Words from Kee Watchman Intl, Spokesperson for the trad Dineh communities on Black Mesa Share
Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 2:03pm | Edit Note | Delete
As I sit here, this beautiful Midsummer day morning, sipping my coffee after a refreshing morning walk along the River, with the dogs, my thoughts wander. Memories from a few years back, mix with the thoughts and feelings from the recent massacre of Indigenous persons in the Peruvian Amazon.
I still cant wrap my mind around the existing arrogance and racist mindset that governments in many countries, still maintain towards Indigenous Peoples, and I will NEVER accept it.
I would like to share with you, a speech/lecture, that mr Kee Watchman; Elder and International Spokesperson for the traditional Dineh communities of Cactus Valley/Red Willow Springs,on Black Mesa, shared with us, when he visited us here in Sweden. The text was transcribed from a video film recording that was done at the lecture - something that I am very grateful for today, when Kee has passed into the Spirit world. At his last visit here, we could all notice that he was ill. He had lost so much weight and had a hard time to eat as well, but still he decided he wanted to come over here. I remember visiting him a few months earlier and when we were sitting in his Hogan he said to me, with that stern descicive tone in his voice: - Id like to go to Sweden, again, soon. So I didn't question him...who can question an Elder...but just said: if thats what you want, we will start working for it.
Anyway, Im glad we can share his words with you at this time, and as Kee says in this lecture: we still want the Elders voices to be heard, even if they are no longer walking among us visible in this world...
Ladies n Gentlemen :-) please Welcome the words of the Honorable mr Kee Watchman:
I’ll say good afternoon, to all of my brothers and sisters, my relatives;
- I’m very honored to be here. To be invited here to speak and bring a message, from my Grandmothers, and my Grandfathers and my people back home.
I’d like to open up with some of the things that I’m needed to go over, I’m going to introduce myself, to you, and so that way you would know who I am and where I come from.
My name is Kee Watchman; I’m one of the Dineh, Navajos. Dineh is an aboriginal name of the Dineh people and Navajo was created when the Spanish came to our territory and he called us Navajo. So we are calling ourselves Dineh peoples of Big Mountain and Black Mesa area and I was raised traditional-
by My grandfathers, my grandmothers and my other relatives which have all passed on now; went back into the spirit world. So I was being taught in the traditional way. I’ve been raised through these traditional ways until I was about nine years old and then the government came looking for me, and saw that I was still running around among my peoples, so they told me to go to school. So this is what happened and then they took me away, all the way to California and I never came home for nine months.
So we, not only me, there were some other Dineh peoples, young children, so this is what they taught us and they have tried to brainwash us,they cut our hair and they treated us like soldiers and they forced us to learn to speak English; and they also tried to educate us through their Christianity, that’s what they did. So there is a lot of things that, they taught us. They taught us we had to forget about our homes, forget about your peoples, they said. You need to have a good education, up here; and they pointed up to the city of Los Angeles, so by the time when you have finished your school you need to get a job there.
So anyway, but I kept thinking about it, in my mind I still have all the teachings, all that have been given to me by my Grandfathers and my Grandmothers. So I went to school for only a few years and then I had to, kinda, escape, to come back from the school and returned back to my people; And I learned more, about the way of life, on Black Mesa.
So that is what I have been doing, since then when I was staying at home and learned some of the important things from my Grandfather. He taught me a lot about the way of life from the land, that’s the important thing that I should know, he said, so he passed on to me some of the prayers and the songs, he gave it to me so I still have to carry it on and I was being told some of these important things, about the plants that grow on the land; placed there for their medicine, placed for use of food. So this is where I learned some of these things.
So this is who I am; I was told that you have to identify, yourself, who you are. Not only to the human beings but you also have to identify yourself to the Mother Earth, to the Father Sky and the four directions, who you are.
-And stand up with the truth. So I tried to do my best- the way that the Grandfathers told me; I remember that still. He has told me that some day, you never know; some day you might have to stand up for your people, to speak for them. I never thought it was going to happen, this is back in 1981, when I was being selected by my elderly to be their spokesperson and start working with some of these outsiders, the people who have more experts on the legal works and some of their lawyers; and some of these others, they’re doctors and some of them have known some important things. So these are the people that I have to contact and start working with, those who works independently.
