Rez Ramblings
I'm definitely tiptoeing into this cautiously, not busting in like John Wayne. This marks my 8th year on the Navajo Reservation. I feel like I am not very qualified to speak about deep topics on the rez, yet I have enough experience to share some stories and thoughts to be a little informative. The rez is very homogeneous compared to many other Native American populations. The region, the size of West Virginia, is made up of mostly Navajo people (approximately 200,000) who are pulled between traditions and mainstream American society. This is evident in the students who walk the halls with Tupac shirts on, jam to Metallica, and miss school to attend Yeibichei cermonies. The same kids who attend the traditional Navajo ceremonies will also be seen in a Christian church and at a Native American church (peyote religion) within the same month or even week. So just like elsewhere in America, just because there is not much diversity in race does not mean diversity is absent.
Poverty and despair are very commonplace here. Third world conditions are present here and there, but overall it is not close to being a third world country like Haiti according to Tracy who has been to Haiti. In a community like Lukachukai (approximately 2000), about 80% are unemployed and in poverty. We had a brother and sister in our youth group two years ago who lived for a time under tarps strung up between broken down cars. After that they moved into a tiny, tar-paper log-cabin structure with three or four other family members. Most middle-class Americans would consider this structure to be too small for their den, let alone a whole home. We had them over to our house on weekly basis for a while. We encouraged them to keep their shoes on because their socks and feet were much filthier than the outside of their shoes. I had a student who came to me one day and said, "Mr. Crane, I did not get my homework done because my dad left my mom last night because she wouldn't drink with him anymore." I had to send that same student out of the classroom several times a week to take showers at the dorm because he stunk so bad. He joined our youth group and wanted to be different than his family. He enrolled at a quality school in Holbrook where he lived in the dorm. He made A's and made us proud. He was on his way until he dropped out and started drinking just like his dad. He missed the rez. We are good friends with a family of six who we give gas money, clothes, beds, and the like to so that they are a little more comfortable. They thank us and tell us they will come to church. They always make it to the church when there is a big dinner afterwards. One day their truck didn't start. I asked what was wrong. The mom said the truck had been witched and needed a ceremony done. She recently had another baby, and a little more welfare money will come her way. Tracy estimates that the average number of children for each of her patients at the clinic is at least five. We know at least two ladies that are younger than I am (31) who have at least 10 children. I hardly know any men here that are my age. Most of them have either dropped out of society or died in tragic accidents. Car accidents, shootings, overdoses, drownings at the lake, stabbings, etc. It is sad if you dwell on it too much, but that is a great attribute of the Navajo people, they don't dwell on the negative or tragic. Their humor is very positive and playful, never sardonic. Their value of family is at a level most white people can't fathom. Over half of the students on full-ride college scholarships return to the rez without completing college for family reasons. We know a young lady who actually completed a four-year degree at the University of Connecticut and was to enter law school there. She is currently living with her mom at the base of the Chuska Mountains helping with family stuff. Taking care of the elderly and young is valued more than education, careers, or money. The Navajos' connection to the land, their sense of place, is at a level very few, if any, other cultures could comprehend. Many of my students were told by parents and grandparents that they should never move outside the sacred mountains no matter what. To give you a better understanding of geography, I'll use cities as a rough estimate, which would mean no farther west than Flagstaff, no farther south than Gallup, no farther north than Durango, and no farther east than Albuquerque. Mother Earth is revered above all else, which is hard to understand when one sees the roadsides littered with an incalculable amount of trash. Hypocrisy is everywhere humans are present, we all know that.
What about Navajo relationships with non-Navajos? Let's try to touch on that as delicately as possible. Basically if you are a non-Navajo on the rez, you are either in education or the medical field, or you may be married to a Navajo and just hanging tight. There are some other options such as trading post owner and government engineer, but not many. There are, however, many options as to why non-Navajos choose to live and work on the rez (money and comfort are not among them). There are spiritual callings, political reasons, and simplified lifestyles that attract many. There are those who are running away from something and those who are running to something. There are those who are trying to find themselves and those who are trying to lose themselves. There are those trying to be world-changers and those trying to reinvent themselves. There are hundreds of reasons one would want to move here, but personally, at the end of the day, I believe we all come away learning more than we taught; being helped more than helping; and growing more than nurturing. For me, these results are because I went from living in the majority culture to a minority culture where I became a minority within the minority culture. This was and is huge, and I recommend everyone try it for at least a month once in their life. I also went from a basically upper-middle-class environment to a very poor environment. Jesus talked about the poor much more than heaven, so living among the poor is also a huge, life-changing experience.
