Historical, political and social context of Indigenous people in New Mexico.

“The past is real and present, held in our memories and in the shape of the world. It is the ground of our being, its actuality, its particular substance. The future? The future doesn’t exist. We must create the future by our decisions, our actions, and inactions. Together with the place we live, we are co-creators of the world, bringing it into existence moment by moment.” - Dr. Viola Cordova Dr. Cordova was the 1st American Indian woman to receive a PhD in Philosophy

In any partnership and/or work with Indigenous communities, it is important to understand the historical, political and social context of that community. Understanding the past and how that has shaped the present will be critical in understanding both the challenges and opportunities in addressing the structural systemic inequities faced by Indigenous communities.

To appreciate the depth and context of history, and the magnitude of colonialism in New Mexico, it is necessary to understand the land use, policies and perspectives of Indigenous populations and communities of color which have occupied the region for thousands of years. Being the earliest occupants of New Mexico, Native Americans assert that their cultural and religious are linked to ecological health and human wellness. According to the Navajo creation story, we [humans] are all made of stars. The elements that formed the building blocks of life are in everyone and everything. Navajos believe all life requires ecologically functioning ecosystems with adequate clean air and water; a balanced existence.

Perspectives of Indigenous populations and communities of color regarding the health of communities and the environment are important to understanding present issues and future planning efforts. The land, to most Indigenous peoples of this continent, is not a commodity or inert material; it is “alive” and imbued with spirit. Landforms, the sun and air are considered revered holy deities to which their imbalance if directly tied to concepts of interconnectedness and the health of human beings. Holistic concepts of interconnectedness form the cultural world view of Native Americans and this land ethic continues to be passed on to subsequent generations through symbols, art, song, dance, story, imbedded in language and religion. Every place is associated with spirits and legends that are remembered, revered, and preserved through language and rituals. Every place is associated with spirits and legends that are remembered, preserved, and passed in through language and rituals.

For thousands of years New Mexico was a trade hub between present day United States, Canada, and central Mexico. Political views, knowledge, and stories were communicated orally. Within our recent history, policies and decisions were made that compromised human health and impacted the environment. An industrialized capitalistic world compounded by population growth and new technological advancements shifted the socio-economic system and altered land use and political structures.

This toolkit is aimed at people who want to get into policy advocacy work, or who already are and want to become a better ally/partner to native communities. The HIA process is a tool that

can aid Indigenous communities in the fight against discrimination, desecration of Indian lands, violation of treaty rights, protection of health and wellness. In any partnership and/or work with Indigenous communities, it is important to understand the historical, political and social context of that community. Understanding the past and how that has shaped the present will be critical in understanding both the challenges and opportunities in addressing the structural systemic inequities faced by Indigenous communities. Additionally, when seeking out these resources, we strongly recommend resources led by Indigenous authors, who are providing their critical perspective and understanding of a history that is often not told by those who were most impacted.

Unfortunately, most of the history of Indigenous communities and Nations is often ignored and/or misrepresented in our educational system and in the media. The result is false and misleading narratives about Native people that perpetuate bias, discrimination and the invisibility of Indigenous people. If you want to learn more about how to change this narrative, visit the Reclaiming Native Truth project. This project has developed guides for allies and Native-led organizations on how to change the narrative in policy and advocacy work: https://rnt.firstnations.org/

We have compiled a list of both national and New Mexico resources to help provide you with some initial reading.

National A brief history through an Indigenous lens created by Native Americans in Philanthropy and Candid: https://nativephilanthropy.candid.org/timeline/ https://nativephilanthropy.candid.org/native-101/ https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/what-is-settlercolonialism Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: Settler-Colonialism and Genocide Policies in North America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZxZv5LCHtQ Dr. Donald Warne: Impact of Unresolved Trauma on American Indian Health Equity at the University of Washington School of Public Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS7WKxDtkwY National Indian Health Board’s Working with Tribal Nations - a free, interactive e-course intended to build the capacity of state and federal government officials and other non-Native stakeholders to work collaboratively and effectively with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Tribal systems. The training provides background on Indigenous people's contact with Europeans, how the colonial experience has impacted the health and well-being of Tribal populations and best practices for successful engagement with Tribal governments.

New Mexico New Mexico has approximately 228,400 Native American citizens, which represent nearly 10.9% of the state’s entire population. There are 23 tribes located in New Mexico – nineteen Pueblos, three Apache tribes (the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Mescalero Apache Tribe), and the Navajo Nation, and a considerable urban Indian population.

The nineteen Pueblos are comprised of the Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zuni and Zia.

