Letters: We were wrong about Begay

We were wrong, to say the least, regarding state Sen. Carlyle Begay.

Some of those who supported his initial appointment to replace former state Sen. Jack Jackson Jr., (despite his inexperience), thought that with his eagerness he would acquire the skills and experience the Navajo Nation and other Indian tribes need to unite and become stronger politically (this has not happened).

One can only wish that Representative Albert Hale had gone forward with his lawsuit and challenged Sen. Begay’s residency when he changed his residency from Chandler to Ganado to qualify for the appointment to replace Jack Jackson Jr.

Sen. Begay has publicly taken sides in the Republican Party’s First Congressional District primary by endorsing someone who is unknown to Navajo and Indian voters. The fact that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu was chosen over other Republican candidates, including Navajo Republican candidate Shawn Redd, demonstrates even more how wrong we were.

In immediately endorsing Sheriff Paul Babeu, he rejected the very principles of his campaign that initially attracted our support. This proves he’s a divider, not a uniter.

It is disappointing to see Sen. Begay take sides without evaluating the experience and records of Sheriff Babeu and Shawn Redd objectively. Now we know how he makes his decisions is based on the Republican state party views, not the candidates. He has proven once again he listens more to people like senators John McCain, Jeff Flake and U.S. Repr. Paul Gosar who are well known for their anti-Navajo stance, than listening to Navajo and other Indian voters and supporters of tribal issues.

Most Navajo voters I talk to say given the present political climate locally and nationally, we need leaders who will unite and not divide. Based on his recent behavior Sen. Begay no doubt is backing Trump.

If nothing else, Sen. Begay’s conduct will serve to unite Navajo and Indian voters behind such candidates as Jamescita Peshlakai for state senator, Wenona Benally and Eric Descheenie for state legislature, Ann Kirkpatrick over John McCain, and Miguel Olivas for Congressional District 1 rather than Paul Babeu.

Wallace Hanley
Window Rock, Ariz.

Escalade would bring children back

Hello my family, relatives, Navajo Nation president, and council delegates.

My name is Elouise Barlow. I am 63 years old and a proud grandparent of 11 grandchildren. I am a lifelong resident of the Bodaway-Gap area.

Additionally, I am totally for and support the Grand Canyon Escalade Project. I have heard the KTNN radio broadcast in opposition to the project and I am very heartbroken that Mrs. Peshlakai opposes job creation for our community. I would like to ask her, as she is running for office, have you ever sat up at 1 or 2 a.m. beading or doing artwork? Then get up early in the morning to sell, just to make enough gas money to get to your hospital appointment in Tuba City?

We, as grandparents, are going into our golden ages and we would like to plant a seed for our kids as we go into the dawn of our age. Every other year we lose elders along with the stories and the ceremonies they hold. We are seriously losing our culture, our language, and our way of life, but if our children come back to our homeland we will find a way to sustain them.

The Grand Canyon Escalade Project is an excellent idea for our children and grandchildren. I live by myself. All my children and grandchildren live in other states. I want my children and grandchildren to come home to me, come back and live with me. I want them to have opportunities and a job where they can go to work in the morning and come home every evening. Everything we advocate is for our children and grandchildren, so they have jobs to come home to. It is not the same when you are without your children.

Nowadays, very few people have livestock and their livestock are limited. Our grazing grounds are depleted around the Grand Canyon project area. Every family that I know, their livestock are diminishing, especially the sheep and goats. To the people who oppose to the project, I ask in my mind, have they ever had any sacred corn pollen blessing, or know basic knowledge of the many areas of Navajo traditional ceremonies?

I ask this question because I don’t see the opposition living among us in the Bodaway-Gap Chapter, none. I have never heard of the opposition come to ceremonies to get help like we do on a regular basis. I guess living off the reservation you have a different perspective about life.

I am a very proud grandmother of 11 beautiful grandchildren and I want the best for them here on our motherland. I consider myself young and strong enough to hold a job and continue my artwork to sustain myself personally. I feel that we as elders need to plant seeds for our children, their children and their children to sustain themselves.

We are tired of government handouts; it does not help us emotionally and spiritually. Our forefathers never asked for handouts from the chapter or our government in Window Rock. Why should we do that now?

We as a community at Bodaway-Gap Chapter would love to see something great, built to help sustain ourselves and to not continually rely on government handouts.

Elouise Barlow
Bodaway-Gap, Ariz.

Why are people opposing Escalade?

Hello to my people across the Navajo Reservation, Navajo Nation president and council delegates.

My name is Marilyn Joanne Begay and I am a 73-year-old mother and grandmother. I have very limited education and I don’t speak English quite well. I am a lifelong resident of the area in Bodaway-Gap Chapter and I support the Grand Canyon Escalade Project.

