Letters | Quit wasting resources on the few

A few months ago we sent a letter to the editor about what our Navajo Nation Council had not done to address years of seriously neglected needs of our Diné on the Navajo Nation.

As of late, we have seen little to no efforts to significantly address these serious needs, except for the Navajo Nation Council to throw money at these needs through Hardship checks.

It appears more and more that this Council has no urgent interest in alleviating our Diné’s serious needs.

But yet they still find enough time and energy for six months to research and develop alternate ways to change our traditional marriage law.

Why don’t they dedicate as much commitment and energy to our Diné’s daily needs, especially now that costs for all daily needs for our Diné has increased 50 to 100 percent?

Instead, shamefully, what we have seen in less than a week in local newspapers are three major write-ups on Gay Pride activities.

And in an editorial of one of these local newspapers, they made such descriptions of these activities as an important part of the Navajo Nation, time to honor and empower LGBTQIA (there was no effort to spell out what this is), that these activities are to be commended, to continue to develop these beautiful events and this newspaper looks forward to Pride continuing to grow on the Navajo Nation and throughout our region.

What has happened to covering decades of old tragic Diné needs in the same manner as coverage of Gay Pride activities?

Maybe, these needs have become too commonplace and are no longer worthy news items because the newspapers themselves have lost interest in speaking to such commonplace things.

Or maybe these needs are not fierce and fabulous enough. As noted in the editorial mentioned.

To this reader, the time and effort spent on writing on these Gay Pride events is a waste of time, a waste of resources, a waste of manpower, and a waste of ink.

So, I say again, to the Navajo Nation Council, quit wasting our Navajo resources on only a few, but seriously address the seriously outstanding daily needs of hundreds of thousands of our Diné.

Continuing to be extremely frustrated and disappointed.

Kobe Samuel
Thoreau, N.M.

Support healing commission

Between 1796 and 1969, in 408 schools across 37 states and in over 1,000 other institutions, including Indian day schools, orphanages, and asylums, Native American and Alaska Native children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in Indian boarding schools.

There, the children were forced to reject their Native languages, cultures, and spiritual practices, and adopt Euro-American culture.

Native Americans continue to suffer from the multi-generational trauma caused by policies of forced assimilation and cultural genocide.

The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act (H.R. 5444/S. 2907), expanding Department of the Interior initiatives, would establish the first formal commission in U.S. history to investigate the mental, physical, and inter-generational trauma that these schools continue to inflict on tribal communities.

The commission would provide recommendations to Congress to take further action and promote truth, reconciliation and healing.

Santa Fe Quakers encourages everyone to actively support this legislation.

John A. Kretzmann
Santa Fe Friends Meeting (Quakers)
Santa Fe, N.M.

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