Eight years ago I student-taught in Kayenta. I was received like a rock star. The first weekend I was invited to a Fire Dance ceremony. The second week I was taught how to make frybread. The elementary students at the dorm where I lived couldn't wait for me to return each evening so that we could play games and laugh together. The elderly discussed history and culture with me. It was a fun learning experience. Race was never discussed in a negative way...until about half-way through. I took a group of students to the cultural center where a woman talked about the attributes of Navajo culture then compared them to the negatives of the bilagaanas (whites). She claimed white people were lazy and not in tune with the spiritual realm or hard work. I also began to notice that the 20-50 year old age bracket was not particularly encouraging or joyous about me being there. A good Navajo friend about 50 years old explained to me the great transition the people were going through. He explained that the elderly still have their language, traditions, and songs. The young still have the joy of being young and full of wonder. The in between are losing their language and are being forced into assimilating into the dominant culture of America. Many are trying to sort it out. Some take advantage of it, get an education, leave the rez, and are never seen again. Still many others become angry and bitter. My friend finished by saying that I was very blessed to be here during such a time. This is not to say I don't know any wonderful people in the in between group, I do. This group happens to encompass the ages where humans go through the "warrior stage" and feel the most inclined to fight or stand up for causes they deem worthy. I understand as much as a white man can about their longing to put "Native Pride" stickers on their trucks or stickers like "I was Indian before being Indian was cool." I try to understand their need to join the American Indian Movement or identify with black rappers whose songs spew hatred toward whites. I have had guest speakers in my classroom tell stories that denigrate whites and lift up Natives. One in particular said that when he was in Marine boot camp the Native people were the ones out in front on the runs and other physical tests while the white guys were the ones falling down crying, "So kids, don't be weak like the whites, be strong like the Navajos." Another speaker spoke of how white people treat each other poorly and are cowards in pressurized situations. I told myself I cannot fully understand as someone who comes from the dominant, white culture. I have just heard these snippets here and there, but mainly if I have truly experienced racism on the rez it has been in the form of passive aggression. When I questioned certain school policies, I was ignored. The leaders basically put their heads in the sand. Overall, the Navajo people do not confront or argue. They go out of their way to avoid confrontation and arguments. One day I simply asked the principal why the schedule was screwed up. He could tell I was perturbed and instead of addressing the issue, he started commenting on the Styrofoam boxes the kids' lunches had come in. Changing the subject is a favorite strategy.
None of these instances really bothered me because my identity is not in being white or being American. And besides, these instances and situations are pretty weak and harmless compared to how it flows the other way. Yeah, I would say that overall the Navajo people are respectful of outsiders. Gaining trust may take a year or more, but if you show you respect them and their culture, they will open up and invite you in to a whole new, colorful, exciting world. Is their still bitterness and anger about the past? Yes, that is natural when one considers the grandparents of today's elderly Navajo were part of the Long Walk, which happened in the 1860's when most white people considered Natives subhuman. It is natural when one considers their was a TB epidemic on the rez into the 1950's, ignored by white society for decades. It is natural when one considers the thousands of Navajo children shipped to boarding schools out east in the early 1900's to be "cleansed" and "civilized". It is natural when one considers today's standardized tests which have such culturally irrelevant writing prompt topics as city commissioners. Uumm, there are no cities on the rez, and what the heck is a commissioner? A council delegate yes, but a commissioner, no. It is natural when one begins to see the institutionalized racism that still goes on here to keep the minorities in their place and basically forces the young men and women to join the armed forces and fight for a government that used to fight against them. We know soldiers who have come back from Iraq and said the Iraqis didn't believe the Navajo soldiers were Americans. "Why are you fighting with the white Americans?" Ahh yes, and would WWII in the Pacific have been won if not for the Navajo Marine Code-Talkers? Probably not, and only recently, after many have already died from old age, have the Code-Talkers received a little of the huge recognition that is due them. Hollywood just screws things up more when they try to tell Native stories. A few years ago there was a movie that was supposed to be about the Navajo Code-Talkers, but instead it revolved around a white hero and his "Navajo" side-kick played by non-Navajo, Adam Beach. At least one-third of the rez population couldn't watch the movie on DVD anyway because they still don't have electricity. In the 1960's there was a president who launched a massive project to make sure white Americans in the Tennessee valley region received power. I don't see any politician today making sure all Navajo Americans have power, not to mention safe drinking water. Speaking of water, on the northern edge of the rez sets the greatest environmental catastrophe in American history, Lake Powell. Did the Navajo people have a say in the controversial damming of Glen Canyon and the waters of the mighty Colorado? Of course not. Do the Navajo people receive any water from the reservoir or power from the dam's turbines? No way. Those resources are going to "important" places like Las Vegas. If Navajo students can progress, score well on standardized tests, and gain leadership positions, questions will be raised about water rights, electricity, and treating pristine places like Glen Canyon with respect. I wonder sometimes if the United States government has a vested interest in impeding the progress of Navajo students and other minority students so that those questions will not be raised.
