Letters: Remember Kyrsten Sinema?

Remember Kyrsten Sinema? She was an unfamiliar face, a Democrat at the time, running for the congressional Senate seat from Arizona, asking for our support and would like to add some reasons why a comment must be made about an article written on her last week in the Navajo Times (“Protestors confront Sinema, she calls the move ‘unacceptable’”).

It’s her own party demonstrating against her. Don’t feel sorry for her, she brought this on herself. The importance of it: Senate vote is divided 50-50 and she has the option to block any approval the Democrats want.

She did a promotion of herself to the Navajo people as a candidate for the congressional Senate in D.C., a sorely needed seat for her Democratic constituency, and that she will “listen” to her voters if elected.

The race was close and even political analysts dare not proclaim her a winner until the final eleventh hour. She wasn’t supposed to win in a Republican red state by the closest of margins. She was declared the upset winner — so we thought as the Democratic Party.

First, for an unknown, it was the state’s Native American votes that got her in.

She didn’t make herself known as a “Centrist Democrat,” who supposedly can work both sides of the aisle to negotiate with the opposing party to support good legislation for all Americans. They are also known as “moderates,” support whoever has the winning side as a “bipartisan,” the back-and-forth politicians.

Most times they upset their own party’s agenda and are celebrated as “Corporate Democrats,” which we are finding out what Sen. Sinema is.

I prefer, “Democrat/Republican,” a Democrat in sheep clothing who is a right-leaning Republican. She will not engage publicly, ignoring all questions from supporters that put her in office, with so many whys — why aren’t you voting for us, refuses to tell reporters where she stands, avoids questions, etc., etc.

Nobody knows what her strategy is? So the only recourse her grassroots organization have is to protest with signs outside her Phoenix office, in D.C., on her way to the airport, and so on.

In a scathing statement, Sinema denounced activists questioning her in a bathroom incident and where she teaches, reported in the Navajo Times as, “not legitimate protest.”

The reason why her major supporters have turned on her is because she has turned on them. To many, they are tired of being treated as nonexistent to her with a response in kind, you might say.

The attention she draws to herself is going to be more of the same because they feel betrayed. It won’t stop until she openly communicates with her Democratic Party as a whole, not holding everyone hostage.

The reason why she was followed into the ladies’ room was they have a right to be heard to know where she stands is overlooked and presently the congressional legislators are puzzled as well. It’s a sick political game she is playing.

Nobody likes to be ignored. As a political figure who ignores and becomes inaccessible has made her “unacceptable” to hold office, rightfully called having “no confidence.”

The only thing left is a progressive primary challenge — unseat her — or face more of her same shenanigans. We will lose more than we bargained for.

The news media put her at center stage as an inflexible “Conservative Democrat” to draw attention to herself as a Democrat problem taunting her voting power with the Republican Senate.

It shows Kyrsten Sinema wants to do what she wants by ambushing what the Democrats want. We saw her dance when the $15 dollar wage per hour was defeated.

She has sworn to uphold the Senate filibuster where our democracy is dying, not backing our president’s economic agenda, i.e., she has whittled down the infrastructure bill to decide whether to support the $1.5 billion infrastructure bill, and expanding the 10-year $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill (President Biden’s Build Back Better bill) to include the social safety net and combating the climate crisis.

For example, she wants to slash $1.9 to $2.3 trillion to the Build Back Better bill.

I think that is just the tip of the iceberg as I could go on and on. Thanks for reading.

Teddy Begay
Kayenta, Ariz.

Horrible habit of dumping trash

For years, people who live on the Navajo Reservation, and also non-Navajo people just driving through on the freeways, or visiting the many spectacular attractions the area has to offer, believe that because there is not a house or not a soul for many, many miles in any direction, that this would be a good place to get rid of your trash.

Nobody would notice.

This horrible habit has now mushroomed into such eyesores, health risks, and ugliness that finally authorities have been called into action to find a way to put an end to this illegal trash dumping.

“As a responsible Native American, having been raised on the Navajo Reservation, my heart cries for our Native American land, my eyes run with tears of distrainment, my hands ache with discontent, and my legs are tired of walking with a broken soul.” (Quote from one of our elders).

Driving down a road, I am staring at the Painted Desert, one of the above-mentioned attractions, with mountains stained with rainbow colors from their tops to the valley bottoms, running alongside large cracks in the ground, canyons that were carved before time, and desert plants that fight one another for the little moisture that is available in this part of the world.

Now there are plastic bags from local stores, which the wind has wrapped around plants and trees. Used tires are hanging from outcroppings and roots.

Old cars that have been trashed or abandoned after they had ended their usefulness litter the sacred grounds. Old motor oil and toxic car fluids stain the soil and the rocks.

Dead trees, weeds, full trash bags, and dead animals fill illegal trash sites around the Navajo Nation and outside of small towns, such as Gallup, Chinle, Farmington, and Holbrook.

The borders of the Navajo Nation run through four states, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. There is no discrimination. The trash dumping goes on everywhere.

Look, see, observe, and learn from what we as a people are leaving behind for our younger generations. Our elders have taught us to live in beauty, walk in beauty, talk in beauty, and protect the beauty.

This is not just empty talk; our future is at stake. Our elders would be very ashamed of us individuals who do not teach and talk to our children about protecting Mother Earth and Father Sky.

It is time to start taking responsibility for one’s actions. Try learning more about recycling, learn more about planting food that our elders have taught us, learn more about sustainability by using wisely our natural resources, and try not to waste food, electricity, water, and learn more about what goes into the air when you burn your trash.

Manuel Tsosie
Coyote Canyon, N.M.

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