Each Tribe is a sovereign nation with its own government, lifeways, traditions, and culture; and each tribe has a unique relationship with the federal and state governments. We would recommend, where possible, to visit each of the tribal websites to learn more here. Below are a few key resources to get you started.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center - Indigenous Wisdom Curriculum Project - The project provides teachers with educational plans for K–12 students in New Mexico (download curriculum here) to learn about Pueblo culture and history. The curriculum serves as a counter-narrative to the presentation of the history of New Mexico in schools today.

All Pueblo Council of Governors - Is composed of the 20 Governors of the sovereign Pueblo nations of New Mexico and Texas with a mission to: To advocate, foster, protect and encourage the social, cultural, and traditional well-being of our Pueblo Nations. Through our inherent and sovereign rights, we will promote language, health, economic and educational advancement of all Pueblo people. See their history and timeline of events: https://www.apcg.org/journey/

Navajo History - site from Navajo Nation’s Tourism Department. The Navajo Treaty of 1868: Why Was the Navajo Journey Home so Remarkable? Digital lesson from the Smithsonian. National Museum of the American Indian.

Mescalero Apache Tribe website. See their Tribal History.

Dunbar-Ortiz , Roxanne; Ortiz, Simon. Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico. Sep 14, 2007

Etulain, Richard W. New Mexican Lives: Profiles and Historical Stories. Feb 1, 2002

LaDuke, Winona; Cruz, Sean Aaron. The Militarization of Indian Country (Makwa Enewed). Mar 1, 2013.

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. Jun 1, 2007.

Price, V.B.; Farrell, Nell. The Orphaned Land: New Mexico's Environment Since the Manhattan Project. Oct 23, 2011

Bruchac, Joseph. Navajo Long Walk: Tragic Story Of A Proud Peoples Forced March From Homeland. Apr 1, 2002.

Bosque Redondo Memorial Site (Navajo Long Walk): https://www.bosqueredondomemorial.com/

Sando, joe; Agoyo, Herman. Po'pay: Leader of the First American Revolution.

Sando. Joe. Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identity Through Centuries of Change. June , 1998.

Sando. Joe. Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History. April, 1992.

Simmons, Marc. New Mexico: An Interpretive History.

Torrez, Robert, Melzer Richard. A History of New Mexico Since Statehood.

Fonseca-Chavez, Vanessa; Romero, Levi. Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Homeland (Querencias Series).

Gonzales, Moises; Lamadrid, Enrique. Nación Genízara: Ethnogenesis, Place, and Identity in New Mexico (Querencias Series).

Marta Weigle (Editor), Levine Frances (Editor), Frances Levine (Editor). Telling New Mexico: A New History: A New History Paperback – February 16, 2009

Brooks, James. F.Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands.

Cajete, Gregory. Indigenous Community: Rekindling the Teachings of the Seventh Fire. (2015- 09-01)

Cajete, Gregory. Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence.

Kimmerer , Robin Wall Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Aug 11, 2015.

Linklater, Renee; Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Lewis. Decolonizing Trauma Work: Indigenous Stories and Strategies. May 1, 2014.

Tuhiwai Smith, Linda. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. May 8, 2012

Powell, Dana E. Landscapes of Power: Politics of Energy in the Navajo Nation (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century). Jan 5, 2018.

Bonnie Duran spotlights historical trauma in article on management of tribal lands: https://socialwork.uw.edu/news/bonnie-duran-spotlights-historical-trauma-article-management- tribal-lands

Historical Timeline of New Mexico

This brief timeline acknowledges major shifts and events in the history of Indian policies and practices towards Indigenous peoples within the state and country that have set a precedent for present issues regarding treaty land, water, and mineral rights. The U.S. government’s treatment of Indigenous communities from 1800s to early 1900s included policies of relocation, “land grabbing,” eradication and forced assimilation practices created significant health crises related to starvation, infectious disease, inadequate housing, and mistreatment, as well as substantial loss of life at the hands of the military. These experiences resonate within New Mexico Indigenous communities and are a source for deep intergenerational trauma and mistrust in the federal government today.

Historical contributions from Indigenous populations have occurred from the dawn of emergence for each People. Through the oral passage of traditional ecological knowledge, life experiential wisdom and preservation of language and spiritual practices, native scientists, religious leaders and health practitioners have been caring for generations of native people since time immemorial.