I have 32 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren that all moved to the hot place (Phoenix) for work. I would love to see my children come home from the hot place. I want to see them around me with my grandchildren. Most of the time it is just my husband and I by ourselves. Like most grandparents I feel at peace when I’m with my grandchildren but I hardly see them, only on the holidays.

In my community, we hope and pray for job opportunities for our children and our grandchildren. When they come back there is nothing for them. It is our fault partly; we tell our kids to go to school, stress education and then we have nothing to offer them when they come back.

The people who oppose the project, what do they think, to make them say no to the project? I ask myself, who taught them? Who did they listen to growing up? Do they know any stories about our forefathers who lived in the area? Why are they doing this? Are they getting paid to say this?

I have heard from people that those opposed to the project are under the payroll of the Grand Canyon Trust. Is that why they turned against us? I wonder if all our politicians are getting paid. Is this what we are now? We get paid secretly to oppose prosperity and opportunity for a better life? I wonder if people really are getting paid from the Grand Canyon Trust. If elected officials are paid, who are we to say no to them? We have a fixed income with no money to put gas in our car to go to Window Rock to be heard.

We don’t have financial backing. All we have is our prayers, our hopes and our ceremonies to give us strength to go on. Why would someone say no jobs to our children and grandchildren? What kind of people would do that? We are poor in terms of money. We do our best by selling our beadwork to pay for utility bills. I have needs and I have bills. We barely get by. Where is Grand Canyon Trust? Where is Mrs. Peshlakai? Where are the council delegates and where is our president?

I am old enough to tell you the stories of our forefathers who lived long ago. When I was a little girl I knew which family lived where, where the medicine man and elders lived and who used which area. At the time, not one person claimed the area for themselves, no one did that. Now people are claiming that it’s their ancestors’ land. It does not belong to them; it belongs to the Holy People.

Do these people who say no, do they know how we live? Do they know our struggle? Do they know our culture, our language and our everyday life? Do they know the stories, the ceremonies, the prayers, and the songs for the corn pollen? Why do they stand in front of a better life for all of us who actually live in Bodaway-Gap?

Their forefathers and our forefathers knew each other in one way or another and I’m sure they did not talk and act like them. I would like to see and talk with some council delegates and ask them if they know how we live, if they know our struggles, do they understand what we are trying to do. But I don’t have money to travel to Window Rock, much less pay for utility bills.
Are our officials being paid from outside sources? That is my question because it seems like we vote for hopelessness and only self-interest.

Marilyn Joanne Begay
Bodaway-Gap, Ariz.

Thanks from young historians

We would like to take this opportunity to thank several businesses and organizations for their generous financial support, which allowed us to compete at the National History Day in College Park, Maryland, this past June.

When we started this journey back in the fall of 2015, we were a part of more than 600,000 students to create history fair projects. Winning our school, regional, and state competitions gave us the opportunity to compete at National History Day alongside 3,000 other students — an honor reserved for less than one percent of all projects worldwide.

We worked extremely hard on our project for several months because we wanted do our best job representing ARL Middle School in Blanding, Utah; our community of Montezuma Creek; the Navajo Nation; and the State of Utah.

We were excited and humbled to present our documentary, “Long Walk of the Navajo: The 1864 Encounter at Hweeldi and Its Impacts on Dinetah Today,” and bring the story of our Navajo people to a national audience.

While at the competition, we had several people thank us for sharing our Navajo history with the world. Our documentary will be used by the State of Utah Historical Society on their website and we will also show it to Utah lawmakers at the state capitol this next January in Salt Lake City. We will also show our documentary at the Bluff Arts Festival this October. We are grateful for these opportunities in which we can share Navajo history with others.

Who knew that an 8th grade history class assignment could lead to all this — thank you Mr. Musselman!

The National History Day organization provided us with other amazing opportunities, including touring the U.S. Capitol and meeting Sen. Orrin Hatch, touring the Smithsonian museums, attending a Washington Nationals baseball game, and meeting students from all over the world. We were also able to visit the Navajo Nation Washington D.C. office and meet with their staff.

Without the generosity of the following, none of this would have been possible: San Juan Education Foundation, Resolute Natural Resources, Utah Navajo Health Systems, San Juan School District and the Johnson O’Malley Program, San Juan Credit Union, Redd’s Ace Hardware, Dr. Ron Kirk and San Juan Vision Clinic, San Juan Pharmacy, Twin Rocks Cafe, Adventurous Antelope Photo Tours, the Utah Division of State History, the community of Montezuma Creek (for eagerly supporting our food sales), Derrick Whitacre, Nadine Sadler, Stella and Francis Lee, Chris Allen, Kathy Carson, and our own families — who helped with numerous hours of fundraising efforts. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who made this experience possible!

Kami Atcitty, Kaia Jay, and Esperanza Lee
Montezuma Creek, Utah

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