I don't want to go too far. I am a big believer that God grants each human free will and responsibility. One can only blame Kit Carson or Bull Connor for today's consequences for so long. Each person needs to summon the strength and courage to make the right decisions that help us all progress together. Let's not pretend, though, that in 2008 America everything is fine and dandy with regards to race. Let's not pretend that there is still not bitterness, anger, and fear passed down from generation to generation because of racist whites and an oppressive government. Let's not pretend that our constitution was made by and for all people. Let's not pretend that the document is somehow divinely inspired and infallible. Let's get real. The constitution was made by powerful, white men to keep everything and everyone in their "proper" place (including slavery of blacks and persecution of Natives) after they saw that the Articles of Confederation were giving too much freedom to diverse groups of people. Let's get real. Racism is alive and well in America in 2008. It is here on the Navajo Nation just as it is in the city or small-town Indiana. Let's get real. The minorities who have been oppressed for decades have righteous anger that is sometimes expressed.
If you follow current events, you know my timing with this is impeccable. I hope that if you are reading this, you can come visit or live on the rez for yourself. It is a wonderful place. You will be stretched and challenged. The land and people inspire and calm you at the same time. We hope to come back here after I am done with med school. Most Navajos welcome people from the outside who sincerely want to help and learn. So come on out. Take our place for about seven years or so (I cried as I wrote that). Leave all sarcasm at home. Be able to poke fun at yourself. Laugh easily. Listen more than talk. Find your identity in something else other than yourself, your job, your family, your race, or your country. I try to center my identity in Christ, so I fully expect, no matter where I am, to be made fun of, to be persecuted, to be stomped on. It goes with the territory.
Thanks for listening and happy belated St. Patty's Day! At some point in our lives we will all have to try and drive the snakes off the island!
Poverty and despair are very commonplace here. Third world conditions are present here and there, but overall it is not close to being a third world country like Haiti according to Tracy who has been to Haiti. In a community like Lukachukai (approximately 2000), about 80% are unemployed and in poverty. We had a brother and sister in our youth group two years ago who lived for a time under tarps strung up between broken down cars. After that they moved into a tiny, tar-paper log-cabin structure with three or four other family members. Most middle-class Americans would consider this structure to be too small for their den, let alone a whole home. We had them over to our house on weekly basis for a while. We encouraged them to keep their shoes on because their socks and feet were much filthier than the outside of their shoes. I had a student who came to me one day and said, "Mr. Crane, I did not get my homework done because my dad left my mom last night because she wouldn't drink with him anymore." I had to send that same student out of the classroom several times a week to take showers at the dorm because he stunk so bad. He joined our youth group and wanted to be different than his family. He enrolled at a quality school in Holbrook where he lived in the dorm. He made A's and made us proud. He was on his way until he dropped out and started drinking just like his dad. He missed the rez. We are good friends with a family of six who we give gas money, clothes, beds, and the like to so that they are a little more comfortable. They thank us and tell us they will come to church. They always make it to the church when there is a big dinner afterwards. One day their truck didn't start. I asked what was wrong. The mom said the truck had been witched and needed a ceremony done. She recently had another baby, and a little more welfare money will come her way. Tracy estimates that the average number of children for each of her patients at the clinic is at least five. We know at least two ladies that are younger than I am (31) who have at least 10 children. I hardly know any men here that are my age. Most of them have either dropped out of society or died in tragic accidents. Car accidents, shootings, overdoses, drownings at the lake, stabbings, etc. It is sad if you dwell on it too much, but that is a great attribute of the Navajo people, they don't dwell on the negative or tragic. Their humor is very positive and playful, never sardonic. Their value of family is at a level most white people can't fathom. Over half of the students on full-ride college scholarships return to the rez without completing college for family reasons. We know a young lady who actually completed a four-year degree at the University of Connecticut and was to enter law school there. She is currently living with her mom at the base of the Chuska Mountains helping with family stuff. Taking care of the elderly and young is valued more than education, careers, or money. The Navajos' connection to the land, their sense of place, is at a level very few, if any, other cultures could comprehend. Many of my students were told by parents and grandparents that they should never move outside the sacred mountains no matter what. To give you a better understanding of geography, I'll use cities as a rough estimate, which would mean no farther west than Flagstaff, no farther south than Gallup, no farther north than Durango, and no farther east than Albuquerque. Mother Earth is revered above all else, which is hard to understand when one sees the roadsides littered with an incalculable amount of trash. Hypocrisy is everywhere humans are present, we all know that.
