Letters: Looking for long-lost half-sister

My name is Richard Keams and I live in Choctaw, Mississippi, with my family. I am married to a Choctaw Indian and have lived out here for over 40 years.

I am seeking my half-sister whom I have never met. I was told about her existence a year or two ago and I have been wanting to find out more. I don’t have much information to go on. I was told she lived in the Crownpoint area. Her name is Marion Barton, daughter of the late Billy Barton from Castle Butte, Arizona. I don’t know anything about the maternal side of the family. I feel strongly about finding more about her and meeting her. I am getting older and I am very interested in this quest.

Sis, if you read this, please call and let’s meet. My phone number is 601-504-4869.

Richard Keams
Choctaw, Miss.

Beware of this dangerous man, the President

I would like to take this opportunity to comment on how President Donald Trump is trying to lead us into communism by his dictator type of leadership. In particular, I would like to address how he is issuing executive orders – right or wrong on certain issues such as immigration, which is a hot topic under his administration.

First of all, I’m thinking the 2016 presidential election has brought back Adolph Hitler in the form of Donald Trump. The immigration officials are going insane rounding up undocumented immigrants and deporting them. How insane his tactics are getting is a major concern.

At first he said only immigrants with major criminal records would be targeted. However, that turned out to be false because immigrants with traffic tickets and minor violations have been deported. It raises a human rights concern.

Dangerous criminals have been among us for a long time and the worst ones have been Caucasians in the past like George Custer at Little Bighorn. Why do you think the lives of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King were short-lived?

Unfortunately, some of our Native people and other groups of minorities learn these criminal ways from them like it’s OK to kill.

Immigration is nothing new from the Native people’s perspective. It existed for more than 400 years, ever since the day Christopher Columbus trespassed onto our Native land and called it the New World. It was not new at all because the Native people were here first and the Creator knows it.

The foremost concern is the way the Immigration have detained the wife and son of former boxing legend Muhammad Ali in Florida, after their return home from Jamaica. It would not be surprising if former president Barrack Obama were detained due to past accusations of being Muslim.

The other issue of concern is what the President has up his sleeve in regards to Native tribes. I highly suspect the President will attempt to wipe out the Indian treaties with the U.S. government. Beware of this dangerous man.

Additionally, he is threatening to wipe out Social Security and Medicare that currently serve millions of people. Included is the entitlement programs like the BIA and Indian Health Service. How naïve, heartless, and hateful is this man?

The bottom line here is business and politics is like trying to mix water and oil, they don’t. It seems like all President Trump wants to do is get himself and his cabinet members wealthier. They are all millionaires and billionaires.

What is this world coming to?

As a cautionary advice to the President, your land lease with the Native people is four centuries past due. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to express these concerns.

Vern Charleston
Farmington, N.M.

I am Diné and have been for 73 years

Shi ei Diyin Bizaad wooshdlaa. Ei baa Ecclesiastes 1:9 diishji shichi yalti: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun.”

I am sure my old friend, James Peshlakai, who passed on Feb. 4 would agree with King Solomon who wrote those words almost 3,000 years ago. Hatalii Peshlakai was trained as a Diné medicine man — as was my father — who in his late 20s became a believer in Jesus Christ and His Holy Word. Hatalii Peshlakai knew my father when he (father) was president of Tuba City Chapter in the late 1980s.

What is the basis for what has been transpiring for the past month or so and clearly transcribed (Navajo Times) in the media debate between the Diné Nation president/vice president’s executive administrative office and the legislative office of Speaker of the Diné Nation Council? Words pointed in opposite directions equal argument/often nasty debate.

Debates are OK for the sports arena — those debates are generally settled within a few seconds/minutes because of the recognized established rules. What is happening in Window Rock is the same old, same old, which has always been the way the Diné Nation has done “the Diné Nation’s governmental business” — just as King Solomon wrote — nothing new under the sun. The old “rule by resolution” has been replaced by “rule by initiative.” The same old “pass the resolution/initiative before lunch and rescind the same resolution/initiative right after lunch” trick. But as always, there is nothing solid on which to base such decision-making antics. Result: a weak Diné Nation because there is nothing on which sovereignty can be based.

Haadish ei Saad bitse silei? Where is the foundation for the spoken word(s)? The Saad bitse silei that is missing is called the Diné Nation Constitution.

Presently, our Diné Nation is in the process of officially and permanently shelving the old obscure and meaningless name, Navajo. My suggestion is to also permanently shelve use of the Navajo font and recognize our new name as Diné, which every computer in the world can be used to type. As for me, I’m absolutely ashamed to be associated with the racist term Navajo. Why? I’m Diné and have been for almost 73 years.

Tacheeni Scott
Flagstaff, Ariz.

Talkin’ trash: Let’s tackle it

I have a comment about the trash scattered along our Navajo Reservation highways. It seems to be getting worse. There is more trash and nobody is out there picking it up.

The Navajo Reservation should have a task force program with enough resources and equipment to have this situation solved and cleaned up. If not, the whole length of roadways will have stacks of trash like driving through a snowplow.

People think they are out in the middle of nowhere. They do whatever they are capable of without consideration of the laws of the Navajo Reservation.

Larry S. Smith
Cowsprings, Ariz.

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