Beyond faith
San Francisco Peaks. (Courtesy wikipedia.com)
Rapporteur asks for evidence on mountain’s sacredness
TSE BONITO, N.M.
The Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is charged with conveying the importance of indigenous sacred sites to the United Nations.
But in her recent meeting with Navajo medicine men last Friday, June 19, there was some question as to whether she herself had thoroughly understood the sacredness and meaning of Dook’o’ooslííd.
That’s because Rose-Marie Antoine, the rapporteur, had asked the hard question of whether there other ways for the tribes who revere the San Francisco Peaks to demonstrate the mountains’ meaning beyond faith.
“It would be useful to have different examples,” Antoine said to the respective cultural presenters.
She added the Navajo Nation needed to develop a collective response for an effective effort to protect the mountain through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere.
“It would be more powerful,” the rapporteur added about the need for more examples of how vital the San Francisco Peaks are to tribes.
Antoine’s question came after a panel consisting of Johnson Dennison, president of the Diné Medicine Men’s Association, and Anthony Lee, president of the Diné Hataalii Association, focused on the “Navajo’s perspective on ensuring the sacred San Franciso Peaks remain pristine for future generations from reclaimed wastewater.”
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