What about Navajo relationships with non-Navajos? Let's try to touch on that as delicately as possible. Basically if you are a non-Navajo on the rez, you are either in education or the medical field, or you may be married to a Navajo and just hanging tight. There are some other options such as trading post owner and government engineer, but not many. There are, however, many options as to why non-Navajos choose to live and work on the rez (money and comfort are not among them). There are spiritual callings, political reasons, and simplified lifestyles that attract many. There are those who are running away from something and those who are running to something. There are those who are trying to find themselves and those who are trying to lose themselves. There are those trying to be world-changers and those trying to reinvent themselves. There are hundreds of reasons one would want to move here, but personally, at the end of the day, I believe we all come away learning more than we taught; being helped more than helping; and growing more than nurturing. For me, these results are because I went from living in the majority culture to a minority culture where I became a minority within the minority culture. This was and is huge, and I recommend everyone try it for at least a month once in their life. I also went from a basically upper-middle-class environment to a very poor environment. Jesus talked about the poor much more than heaven, so living among the poor is also a huge, life-changing experience.
Eight years ago I student-taught in Kayenta. I was received like a rock star. The first weekend I was invited to a Fire Dance ceremony. The second week I was taught how to make frybread. The elementary students at the dorm where I lived couldn't wait for me to return each evening so that we could play games and laugh together. The elderly discussed history and culture with me. It was a fun learning experience. Race was never discussed in a negative way...until about half-way through. I took a group of students to the cultural center where a woman talked about the attributes of Navajo culture then compared them to the negatives of the bilagaanas (whites). She claimed white people were lazy and not in tune with the spiritual realm or hard work. I also began to notice that the 20-50 year old age bracket was not particularly encouraging or joyous about me being there. A good Navajo friend about 50 years old explained to me the great transition the people were going through. He explained that the elderly still have their language, traditions, and songs. The young still have the joy of being young and full of wonder. The in between are losing their language and are being forced into assimilating into the dominant culture of America. Many are trying to sort it out. Some take advantage of it, get an education, leave the rez, and are never seen again. Still many others become angry and bitter. My friend finished by saying that I was very blessed to be here during such a time. This is not to say I don't know any wonderful people in the in between group, I do. This group happens to encompass the ages where humans go through the "warrior stage" and feel the most inclined to fight or stand up for causes they deem worthy. I understand as much as a white man can about their longing to put "Native Pride" stickers on their trucks or stickers like "I was Indian before being Indian was cool." I try to understand their need to join the American Indian Movement or identify with black rappers whose songs spew hatred toward whites. I have had guest speakers in my classroom tell stories that denigrate whites and lift up Natives. One in particular said that when he was in Marine boot camp the Native people were the ones out in front on the runs and other physical tests while the white guys were the ones falling down crying, "So kids, don't be weak like the whites, be strong like the Navajos." Another speaker spoke of how white people treat each other poorly and are cowards in pressurized situations. I told myself I cannot fully understand as someone who comes from the dominant, white culture. I have just heard these snippets here and there, but mainly if I have truly experienced racism on the rez it has been in the form of passive aggression. When I questioned certain school policies, I was ignored. The leaders basically put their heads in the sand. Overall, the Navajo people do not confront or argue. They go out of their way to avoid confrontation and arguments. One day I simply asked the principal why the schedule was screwed up. He could tell I was perturbed and instead of addressing the issue, he started commenting on the Styrofoam boxes the kids' lunches had come in. Changing the subject is a favorite strategy.