Before that, we used to work with our own tribal council, tribal government and we have lost a lot of these important information, on their desk, so none of them have, brought a response back to us, this is why we have to start working with the the people from the outside and then we started taking the message to different peoples, and even up here, across the ocean.
So we finally find ourselves, getting into the international levels, we are going into the United Nations and some other international institutions, we find that we start going to some of these foundations, to give them some of our information.
So this is what we’ve been doing, because there is a lot of problems that are taking place and everyday my peoples live with these problems, they have lived through a lot, and many of them have been relocated from their ancestral homelands.This is what happened back home in the Black mesa area.
And back in 1974 the United States Government came, they had put the relocation laws together, because they have seen there is a lot of coal in the Black mesa area; and some of that is shown in that map over there, the little ones, those black spots right there, that’s where the coal mining are taking place, by what they call Peabody Western coal company.
-And they wanted to continue to do the strip mining in the area where we live, so people are standing up, they need to save the lands, this is the land that is very sacred to us; it’s part of our culture and our teachings, because everything that’s still there, has been given to us by our great, great ancestors, way back in time, and even their burial sites are still there. So we don’t want this coal mining on these lands beacuse it destroys these important sites. So we try to protect it today and we don’t want this, the coal mining to destroy many of the sacred sites. Some of the sacred sites, have already been destroyed. It happened back in 1984, in the area of Cactus Valley and Red Willow Spring area, and these are the red marks right here. The United States had divided the lands, and they put up a mine there. the mining are already taking place right here and this is inside of the area, the red marks here, this is the fence, what is called the Hopi partitioned lands.
In 1974 they built a fence,on this land here. The land on that side, was awarded to the Hopi Tribal Council, and a lot of these people were being forced out, to move, to relocate, to a different place, like to the,towns; Flagstaff, Phoenix and some other border towns right there. They have relocated, and they’ve been forced out, they’ve been told they needed to relocate because if you don’t, they will be forced to. Removed under the United States marshal laws, so people who don’t understand English, they don’t speak the language or read or write and they don’t know how to write their own name, they were the ones that were really afraid.
They moved, because they don’t want to be forced out under the gunpoint. So it happened, several times, that the government, put in a deadline, that said;by the time from this, you will not be saved; you’re gonna end up a prisoner, or be forced to be somewhere else; the military, the National Guard might come around to take you away.
So this is what happen,so we never know when there might be a strip mine on our homeland in the future and this is why these peopes were removed, a lot of them peoples, but we’re a very small number of peoples that are still remaining on our lands, and we know what happened to all these other people here who have relocated; many of them didnt survive. They missed their home so much,they missed everything in their homeland and all the things that identified them and the sense of belonging.
They missed their animals that they used to have, but they were told to sell them, when they had to move, so they did. They found themselves living in towns, and they didnt know how to live there. They were faced with so many things they didn't understand.
So this is what happed. Some of them they wanted to return back to their land but the Government doesn’t allow them to return back. So that’s what happens, and some of us, we are sitting
back and we continue to be on our lands, but they still keep looking at us, they are telling us that we were trespassing on the other tribal land. So the Government, the United States government is the only one that, have control of this area.
None of the Hopi’s that were taking care of the land, and the mountains, are moving into it so now they say that the land does not belong to them, cause a huge-a strip mine is gonna be moving into the area and they want to build more power plants. The power plant that was already buildt, which is being used by these coal mines, runs the big cities. They’re sending electricity to Las Vegas and to Los Angeles and Phoenix and some other area. this is what they’re doing, and they also are using the water; this is the biggest issue today, back home in Black Mesa. -And the land is being eaten up around us; that is the biggest issue now.
The coal mines is pumping up millions of gallons of water in 24 hours and upward, so now the water is getting shorter in the aquifer. A lot of the natural springs is drying up. The people who used to collect the natural spring water to get clean drinking water and they used it for their ceremonial use too, and these days all these natural springs are dry.
Why, did it happen? I think its beacuse of the coal mines, they’re using too many gallons of water, in one minute.
So today, we have the biggest problems, that what we’re facing with the water. Now on top of this, there is a lot of pollutions, and everything from the coal mine. The dust and some other, these gases from the coals that burns, and it destroys a lot of the herbs that I was talking about, important herbs and some of the springs that are still coming back up have been contaminated. It’s not safe for our animals; and it’s not safe for us , to use it for our ceremonials.
