50 Years Ago: NAC seeks nonprofit status in federal court
Three Navajos face court at San Bernardino on charge of state narcotics law violation in use of peyote in 1962. They are, from left, Jack Woody, 29; Dan Dee Nez, 25; and Leon B. Anderson, 44. Behind them are lawyers, A. L. Wirin of Civil Liberties Union and Rufus Johnson. (Photo from UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections.)
The Navajoland chapter of the Native American Church and its use of peyote was in the news again in July 1970. Attorneys for the church, Ted Mitchell and Don Juneau, asked a three-member federal panel to force the Arizona Corporation Commission to allow the church to incorporate as a nonprofit organization.
The previous month, the commission had rejected the application, citing the use of peyote by its members. In rejecting the application, the commission pointed out that state law prohibited use of the drug.
Three Navajos face court at San Bernardino on charge of state narcotics law violation in use of peyote in 1962. They are, from left, Jack Woody, 29; Dan Dee Nez, 25; and Leon B. Anderson, 44. Behind them are lawyers, A. L. Wirin of Civil Liberties Union and Rufus Johnson. (Photo from UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections.)
The largest branch of the Native American Church, the 40,000-member chapter had been fighting court battles for more than a decade to secure the right for members to use peyote in its services. In the past four years, the church had been successful in changing federal and tribal laws banning its use. The states, however, were a different matter.
The NAC would be fighting the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for another five years on the issue. In their filings before the federal panel, church officials argued that the use of the cactus plant was the center stone around which the entire tradition of the religion operated.
In fact, if peyote were not allowed in church services, the entire religion would have no purpose and would not exist. The use of peyote was a sacrament essential to its services. Attorneys for the state argued that peyote, like marijuana, was a hallucinogenic drug, which serves no purpose other than to get the user high.
The suit claimed the state’s position violated the Civil Rights Act and the 1st, 4th and 14th amendments of the Constitution. As for the importance of the lawsuit, getting incorporated as a nonprofit organization was essential to the financial wellbeing of the church.
Now that it was protected under federal law, the church was going after grants and donations and needed to be a nonprofit so that people who donated could write it off on their taxes.
In other news that week, a study was released that should have changed a lot of misconceptions about the work ethic of Navajos. The study, done by the Workforce Commission, pointed out that a lot of people, as well as heads of manufacturing companies, did not believe the Native lifestyle produced efficient workers in manufacturing plants.
The results of the study contradicted those views. Company officials interviewed in the study reported that their Native workers were among the most efficient as well as being the most reliable.
One of the companies profiled in the study was General Dynamics, which operated an electronics plant in Fort Defiance. The Navajos have a unique ability to do delicate work like assembling circuit boards, company officials said, pointing out that for generations tribal members have used these skills to produce rugs and jewelry.
As for being reliable, the company referred to snowstorms that past January that completely disrupted life on the reservation. And yet, despite roads that were snowbound and icy, the Navajo workforce had a nearly perfect record of showing up.
And finally, the Navajo Times announced that it appears there would be six men running for tribal chairman. With the primary election ballots scheduled to go to the printer in two days, it didn’t seem likely that anyone else would be throwing their hat into the ring.
Of the six, three candidates appeared to have the best chance of being selected for the two spots in the general election. Raymond Nakai, who was seeking his third term as tribal chairman, seemed to be a lock-in for one of those slots. Considered a hero by members of the Navajoland NAC for his work to get the use of peyote allowed by the federal and tribal governments, he was expected to get most of their votes in the primary. It seemed that Sam Billison would get that second slot since this was his third attempt to become chairman.
A very respected educator, Billison basically started running the day after Nakai had his second inauguration.
But Peter MacDonald, the former head of the Office of Navajo Economic Opportunity, seemed to be the wild card. He had been praised for his speech-making ability in both Navajo and English. The other three candidates seemed to be long shots in making it to the general election.
The most well known of the three was Donald Dodge, who resigned his position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to run. He had the best pedigree of the six. That left Frank Eriacho and Joe Watson Jr. Eriacho, the former head of the ONEO alcoholism program, was well known on the reservation but few knew his positions on the issues. The same could be said of Watson, who stepped down as head of tribal operations for the BIA in Fort Defiance.
The odd thing about Watson was that up to two weeks prior, he had decided not to run but his candidacy was pushed by Dick Hardwick, editor of the Navajo Times. There were rumors that Eriacho and Watson were stoolies for Nakai who urged them to run in the hopes of taking votes away from MacDonald and put Billison into the general election. Having defeated Billison twice before, Nakai probably felt Billison would pose no threat to him in the general election.
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