#not2mis

Once I was in participating in a sweat lodge and the man who was singing said some words that I will never forget. He was explaining how he began to participate and sing at sweat lodges. He talked how medicine men taught him songs and the Iinipi ways (excuse my spelling), but does not consider himself a medicine man, instead he called himself a “simple man”. A simple man to him is not a genius or the greatest athlete. He is just a humble being who is blessed to do and know the things he does.

When I heard that, I kind of had an epiphany on how I view myself. That I may not be smartest or strongest or some prodigy of some sort. Rather I am a simple man. Though I do have qualities that make me unique this does not mean I am better than anyone else. I think this is important to know, because all I want in life is to have our people live to their fullest potential so they can inspire others to do the same.

I believe that now is an interesting time in the Navajo Nation, due to the fact that there has been set backs and missed opportunities. I feel as though there are more people fed up with the “status quo”. What I mean by that is people reject the ideas and stigmas that majority of Euro-American have for us. We reject the poverty in their communities, we reject the alcoholism in their communities, we reject the abuse in their communities, and we reject that we should be content with these social illnesses. I believe this, because these are things that I chose to reject for my community. I reject that I should expect this life for ourselves, our family or our people.

The way I reject these social stigmas is by dedicating my life to bettering myself through education and learning our people’s world views. I find solace in these things as I feel close to those who were here before me and set foundations for those ahead of me.

Let us reclaim the balance and harmony we once had. Let are conviction resonate with each and make our nation better. In my humble opinion I believe we can achieve this by simply following are heart so to speak. May seem cheesy and cliché, but I have learned for it to be true. Everyone has a place to contribute whether you are a poet or you like math or working with your hands, so long as you apply that to help your community. An example is when Caesar Chavez’s Farmers Workers Union movement used people to perform theater plays to depict life of a farm worker. This form of art was used to help people see the injustices happening to them. These individuals used something they love to do and apply it to their cause and communities. I ask for the same thing in whatever you do.

I mainly write this for my generation. I chose to believe that this is our time to act and to seize our abilities to make a better life for our nation. The way I think we can do this is based on the way Gandhi resisted against the British Empire. Which is basically to create our own infrastructures and utilize our own authorities. Do not be confused that this means we have to listen to the Navajo government, because that institution is not of our people. Instead one has to really look at their community and work with them. And if they do not cooperate then move to one that will and network with each other. I am starting to find people whom have similar thoughts such as me. Groups like Nihigaal bee iina’ and Dine Bidziil who see the need to take action. There is even more that are out there, but those are the two that peak my interest. Heck network with me and we will find ways to work together. This act is to take control from the institution that is oppressing us. If you take away the dependency that people have on these institutions, they cease to exist. I would be lying to tell you if I said that all of this is easy, because it isn’t. But where have you ever heard in our stories, our songs and in our elders, that there was a time were everything just came to us? Where there was no struggle and suffrage? (Seriously if you know a story of song then tell me, because I have yet to hear one.) Our foremothers and forefathers knew that to be Hozho’ one will constantly be in a state of conflict with forces that try to undermine us. Whether it is people or negative energies, I was taught that I was placed in this world to maintain balance and harmony. This is what it means to “walk in beauty.”

Episode III: Revenge of the Sustainable

Now since I have unloaded all that I can on the frustration I have with the Navajo government. I will present my ideas on how to make a change. For I truly believe in technology and ingenuity. I think we as a people have so much potential and are able to give the world better sources of energy, through renewable resources or something I cannot even fathom. What I mean by this is starting a Navajo Research and Development (R and D) to really explore green technology and even take notice around the world. Through this R and D I would like to see it used to harvest business, factories on making solar technology, innovative wind turbines, and storages for energy, new building materials, hydroponics, micro biological engineering and other forms of technology. This way we could find ways to build factories that give our people jobs in creating things that could help us and our environment. Our colleges and universities could be the starting point for these departments, that we can push the next generation to think of ways to push the boundaries of technology.

