Letters: Brockovich visit a ‘self-promoting tactic’

A few years ago I gave up on writing opinion pieces, mostly because I couldn’t keep up with the number of outrageous things happening again and again within Diné government.

But after I read that Erin Brockovich would be visiting the EPA polluted waters of the Navajo Nation, I couldn’t help but be opinionated.

Admittedly, I have no knowledge about whether the Office of the President and Vice-President reached out to Brockovich or vice-versa. The good thing is my opinion on the stupidity of allowing the impending visit – which will have passed by the time this letter is published — doesn’t rely on this nuance.

Ignoring the fact that this seems like a politician’s self-promoting tactic to keep the environmental disaster in the news, I take issue with what seems like a Hollywood movie in the making — with all the stereotypes of a white savior, helpless Indians, and the big bad antagonist.

Unbeknownst to me, President Begaye is probably planning his post-presidency career in movies; where he will reprise the role of president in the soon-to-come movie of Brockovich saving Indians. I also suggest the movie title Sings to Polluted River — this could be the follow-up to Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves. One more tragedy and another white savior and we will have a trilogy.

We don’t need to look too deeply into the problem of the white savior complex. Instead we only need to remember that Brockovich’s visit is preceded by hundreds of years of white settlers (both of the do-good and ill-intentioned types) telling Native peoples who to be and how.

Perhaps my perspective is too radical for a president who seems more intent on padding his ego and accumulating political capital. However, I ask the basic question of when has it benefitted us for white settlers to intervene in our lives?

For me this isn’t only about another white settler visiting another tribe supposedly in need of saving. This is also about the structures of colonialism shaping Native peoples lives, and Native peoples defending against this by asserting our ways of knowing and our power as distinct people.

Justice for Native peoples, even in the present environmental crises, will not come by the hands of white settlers.

Because of this I suggest to the Office of the President and Vice President, try acting like the office which serves a nation; a nation complete with intelligent people who are capable of addressing this problem without relying on and playing into atrocious ideas of white superiority.

Also remember that you promised Diné people during your campaign that you would bring qualified Diné professionals back to the nation. Unless I missed Brockvich’s citizenship to our nation, this will not count as delivering on that promise.

Finally, rather than showboating this issue, how about you begin acting like this affects real people. Even if you just act like a leader that would be better than deferring to whatever deep-rooted notions of white supremacy you carry within you. If not this, I can only hope a movie career is being planned around this absurdity.

Jerome Clark
Tuba City, Ariz.

What will 2016 growing season look like?

The hint of autumn in the air means crops are ready to be harvested along San Juan River valley and it also means the availability of produce, Indian corn, fresh or cooked (steam or kneel-down bread), squash, and such grown in Shiprock or its vicinity. Meanwhile, one must savor freshly made kneel-down bread while it still warm out of the earthen oven.

Indeed, this past weekend, my little brother purchased all of the traditional (primary) staples we are accustomed to buying in Shiprock and Hogback and asked to have mutton stew made with fresh corn and squash. I obliged and, added the homegrown mutton to the corn and squash mixture to make a delicious mutton stew for dinner minus fry bread.

When I first received the alarming alert to notify family, relatives, and friends who live along the San Juan River about the impending mine sludge entering the Animas River, I thought of the Navajo farmers who live along San Juan River and their crops. I thought of the animals and aquatic life being impacted by heavy metals and other chemicals associated with mining, and I cried as I drove over the Chuska Mountain. My thoughts went to the farmers and ranchers who are part of the agricultural industry, wondering how the economy would be impacted by the mountain that was slowly making its way down to Lake Powell and on to Baja, Mexico.

The sludge spill hit home simply because, at the request of one cousin, a local applicator applied herbicide to the family farm, which sits on the banks adjacent to the Sanostee Wash. My father, who is the co-owner of the farm plot, was not informed until a couple years after the field was “sprayed” with herbicide. My aunt, the other co-owner of the farm plot, did not tell my dad, my siblings, and I until we had a family meeting regarding a proposed “BIA” road to go over the irrigation canal on the family farm without anyone consenting to the project. My aunt informed us that nothing can be grown on the field for 10 years.

