditions, but an effort to deceive those who may not be fully fluent in our Diné language.
Therefore, we reject the proposal and request that the Navajo Nation Elections Office and the Navajo Nation Council not allow it to advance to a referendum.
The Diné have always been governed by peers elected for their demonstrated skills in governance and dispute resolution, the respect they have earned from community members and their integrity. While some of our elected officials have proven not to be worthy of our respect, the idea that key decisions are made by those persons the community chose as leaders is fundamental. This proposal includes a fourth branch of government that has powers to overrule our elected officials. Those powers are granted to people who are not elected and have no apparent mechanism for accountability. This is absolutely contrary to millennia of cultural history and is unacceptable.
The proposal does nothing to counteract the harms caused by the imposition upon our people of a government, which is a copy of United States federal and state governments. Diné government reform should advance our traditions and culture, and by doing so preserve our identity as a sovereign nation. Instead, this proposal takes many steps further away from that. For example, the proposal includes provisions that would transfer our tribe’s collectively owned businesses (tribal enterprises) into private ownership, along with encouraging private ownership of land that is now held for the benefit of all. These actions are simply wrong.
Investor “rights” do not belong in any reform of our government. Foreign companies with investment money must never be empowered to supersede our own inherent right to regulate the use of our lands. Additionally, extraction industries should not be encouraged. We must learn from the contamination, pollution and degradation of our sacred land, air, water, plants, animals, and the health and wellbeing of our people that occurred because of extraction industries. Exploiters came and took our natural resources and left us with sickness and damage. We cannot encourage more of this devastating behavior. Our water is vital to our sustainability as a people. We should not allow our sacred water to be exploited, depleted, or contaminated for harmful industries.
There is already much criticism in our communities of how the Diné public has not been included in the development of NGDC’s proposal. Additionally, Office of Navajo Government Development Commission presentations do not inform nor educate the Diné. The ONGDC team managing this process is obviously intent on pushing this proposal regardless of the significant gaps in cultural and traditional voices.
We find that the Diné must unite in developing an alternative to what is being processed by ONGDC. We find that we must assist in the development of a government, which truly reflects the traditional laws and values of our Diné Way of Life. We, through our two associations, will work with those who believe that it is time to develop and implement a government created by the people themselves, according to our own traditional values.
Any research or amendments on the Diné Fundamental Law must report to Diné traditional medicine – peoples and philosophers. The associations are the sole Diné traditional practitioners and philosophers who must be included and provide approval in their medicine and healing areas. It is our inherent right and responsibility to uphold the Nihookáá’ Diyin Dine’é natural law and work to protect the Nihookáá’ Diyin Dine’é sacred holy natural cycle of life. The associations are the sole authority on our Diné Lifeway, not the government.
We must not continue to live under a government that we did not create. To assist in the development of this alternative, we recommend a title that properly uses our language and will serve as a guide in our historic effort. The title we suggest is: “Nihookáá’ Diyin Dine’é Binaachidí Nahat’á Nááhiil’naah Dóó Bindii’a’ Íishjáni Ánálnééh.”
Our two associations intend to work together to do comprehensive community outreach to obtain input from all relevant voices. We encourage you to work with us to accomplish what has been desired by the Diné for so long. To work with us, as caretakers of Mother Earth, to uphold the Nihookáá Diyin Dine’é natural law as a foundation for all decision-making, from this point forward. We are sending a clear message to the people of the Navajo Nation, including public and private institutions, and most of all, the Navajo tribal government.
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