Tsosie offended by economic infringement July 7, 2014 By Kathy Helms Dine Bureau navajo1@gallupindependent WINDOW ROCK – Representatives of the Hopi Tribe and the Pueblo of Zuni who attended the June 27 presentation by the Confluence Partners on the Grand Canyon Escalade Project walked away still opposed to the project and feeling somewhat offended. During discussion of the project at the Navajo Nation Councils Naabikiyati Committee, Delegate Leonard Tsosie took issue with Hopi and Pueblo nations surrounding Navajo land that are “trying to hamstring Navajo economic development.” We don’t infringe upon their economic development dreams. But they are infringing on ours. It’s happening in the state of New Mexico and it’s happening in the state of Arizona. What right do these tribes have to infringe upon another tribe’s economic development effort? I don’t think they have any right. What do they want us to do, be poor again?” When he was in the New Mexico Legislature, all the tribes came together to support Indian gaming and prospered as a result, Tsosie said. “Now that they made a couple of dollars, they’re saying no to their Pueblo brothers and to their Navajo brothers. They’re no longer following their Indian teaching. They’ve become the greedy, grubby capitalists.” Tsosie said that when Hopis object to the Escalade Project, “It presents a problem for me when they’re tearing down our signs over at Twin Arrows. How can you tear down a sign and then speak with credibility over here? It doesn’t jive with me.” No respect Former Hopi Tribal Chairman Vernon Masayesva and other members of the Hopi and Zuni tribes walked out of the meeting following Tsosies remarks. I couldnt believe how disrespectful legislators can become – totally unprofessional, unethical. If I was the chair up there, I would have shut him down. He just went on a rampage, calling pueblos capitalists. Capitalists! That is burning bridges,” Masayesva said. “No respect. Thats why we just walked out. Im not going to sit here and put up with it. Its an insult.” Masayesva said he and Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah put together an agreement in principle during the Navajo-Hopi land dispute. “I spent the whole summer out in Navajo camps – Star Butte, Cactus Valley, Big Mountain, Mosquito Springs – talking to Navajos about the agreement in principle. And Peterson Zah, on his own, came to Hopi and talked to the Hopi people. We built a very close relationship. Thats the kind of relationship we need – not this where hes burning it.” Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, said that in 2006, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe approved an Intergovernmental Compact and agreed to protect each others sacred sites. Then-Vice President Ben Shelly was on the negotiating team for Navajo along with President Joe Shirley Jr., and Kuwanwisiwma was on the negotiating team for Hopi. My direct question to Shelly is, Remember the compact? Dont you remember sitting across of me and talking about these exhibits? Thats the bottom line.” Hopi Tribal Chairman Herman Honanie stated in a June 12 letter to Shelly that the area in question, referred to as the “Confluence,” is among the most significant religious and sacred areas for the Hopi people and is associated with the Hopi Salt Trail. “The Escalade project will cause permanent, adverse and irreversible impact on our place of worship.” Both tribes, in good faith, agreed to settle numerous lawsuits against each other by an out-of-court settlement which resulted in the historic Intergovernmental Compact, Honanie said. By approving the master agreements for the Escalade, it is Hopis position that Navajo will violate the compact, Kuwanwisiwma said. In return for the protection of our sacred sites, the Hopi Tribe agreed to support the lifting of the Bennett Freeze. The Hopi Tribe passed a resolution and helped lobby Congress to lift the Freeze. We did our job. They need to do theirs now,” Kuwanwisiwma said. If Navajo proceeds with the Escalade Project, he said, it was very clear from Chairman Honanie: “If youre not going to back off, then the Hopi Tribe is forced to consider its legal options.” Zuni lifeline Gerald Hooee Sr. said the Zuni Tribal Council, governor and lieutenant governor have signed a resolution opposing the Confluence project. The whole Grand Canyon, in itself, and all the surrounding areas are our claim to our ancestral and aboriginal lands because our people came from the Grand Canyon. We have a lot of ancestral sites and sacred sites in that area and our spiritual ties are to the whole Grand Canyon and to that whole area. This is not only in the bottom of the Grand Canyon but up on top and all the way to all the places that our Pueblo people have always settled,” Hooee said. There are numerous sites throughout all of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah where their Zuni ancestors settled, he said. “What we do as a tribe is that we protect those areas. We dont want our ancestors to be disturbed. We dont want the landscapes to be ruined, because its all a part of Traditional Cultural Properties.” Hooey said he and other tribal members, including Octavius Seowtwa who is on the Zuni Cultural Advisory Team comprised of Zuni religious leaders, “All of us oppose these types of projects because it takes away from the landscape, it takes away from our sacred sites, it takes away from the Traditional Cultural Properties, and it takes away from these places being sacred. So every time this is going to happen – it doesnt matter who it is – were going to oppose this type of stuff, and its to protect Mother Earth and its to protect the way the lands are and to protect the way they should be. Thats why we took the time to be here. Its not just about the Hopi Tribe or anybody, but its, as a Pueblo people, to say that we want the lands kept the way they are. Keep the beauty in the land. Because this project and what they are proposing is going to take away from that whole area. Thats why were here – to support the opposition of the Confluence project,” he said. Seowtwa said Zuni has been left out of the loop and is only now getting involved because of their objections to the Escalade Project. He said he was in agreement with Hooees remarks but added that Hooee left out one bit of information. The Confluence is very important to Zuni because the Zuni River goes into the Little Colorado River which goes into the big body of the Colorado River. We make our offerings in Zuni that connects us back to the Colorado River … the place of emergence for the Zuni. The tribe is that river. So even though we might be miles from the actual river itself, we have that like a highway connection back to the Colorado River, and it does go through the Confluence where theyre planning on doing this project. It makes it really hard for us to comprehend why another tribe would be taking this venture because of not only the Zuni people, but the Hualapais, Supais, the Hopi. They all have interest and participation in places within the Colorado River itself as being a place of importance to all tribes. And here we have this one tribe that, because of greed, I guess, they want to go with this project.”
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 02:23:50 +0000
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