Funding for this will be tricky which is why I would use casinos revenue to set the stage for this program. Yet it should not be completely dependent on the casino’s money. Instead it should viewed as start up. In the meantime there should be also be an emphasis on transportation in the Navajo Nation. And no it is not buses or shuttles instead I want to talk about a magnetic rail way. In Japan they have the bullet train, but we could build on the Navajo Nation. Think of wheel on a carriage or those stage coaches, that would be the plain I would on setting the tracks and have Chinle the center of the of the tracks. This way people do not necessarily use their own vehicles. And because it is magnetic travel time would be drastically cut. Trips that tool 4 hours could be less than an hour. On top of that jobs could be created along with careers for we will need mechanics, conductors, train stations, people in those train stations. We could even partner up with other Native Nations or cities to get stations set up there. I even been thinking of hydroponics or agriculture that uses less land and in some cases no soil at all. That way they could be built vertically instead of taking room horizontally. Mainly have this places built rural places such as the eastern rim of the Nation that way families can stop depending on the fracking industries for jobs. The reason I am expressing these ideas is because I acknowledge the fact that I cannot do this on my own. I need help. Expose them to these ideas and thinking, because I believe these types of ventures is what will really bring us back from the chaos we are in now.

Episode II: The Council War

Since I gave a jest of the history of the Navajo Nation and how it was not built with the intent of helping the people. This is part of the reason on why nothing ever gets down in Window Rock or why the Navajo Nation seems to be selling its soul. It is the institution that takes in leaders who are hopeful and turn them into the very evil they thought they would fight. The Navajo Nation is still in the mind frame of “surviving” and it is not because we chose to be, rather it is foreign forces who is prolonging this illusion. They have done it through fear and coercion and violence. You can see it through out Native Nations on how they were threatened with loss of funding, death threats or incarceration. In my opinion it is done today. Money is a tool for survival today, because not many know the old ways of living on subsistence. That is why we purchase the BHP mine or we allow the fracking on the eastern rim of our nation is all for a piece of paper.

I could go on how greedy they are, but that is something I noticed after Hweeldi is how the US indoctrinated us with this idea of having to survive and only to survive. Which in my opinion has caused our people to make decisions that do not align with our core values. A way I could explain this is telling someone Santa Clause is real, then steal or take their children and tell them that Santa is real, never telling them otherwise. Only to ensure that now, that’s something they believe in and they’ll tell their children that Santa is real, thus starting a cycle that is hard to break. I believe this is why we have leaders or people who do not really think of the impacts of their actions has.

What really made me aware of mineral colonization that is happening on the Navajo Nation was SB 2109. Regarding the thievery that Arizona was trying to commit by trying to disregard indigenous people’s water rights. Just because they do not know how conserve water and actually adapt to the land, rather than having the land adapting to them. They wanted to dismiss our rights of being caretakers of the water. From there I started to see the exploitation of coal, oil, uranium and degradation of the land. What was more unsettling is the fact it was also perpetuated by my own people. Something that I have actually come to understand on why that is. To understand on why it is so easy for mineral companies to come on to our nation, we must go back to the beginning of our Nation’s history.

Episode I: The Mineral Menace

During the time the US housed our people in concentration camps, the US military tried to create “puppet governments”. Meaning that they appoint leaders only to have those leaders to take orders from the US government. This state of mind would not go away, because after the concentration camps in Hweeldi (Bosque Redondo) our people returned to our lands with one of many conditions to be under the control of the federal government. For a while the federal government were fine with my people practicing our form of governance. A form that actually blended spirituality and ethics by having a community appoint a leader based his understandings of selflessness and also his knowledge of ceremonies. Then having that leader represent their community if ever there was a gathering of two or more other communities. Usually it would be the women who would have the say on who should be the leader, due to their awareness of people in the communities’ actions. But this caused fear due to the fact that there was pocket sized rebellions that posed a threat of another war. The US’s response was to first have prominent leaders on their side. They would give extra land, livestock or goods for leaders so this could appease them and in return they expected them to talk to the “agitators”. This worked, in means of having people to stop attacking military and federal personnel. But once the industrial revolution happened, overnight every company wanted their hands on coal and oil. To their surprise the land that our people lived on is rich in natural resources. So much so that they had to figure out a way around their own treaty (that already favored their interests) to further own interests.

I would like to take the time and define “fluency”, as it is an English word.

Fluency: the quality or condition of being fluent, in particular.

Ok that didn’t help so let me break down Fluent.

Fluent: (of a person) able to express oneself easily and articulately.

And if I break it down even further to its Latin roots it would be fluere: which means to flow or flowing. Why is this important to know? Because of Christopher Deschene Clarke, that is why. Yes his name wasn’t originally Deschene, but then again neither is Yazzie, Shirley, Begaye, Benally, nor even Tsosie an original Navajo name. But to get back on point let’s first highlight the fact that Fluency is another word to say that someone is competent to speak. A speaker who is competent can express themselves and understand others’ expression. I’m not going to defend Deschene nor will I say that the language requirement should be changed. Because I do not believe it should be changed. Rather I will explain my journey in reclaiming my languages.

