‘T’áá hwó ajít’éego’: Nez rallies home chapter

SHONTO CANYON, Ariz.

Presidential candidate Jonathan Nez encouraged his constituents here to vote Nov. 8.

“It’s important to do your civic duty of voting,” said Nez’s wife, Phefelia Nez.

“I played here under the cottonwood trees as a child,” Nez told voters Nov. 6. “The chapter meetings would take place across the wash, and we (my friends and I) would play here.”

Nez highlighted the Shonto Marketplace convenience store and the forthcoming hotel at Highway 160/98 Junction, both of which he took part in the planning over the years.

“That’s 10 years of work that we’ve put into this community,” Phefelia Nez explained.

“When I look at you, we’ve worked together. I’m proud of you,” Nez said. “That’s called t’áá hwó ajít’éego.”

“Nez-Abeyta! Nez-Abeyta! Four more years! Four more years!” Nez exclaimed.

During the rally, Arnold James Begay challenged the presidential candidate and asked him where he was from and how he got to a top leadership position from a chapter position.

Nez said he’s from Shonto and the grandson of the late H.T. Donald, who held him at a year old before he passed. Nez said he’s always wanted to be like his grandfather, who was a District 2 naat’áanii, and sought to become a leader at a young age.

“I come from here, I come from you, and I’m from Shonto, which is what I tell people outside of the community,” Nez said in Navajo.

“You are here––who was sitting in that chapter house?” Begay asked Nez. “Why is there no money?

“Look at the school; look at the chapter house! A lot of the elderly need to be helped! It’s true!” Begay exclaimed. “It’s a false imprisonment. He’s not fit to be in Window Rock!”

“You’ve done nothing! Look at that chapter house? There’s nothing! What did you do with the money? The outfit you’re wearing, we bought that for you!”

Nez, who took the heat with Begay, said that’s freedom of speech.

“We’re (Nez Administration) told we ‘didn’t do anything,’” Nez said. “We worked together.”

Nez emphasized the COVID-19 pandemic that the Navajo people endured for nearly three years, during which at least 1,700 Diné lost their lives to Covid.

“U.S. officials always ask how we overcame the virus,” Nez said. “I always say, ‘My people listened.’ And we’re almost there.”

“Let’s say, Nez and Abeyta!” Nez exclaimed in Navajo. “Let’s build roads and infrastructure!”

Nez also emphasized the Navajo Nation American Rescue Plan Act Hardship Assistance that provided emergency assistance to Diné individuals.

Nez says the money came for some at a critical time when some Diné weren’t working.

“Families were able to pay their bills and get groceries,” said Nez, adding that people often tell him he didn’t use the Nation’s money correctly.

Nez added that one has to know the “network” to run a nation.

“You start from the bottom to the top,” Nez said. “You work your way up to the top, (and) that’s the network.

“You’re not going to make everybody happy in this position,” Nez added.

---