Letters: Youth Council will be active force

On a sunny bright day on Aug. 21, 2016, the Navajo Nation three branches officially established the first Navajo Nation Youth Council and appointed 11 Navajo youth leaders to serve their nation, to be a voice of the youth, and advise the Navajo Nation three branches of government on issues related to our young people and nation.

My name is Marlon Lexington Murphy. My clans are Bit’ahnii nishlídoo Ashiihi Bashchiin. I’m originally from Querino Canyon, Arizona. My maternal grandparents are the late Tom and Flossie Matt Murphy.

I’ve been recently elected the first vice president of the Navajo Nation Youth Council. I graduated from Sanders-Valley High School this year, am a proud Future Farmers of America alumni, and a volunteer for the establishment of United States Presidential Youth Council.

As a youth representative and Navajo Nation youth leader I’m determined to serve my nation and be a vocal youth representative on issues related to our nation and young people in this first Navajo Nation Youth Council which I’m glad to say was “established by the youth of the Navajo Nation” for the youth of the Navajo Nation. There’s no doubt that our young people are our future and as a representative for our youth I look to defend them, stand for them, and bring new ideas to our nation that would be beneficial to them and their future.

One of my long-term goals while in this new organization is to help bring in/advocate for more agricultural programs to be brought into high schools and middle schools across Diné Bikeyah such as the Future Farmers of America, which has been a repeated request by many students across the Navajo Nation for our organization to take on and fulfill. FFA is a national organization that introduces students to an agriculture education in which they learn hands-on and in the classroom about agriculture, animal systems to judging horses, and livestock.

I know as a four-year FFA alumni that if we had more FFA chapters in Navajo schools our students would academically and individually exceed. You can see this across America and I know we will see it also on Navajoland. This all won’t be easy but I trust in my nation and people to help in anyway they can to have our students and young people exceed, for they are our future, and any idea directly from our youth is a good new idea.

So as vice president of NNYC I’d like to thank all youth supporters of the Navajo Nation Youth Council for pushing this great organization forward for your nation, and also for giving me the honor of representing you in our nation’s capital (Window Rock). I can’t wait to see what we can now accomplish for our youth, our great nation, and our Navajo people.

Every day of my life I remember our Navajo people’s sacrifice and my four-time great maternal uncle Chief Manuelito’s words “Climb that ladder.”

Marlon Lexington Murphy
Vice President
Navajo Nation Youth Council
Sanders, Ariz.

Committed to defending people and land

One of the positives of not having campaigned is, I don’t have to pick up signs and posters or see my smiling face on flyers blowing around in the trash. I am greatly honored that my constituents in Shiprock voted to keep me in office for another four years, in spite of uncertainties, including the seeming state of non-development of Shiprock, my yet-to-be-fully explained and understood vision and my opponent’s tenacious campaign.

What also lost me some votes was the last-minute sniper attack by a certain bad dad who accused me of losing $78,000 based on false information and conjecture, the intent of this attack was for its jiní (gossip) value, that was circulated in the last couple of days before the election.

One of the reasons I didn’t campaign is because our Navajo election process is a component of a colonialized system of government. This imposed election process has mud-slinging, dirty politics, and it leads to people, friends and even family getting mad at each other, sometimes permanently. Not to mention the money that goes into it – “buying elections.” That is not our way as Diné, it’s not who we are. So my thought is if I don’t appreciate the process, why would I participate in it?

How I look at Shiprock’s state of seeming non-development is that we have a clean canvas, a new opportunity to develop our community the way we want, to our style and preference. We get to “start over.”

So to my dear colleagues and development partners, let’s get busy building Shiprock into the “Native City of the Future.” I acknowledge that those who voted for me maintain that hope in my leadership for the realization of good development. It is our time. The tremendous potential of Shiprock shall be realized.

Regardless of where we are in our journey of life, we must eat. Shiprock has the incredible opportunity to be the “breadbasket” of Navajo and our Four Corners region, we must achieve that opportunity in a major way. The essence of true sovereignty is being able to independently feed the people, that’s where we must go. Until we do so, the Navajo Nation will not be truly sovereign.

Another thing I see in the vote for me is that the people need someone who will stand up for them. For their rights as Diné, for our liberties, and for justice. I am committed to defending my people and my land. Our fight for justice, our waters, and Mother Earth will get more difficult and so, we must have faith and courage. That foretold time of prophesy is here, we must be vigilant.

Duane Chili Yazzie
President of Shiprock Chapter
Shiprock, N.M.

Reach out for humanity

The election season is over. Let us begin the healing process. It would be nice if the entire Diné people would hold a healing ceremony for the entire United States. Everyone would benefit.

I voted for Hillary Clinton. Trump won the electoral college. It does not matter that Trump spoke bigoted and sexist words. Trump won the election. It does not matter that Trump spoke many lies. Trump won the election. It does not matter that Trump stated that the system was “rigged” unless he won. Trump won the election fairly. It does not matter that Republicans worked to frustrate Barack Obama’s presidency from his first day. It does not matter Republicans extended Trump’s term to five years by their refusal to confirm Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. As many liberals, I have concerns about the fitness of our president-elect. My concerns do not matter.

What matters? People are more important than elections.  Politics have become war in America for decades. Politicians and pundits have effectively “dehumanized” each one of us by labeling us as “liberals,” “conservatives,” “white evangelicals,” “rapists and murders (also known as ‘Mexican immigrants’),” and so on. The end of an election season merely marks the beginning of the next “military campaign.” It is time to declare an armistice in this never-ending war in America.

