50 years of resilience, Two-day Relocation Summit at Béésh Háát’i begins Feb. 21

WINDOW ROCK

The Nahat’á Dziil Commission Governance is hosting a two-day Relocation Summit Feb. 21-22 at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Béésh Háát’i.

Speakers will cover issues and concerns to develop a policy and address what relocatees are facing today, said LaVonne Tsosie, a commissioner of the Nahat’á Dziil Commission.

Even after 50 years, the Navajo-Hopi partitioned land still heavily affects roughly 16,000-plus families and their livelihoods after the federal government removed Diné and Hopi families from their homes in 1974 from Big Mountain, Arizona, and surrounding areas.

“There are issues that are happening at the federal level,” Tsosie said. She believes there has not been any change or support from all levels, which is the reason for the summit.

“It has been my life goal to do something for relocatees,” Tsosie said.

The tragedy of relocating resulted from modern federal Indian policy, which caused hardship for thousands of families that found themselves homeless and landless.

According to a Navajo Times article published July 13, 2023, the government told families they had to leave their homes by July 6, 1986.

Since 1974, the Navajo Nation has received funds on the Nahat’á Dziil Commission’s behalf. However, Tsosie expressed they have not received any.

To this day, relocatees have been affected by the trauma and atrocities when the federal government removed them.

Forced to relocate

Jack Ahasteen’s family is one of many who had been forced to relocate from their homeland in Teesto, Arizona. Ahasteen, the editorial cartoonist for the Navajo Times, will be one of the guest speakers during the summit.

“During that time, my parents were living on that Navajo-Hopi (Land) Dispute,” Ahasteen said. “At that time, it was a disputed area.”

Ahasteen said his parents are traditional Diné who could not comprehend why the federal government forced them to depart from their homelands.

As a young adult, he recalls families in the area did not know where the boundary lines were being drawn. During the land dispute, Ahasteen said residents were removed if they or their livestock crossed the line or fence.

“I was concerned,” Ahasteen said. “These older Navajos were already in a state of being traumatized because they didn’t know where they’re going to be and what’s going to happen to their lives.”

During the time, Ahasteen referred to it as collateral damage. “It has affected families and people living outside the areas,” he said.

Even ceremonies were held to protect families and themselves from the traumas that they were enduring. Ahasteen said there was a disruption to the way of life for his family and others.

To help his parents “cope” and understand what was happening, Ahasteen began drawing humorous cartoons for them.

To this day, Ahasteen continues to submit political cartoons to the Times, which he uses to showcase his own perspective to gesture humor but also to tell a story of what is happening in the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas.

In addition to the guest speakers, Ahasteen and others, such as LeRoy Shingoitewa, the former Hopi Chairman; Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Board President Lennard Eltsosie; Luther Lee, Mark Kelly’s representative; Dziłyíjiin Regional Council Percy Deal; community advocates Patricia Nez-Henderson and David Tsosie; and Council delegates Otto Tso and Vince R. James will be at the event.

Information: LaVonne Tsosie at (928) 245-0638.

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