None of these instances really bothered me because my identity is not in being white or being American. And besides, these instances and situations are pretty weak and harmless compared to how it flows the other way. Yeah, I would say that overall the Navajo people are respectful of outsiders. Gaining trust may take a year or more, but if you show you respect them and their culture, they will open up and invite you in to a whole new, colorful, exciting world. Is their still bitterness and anger about the past? Yes, that is natural when one considers the grandparents of today's elderly Navajo were part of the Long Walk, which happened in the 1860's when most white people considered Natives subhuman. It is natural when one considers their was a TB epidemic on the rez into the 1950's, ignored by white society for decades. It is natural when one considers the thousands of Navajo children shipped to boarding schools out east in the early 1900's to be "cleansed" and "civilized". It is natural when one considers today's standardized tests which have such culturally irrelevant writing prompt topics as city commissioners. Uumm, there are no cities on the rez, and what the heck is a commissioner? A council delegate yes, but a commissioner, no. It is natural when one begins to see the institutionalized racism that still goes on here to keep the minorities in their place and basically forces the young men and women to join the armed forces and fight for a government that used to fight against them. We know soldiers who have come back from Iraq and said the Iraqis didn't believe the Navajo soldiers were Americans. "Why are you fighting with the white Americans?" Ahh yes, and would WWII in the Pacific have been won if not for the Navajo Marine Code-Talkers? Probably not, and only recently, after many have already died from old age, have the Code-Talkers received a little of the huge recognition that is due them. Hollywood just screws things up more when they try to tell Native stories. A few years ago there was a movie that was supposed to be about the Navajo Code-Talkers, but instead it revolved around a white hero and his "Navajo" side-kick played by non-Navajo, Adam Beach. At least one-third of the rez population couldn't watch the movie on DVD anyway because they still don't have electricity. In the 1960's there was a president who launched a massive project to make sure white Americans in the Tennessee valley region received power. I don't see any politician today making sure all Navajo Americans have power, not to mention safe drinking water. Speaking of water, on the northern edge of the rez sets the greatest environmental catastrophe in American history, Lake Powell. Did the Navajo people have a say in the controversial damming of Glen Canyon and the waters of the mighty Colorado? Of course not. Do the Navajo people receive any water from the reservoir or power from the dam's turbines? No way. Those resources are going to "important" places like Las Vegas. If Navajo students can progress, score well on standardized tests, and gain leadership positions, questions will be raised about water rights, electricity, and treating pristine places like Glen Canyon with respect. I wonder sometimes if the United States government has a vested interest in impeding the progress of Navajo students and other minority students so that those questions will not be raised.
I don't want to go too far. I am a big believer that God grants each human free will and responsibility. One can only blame Kit Carson or Bull Connor for today's consequences for so long. Each person needs to summon the strength and courage to make the right decisions that help us all progress together. Let's not pretend, though, that in 2008 America everything is fine and dandy with regards to race. Let's not pretend that there is still not bitterness, anger, and fear passed down from generation to generation because of racist whites and an oppressive government. Let's not pretend that our constitution was made by and for all people. Let's not pretend that the document is somehow divinely inspired and infallible. Let's get real. The constitution was made by powerful, white men to keep everything and everyone in their "proper" place (including slavery of blacks and persecution of Natives) after they saw that the Articles of Confederation were giving too much freedom to diverse groups of people. Let's get real. Racism is alive and well in America in 2008. It is here on the Navajo Nation just as it is in the city or small-town Indiana. Let's get real. The minorities who have been oppressed for decades have righteous anger that is sometimes expressed.
If you follow current events, you know my timing with this is impeccable. I hope that if you are reading this, you can come visit or live on the rez for yourself. It is a wonderful place. You will be stretched and challenged. The land and people inspire and calm you at the same time. We hope to come back here after I am done with med school. Most Navajos welcome people from the outside who sincerely want to help and learn. So come on out. Take our place for about seven years or so (I cried as I wrote that). Leave all sarcasm at home. Be able to poke fun at yourself. Laugh easily. Listen more than talk. Find your identity in something else other than yourself, your job, your family, your race, or your country. I try to center my identity in Christ, so I fully expect, no matter where I am, to be made fun of, to be persecuted, to be stomped on. It goes with the territory.
Thanks for listening and happy belated St. Patty's Day! At some point in our lives we will all have to try and drive the snakes off the island!
posted by CHUSKA NATIVES at
12:34 PM
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1 comments
Brian on the "roof" of the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park, Utah.
Sunrise through Mesa Arch above the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. 