To date, I have not inquired about the type of herbicide that was applied. I was heartbroken and hurt about the application of herbicide without factoring in the consequences or ill-effects of the chemicals, which was applied recklessly or done blatantly. In addition to the herbicide application, the ill-conceived idea of constructing a road over an irrigation canal on the family farm, which began by a great-great-granduncle in the mid 1860s while his relatives were still incarcerated at Bosque Redondo was done with pugnacity. I can relate to the Navajo farmers living along San Juan River about disruptions and uncertainty created by undesirable event. Utilizing the land that has been used by family members for many decades before us still connects to the land and history.

My siblings and I worked on the field whenever our father instructed us to plant, which when there is ample water (in form of spring runoff from mountain) to flood irrigate with. We have atypical planting schedule, which only depends on abundance of snowmelt runoffs from the mountain. Some agricultural experts told me to start working the land by growing cover crops to shorten the 10 years of dormancy.

I thought about all the excess work the farmers along San Juan River would be doing because of all the work that goes into dry land farming like we do. This year was a good time to for dry land farmers since we had abundance of rain that began in April and continues thus far.

Up to the present time, the farmers in Shiprock and Hogback are trying their best to keep the crops alive by standing together and opting for dry land farming, which requires extra resources and effort. They decided to keep their irrigation canals close to produce crops that are untainted. I urge buyers not to shy away from the vegetables grown by our relatives of Shiprock or its vicinity. October is around the corner, so is savoring of the melons during the Shiprock Fair.

Who knows what 2016 growing season will be like. Support the farmers across the Navajo lands.

Dorothy Redhorse
Sanostee, N.M.

Spill is ‘senseless and unacceptable’

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to express my views on the King Gold Mine toxicant spill into the Animas River which many consider a disaster. As always I will try to make my comments concise per the established policy by the Diné Bi Naaltsoos.

The farmers living along the San Juan River want water and the lawyers want money. The legal advertisement for the Whitener Law Firm, of Albuquerque, has been all over the airwaves in the local area to initiate a lawsuit against the Environment Protection Agency causing the undue hardship. All they want is money and they need to keep out of our business.

In our sacred Navajo way water is precious and a giver of life to all on Mother Earth, including land, human and wildlife. Without water there is no life. And for an organization charged with the responsibility to protect the environment to cause such a disaster is totally senseless and unacceptable. They knew of the potential spill and did nothing to take preventive measures. How narrow-minded can they get?

Due to the Environment Protection Agency’s failure, severe damage has been caused to the livelihood of many farmers, in some instance a total loss during a very critical time for them to conduct business. My aunties from Upper Fruitland made the news in the Diné Bi Naaltsoos a couple of weeks ago and I am able to not sit back and watch them suffer. I wholeheartedly feel for my relatives from Upper Fruitland to Shiprock caught up in the human cause disaster.

I was very disturbed to see the Colorado governor sample test the water of the Animas River on television to prove the water was safe to consume, which was a total gimmick. If the water was safe to consume, why did the governor fall shy of consuming an entire amount of water instead of only a small portion? Nice try but it’s not enough to convince water users.

How safe the water is in the long term is what I am waiting to hear about but none so far. Didn’t the federal government tell us uranium was safe before they started mining our precious land?

Due to another fault of theirs, most of our people are suffering from cancer and many have passed from it. Our sacred language saved them and they don’t realize it but continue to cause us harm.

As a result of the water contamination, the Navajo Nation needs to get serious and plan a backup system in the event of a similar disaster should it occur again in the future. A backup system from a cutter dam is a suitable start. It shouldn’t be limited for use by Navajo Agricultural Products Industry.

Due to the Environment Protection Agency causing us disaster they should be renamed the Environmental Disaster causing Agency. The renaming would be fitting and suitable to what they have caused.

In closing, I would like to urge the Navajo Nation elected leaders pursue suing the EPA for hundreds of millions of dollars. They need to be held accountable for their failure, a federal disaster. Thank you.

Vern Charleston
Farmington, N.M.

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