As I mentioned before I am not a native-speaker, meaning I was not raised with the language and therefore do not have Navajo or Oneida as my first language. I am learning from classes, but also from my own efforts to hear songs, prayers and, if I’m blessed, both in ceremonies. As I am learning I am finding more purpose in my life. I am seeing the world different. Literally I am thinking differently in a major way. My world view is that of my people since time immemorial and it is beautiful from my point of view. I say that, because I have chosen to live my life for The People and other Onkwehon:we. Through my languages I learned that I am what was, is and will be. Therefore to help my people is to help myself for we are the same. I have also learned the earth with its animals and vegetation is for me to take care of, because we are also the same. These are concepts that me aware of my place in this world and I chose to live this way, because it is the way of my family.

The reason I am explaining what I went through while learning my languages is to show how much I value them. Even though I am not a competent speaker who cannot carry a full conversation, I will someday, I am just learning at my pace. But my situation made me think of my generation and the few people that actually speaks Navajo. It frightens me. Our ancestors did not suffer and sacrifice in the name of having our language completely forgotten. Sadly that is the path we are going towards and it is the hubris of my people, the Navajo people, to think that our population is a cushion for our language. Because it is not. In the present moment, there are children who grow up within the Navajo Nation who cannot speak. As time goes on the generation gap of speakers and those who do not speak is getting wider.

Nowhere was it more evident when Chris Deschene won the primaries. As I mentioned in my previous blog, he gave light to a wound that we had suffered from the United States policy to annihilate our identity. The reason I say that is for many years most Native Nations have taken a serious cultural blow from boarding schools. Its effects are felt even today as we do not have as many speakers as we once did. Not because it is not important, but because they tried to beat it out of us; not because it is something that we do not need, but because they tried brainwash us that it was not needed.

All these things is what created what we are today. You can call it whatever you want but I am troubled on how many people do not speak and the children who are born into this society are suffering. You can come at me with a story of how your family can speak and you have taught your children, which is great. But those words do not take account of a Nation. That is what I try to think of and try to help is not just few people, but people within our Nation and who will be born into our Nation. With that thought in mind I will present what I would do to sustain our language and maybe be a model of other Native Nations.

When I was going to UNM and getting my Minor in Navajo Linguistics. One thing always stood out in my mind, that was this idea of “Navajo Literacy”, an idea that is not my own and you’ll have to excuse me because as of the moment I forgot who wrote it. But in this concept, children should be able to write, read and speak Navajo. To achieve this, that means a lot of classes such as science, math, social studies and writing should all be done in Navajo. If our language is to thrive and not hinge on a string to survive, we must immerse our future generations into the language.

This can be done by the Navajo Nation having a stable and coherent education department whose sole goal is to create Navajo emergent schools. They would have to create classes that fosters Navajo philosophies while teaching whatever classes that is needed for school. An example is having math being taught in Navajo. Starting in elementary by adding and subtracting. From there we will have to use are language to develop expressions for geometry, algebra, and calculus. THIS CAN BE DONE, but will take intense work. We would have to expand our language and create and add words to our vocabulary. Linguistics is a great tool for this and has been done through the French language. Believe it or not there are French scholars whose job is to add words to their vocabulary. This is a real thing! Therefore I do not see any problem of utilizing the Diné Language Institute as a catalyst for our emergent schools. I have a rough idea on what school would look like and what courses should be taught. Also on a side note, English will still be taught because it makes people smarter if they are bilingual.

My ideas what schools should teach is simple. We would stick to conventional curriculum such as basic math, science and writing for Pre-k to elementary grades. As children are getting older and the course are getting complex we only need to make those concept understandable in Navajo, we could even develop an entirely new concept in the process. I know not everything cannot be perfectly translated in Navajo, but I am counting on that to happen. I believe that in all indigenous languages, holds ideas that could heighten what western ideas have for math or science. Because our people knew what math was, astrology and some forms of science, way before any European came to these lands. The only reason the Euro-American society denies us these ideas about ourselves is a racist history that even today believes that all non-white cultures were inferior to white “modern” culture. But this is a lie.

This is just the foundation to what I believe could be the start of everything in the Navajo Nation being in Navajo. Because I have been to Widow Rock and the only time Navajo is spoken is during the council sessions. Documents and communication is mostly done through English. So to treat this problem, people must first be educated to write, translate and read in Navajo. From there it can be a ripple effect for other departments and other communities to retain Native-speakers.