Even today in the Hopi villages they say that they have the same problem, so we said, we need to stand together ,instead of letting the United States Government continue to using us. They’re telling us that the two tribes, the Navajo and Hopi are fighting over the land. It is not right. The only problem is the tribal council, the Navajo Nation council and the Hopi tribal council. They are the ones that are speaking from the United States federal laws. They’ve asked, you have to comply with these regulations. So the grass-root people on both sides, the Hopi and the Navajo they pretty much are, still having a lot of respect between them selves, because in the early days they had to exchange some of the bundles, way back, the ceremonial medicine bundles. So this they have to respect and after that they have intermarried; The clans, that are alike, like for instance the Eagle clan, in the Hopi village, were endangered at one time. There were just a few of them left, so one of the Hopi elders came to my Grandfathers, my Great Grandfathers was an Eagle clan, and they told him, we need one of the females Eagles clan; send her back to our village, so the Eagle clan they’re coming back up, so this is what happened, and so besides the Eagle clan, on our side there’s some Eagle clan, and Tobacco clan and Mineral waters; there’s so many different clans that are on both sides.
We have a lot of respect for these clans that are making us brothers and sisters, and our Grandchildren on both sides, and our ceremonials that we still have on both sides. So these are the things that, we still have a lot of respect for.The Government does not really respect our way of life, how we used to mix between these, our brothers and sisters, our relatives. They are dividing us in conflicts, and this is what happens today. So we plan to get back together and try to stand up, because it seems that if we don’t do so, if we don’t stick togheter, we dont send a message to the other brothers and sisters, it is not going to be safe for us very soon, we need some support, from these different peoples.
And there is a lot of things that happened, in the past under the relocations. We have lost a lot of our great, our peoples, our medicine peoples; so I just wanted to share this, the information to you and just recently, there’s some of our Grandmothers that left us, back into the spirit world; some of them they used to come up here to speak too, but we try to keep their words alive, to keep it going, we need to continue this, their words to be heard.
So I just wanted to also tell you these very important things, so all these pictures that are here, this is where I come from and this is where my, offering place is, right here and back in 1984 the Government came along with the heavy equipments to rip up the sagebrush and the trees because they wanted to do the future minings on the area. So they came across here and that same night, the shrines was on the sides of this, the whole thing was been collapsed, so it was pretty damaged much, we lost a great shrine, a lot of these medicine peoples used to come up here to make offerings.
So this is what happend.
Some of our people they started having a problem to remodel their homes and they’re not allowed do
it. They werent allowed to have their animals either, and were told by the government peoples that they were trespassing on their own land.
So these are the problems that some of our people are facing and they were told that if they didn’t make an agreement with the Hopi tribal council and the Navajo Nation council, and also the federal Government so sign what is called the ‘seventy five year lease. some of the people have signed, and they were just given back a little bit, a small amount of the animals, but they do have their permits, the Government continue to keep control, you’re gonna have to keep your limits, the animals, how many you are allowed to have according to your permits, if your herd grows so yu have a few over the allowed amount,they tell you they’re gonna take them away, and they do.
So this is what they’re doing today.
So the water and the pollutions and the mining is the main issue today; a lot of the women they have a problem with their health. I don’t know how much they breathe into their bodies during the night time, in their sleep, you know.
Some of them, the ladies they have their eyes one side were paralysed, they can’t even move their eyes any more so they just, had a lot of problems ,they’re wearing the eye glasses; some of them they have just had to wear the eye patch. It hashappened to Grandmother Catherine Smith, she has todo that; and some they say their faces kinda drop one side.
So this is the things that is going wrong today. We were talking about the biggest concern, the biggest destructions are going on, next door, Peabody coal, that’s what it is.
So this is what, I just wanted to share,this information with you, and I don’t know if there’s anything that I have left out.
So I just wanted to say that I know that some of you people wanted to, ask ‘what should we do from
Sweden? How should we help?’
And I just wanted to say that you probably might have to contact some of, our Governments, like the United States Government or write to our Tribal council, the Navajo Nation president and the Hopi Tribal council, and the Bureau of Indian affairs and tell them to stop the coalmines, instead of continue to damage a lot of these important sites, because these people now, they are pretty much in danger; that’s what I was told, tell these people, submit it, some of the resolution into the United Nations or Washington D.C, so this is what I wanted to say and thank you.
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