I challenge everyone in America to reach out and “humanize” the other side. If you voted for Hillary, then initiate a conversation with a “Donald” voter. If you voted for Donald, then talk to a “Hillary” voter. It should not be hard to find someone because millions voted. Of course, individuals from the “none of the above” group should also engage in this healing process. Millions opted out of this year’s “military campaign” due to disgust. Try to spend most of the time listening to the other person. Try to avoid policy debates. Focus on his or her humanity. Our humanity outweighs our differences. We share so many concerns and joys, including jobs, family, hobbies, and service.

If you cut me, I will bleed red. I am a human. We, the people of the United States of America, are all bleeding red after this last election campaign. If we wait for the politicians, pundits, and news organizations to become healers, then we will bleed to death. Let us begin the healing process ourselves by extending an open hand in friendship and compassion to our fellow citizens. I am tired of “culture wars,” “gerrymandering,” and other political games. I want peace to bloom in America.  Let us begin the healing.

Francis Burns, Ph.D.
Science Instructor
Diné College
Tsaile, Ariz.

Other viable options for Escalade issue

The democratic processes of the Navajo Nation Council and its committees are currently addressing the Escalade-tramway issue.

A group of Arizona developers, Confluence Partners LLC, has sought since 2009 to construct a motorized tramway extending from Navajoland on the East Rim of the Grand Canyon down to the Canyon floor at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers, capable of transporting 10,000 people per day. At river level, there would be a 1,400-foot river walk, food pavilion and amphitheater. On the rim, plans include a multimedia complex, a Navajoland Discovery Center, restaurants, an RV Park, retail stores, and hotels, including a five-star resort.

“SaveTheConfluence,” a Navajo group numbering several thousand (http://savetheconfluence.com) is opposed. As of mid-September, the Navajo Nation Office of Legislative Services counted 60,333 comments in the form of online petitions, letters, and emails opposing the Bennett Escalade bill introduced Aug. 29 to the Council, while 131 people favored the project during these two weeks.

The developers promise (perhaps with great exaggeration) that “building-the-tramway” (the first option) will reward the Navajo with money and jobs. The opposition contends that “not-building-the-tramway” (the second option) would avoid defiling a priceless natural panorama, avoid desecrating traditional religious sites of the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni, avoid intruding on the rights of Navajo grazers, avoid violating the 2006 Navajo-Hopi Intergovernmental Compact (otherwise, the Hopi will sue), and more.

An objective observer can empathize with those Navajos who would vote for money and jobs over scenic beauty, tradition, and the rights of 30 Navajo grazers, and also empathize with those who would vote the opposite way. Both groups have a point. Navajo Times articles and Navajo Nation controversies have exposed bitter divisions over this issue. Surely, there are some conflicted Navajo (or many?) who want it all: economic benefits, tradition, and beauty.

The third option, proposed below, talks to these conflicted Navajo. It would (1) provide for Navajo economic interests at an equal level to the promises of Confluence Partners, (2) preserve the Confluence, and (3) invoke the U.S. government’s economic capacity and obligation to preserve the National Park values of Grand Canyon for all Americans.

And (4) having reconciled the economic and traditional aims, the healing of the bitter divisions can begin.

Statement of the third option: First, the U.S. government either (a) annexes a quarter-mile swath of land extending up the eastern bank of the Colorado, and likewise extending up the northern bank of Little Colorado from the confluence to Salt Trail Canyon, or (b) obtains a conservation easement on this land.

Second, drawing on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the U.S. pays a fair, competitive market price to the Navajo Nation, as a replacement for the Escalade Project. The LWCF derives from royalties the U.S. receives from offshore oil and natural gas drilling.

By “market price” is meant the present value to the Navajo Nation of a completed Escalade project. An initial estimate of a fair, competitive market price might be $100 million. If subsequent professional appraisal yields a different value, the latter would replace this estimate. Americans who consider the threatened region priceless, and the many other Americans who consider it valuable, should not object to meeting the market price to preserve it.    A nearly exact precedent for U.S. payment of a market price to preserve a valued property is the purchase in 2000 of the Valles Caldera. The Dunigan family, owners of the Valles Caldera in New Mexico, had offered to sell the property to the U.S. in the late 1990s for its assessed value if invested in suburban housing, namely $101 million dollars. Otherwise, the Dunigans would construct the houses. Environmental groups supported this offer enthusiastically for the natural, archaeological, and historical value of the land. New Mexico’s Senators Domenici and Bingaman joined in the effort. And it was done through the LWCF. [Wikipedia: Valles Caldera]

The FY 2017 LWCF Budget Request (https://www.doi.gov/lwcf) is for $900 million. Allocations to specific projects range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to multi-millions. To obtain an LWCF allocation, support from Grand Canyon National Park, Department of the Interior, and Congress must be enlisted, though support from one source may facilitate support from all. If $100 million or so were committed to the Navajo, it might come in $10 million-per-year installments, and not begin until FY 2018. Such a lead time might be needed to plan the spending.

Objection: Can the U.S. buy something it already owns? A 1993 ruling from the Department of the Interior’s solicitor’s opinion, set the Park boundary as a quarter-mile from the eastern bank of the Colorado River. If this were settled law, the Escalade Project would already be dead. But the DOI has been reticent, and some believe that nobody currently owns a clear right to the land the tramway requires. Perhaps, one can argue that the third option would wipe away an ambiguity, rather than ignore an actual U.S. property right.

Another objection: If the third option were adopted, might the Hopi, Zuni, and other Grand Canyon tribes advance claims of their own? But there are no conflicts between the preservation interest of the Navajo in the Confluence area and the legitimate interests of the other tribes, hence, no questions that cannot be settled by negotiation.

Charles Zemach
Los Alamos, N.M.

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