5,000 years ago (History of Corn deities and Native American People) https://newmexicohistory.org/2013/11/07/corn-deities-and-native-american-people/

Petroglyph National Monument

Thousands of images etched onto the monument’s basalt rocks reveal more than cultural heritage, world views, and traditional ideals of the inhabitants of the area; they perhaps are the physical transcript of personal dreams, revelations, and visions. The placement and orientation of these images contain cultural information, and are the documentation of historical events, environmental observation, and cosmological occurrences. According to a Pueblo elder, “The petroglyphs keep the traditions”. Some of the petroglyphs are believed to have been etched by early hunters and gathers more than 3,000 years ago. Carvings of parrots reflect the period of time when ancient trade routes of the Camino Real brought goods from Mexico to the Ancestral Pueblo people; ancestors of the current19 Indian Pueblos in New Mexico.It is estimated that 90% of the monument's petroglyphs were crafted by Rio Grande Pueblo people who lived and farmed the area from about 1300 through the late 1680’s. https://newmexicohistory.org/2015/07/22/petroglyph-national-monument/

Silver, gold, copper, and turquoise mines already in operation within the southwest prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonists. Today, New Mexico is one of the U.S. leaders in the outsourcing of uranium and potassium salts and also has prolific mines of petroleum, natural gas, coal, copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead, and molybdenum.[1]

1493 “Doctrine of Discovery” Indoctrinated by 15th century Papal Bulls which gave Christian explorers the right to claim lands they "discovered" for the crown, Spanish colonialists brought exotic goods and new technology, along with

policies of extermination of Indian culture, suppression of language, religion, government, and slavery. New settlers introduced foreign plants and animals to the region, altering the diet of Indigenous people and transforming the landscape.[2]

Pueblo Revolt of 1680

On August 10, 1680, the united Pueblo people carry out a general rebellion that drives the Spaniards out of the New Mexico colony eighty-two years after they settled there. Pueblo people and tribes of the region used traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous planning to successfully defeat the Spanish; this event is a significant event in New Mexico history.[3]

1840s – Story of Apache leader Lozen

Lozen, sister of Chihenne Apache chief Victorio (Bidu-ya), was a warrior admired for her acts of bravery and revered for her clairvoyant ability to guide her people away from danger. She inspired courage and survival in the face of danger as a humanitarian and warrior. During her life, she became a respected Apache woman warrior, seer, healer, and midwife. https://newmexicohistory.org/2015/07/21/the-story-of-lozen/

1852 Treaty with the Apaches https://newmexicohistory.org/2015/07/10/us-treaty-with-apache/

Prior to Anglo colonization in the mid-1800s, the Navajo people or Dine’ lived almost exclusively from the land (Eldridge 2014). Navajo practices reflected what sociologists and anthropologists call, “subsistence economy,” or and economy based on providing for one’s self and family through activities like farming, hunting, or the domestication of animals (White 1983).

Land was shared broadly among the Navajo people as range for sheep and places for settlement and agriculture. A family’s land is sometimes called a, “traditional use area,” where a lineage of people can claim a history of use to the place. Land control was matrilineal and descended from the mother’s family. Avery Denny said a traditional Navajo marriage requires the groom to move to the bride’s family land and work it but the land stays within the use of the maternal side. The living patterns of the Navajo

people, who moved during winter and summer seasons, determined how farming and grazing lands were allocated. Farms were usually located several miles from a family’s home (Downs 1984).

Farms were fixed to place, but grazing was mobile. Navajo families moved with their sheep during the year in search of ideal grazing lands. Historically, individual Navajo households maintained their own farms and gardens. The extended family would share goods and distribute services across clan relatives or extended kin in the area (Hill 1938).

Territorial New Mexico transitioned from Mexico to Anglo Americans through the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and by 1854, the District Court in Santa Fe ruled that under the laws of Congress, “there was no Indian country in New Mexico” and “land grabbing” became a pioneering effort as well as eradication and assimilation Indian policies.[4]

The effects of the Civil War were especially difficult on the residents of New Mexico with many officers resigning or deserting war efforts due to the need to defend their family, home, economic strife, and also to harvest or plant crops.4 Once the War ended military efforts were directed on solving the issue of Indian raids on Spanish and Pueblo settlements; Navajos were blamed for much of the raiding of food and livestock in New Mexico.

In 1862, President Lincoln decreed freedom for all slaves through his Emancipation Proclamation, and in that same year approved the establishment of, “Fort Sumner,” which was justified by General Carleton as offering protection to settlers in the Pecos River Valley from Mescalero Apache, Kiowa and Comanche Indians. Bosque Redondo would become an internment camp for Navajo and the Mescalero Apache tribes.

1863- 1669 -The Long Walk Navajos were in such large numbers and their homelands so vast that it was physically challenging to capture all. Carson employed 100 Ute Indians, who hated the Navajos, as well as Pueblos, and Hopis to help enact his “scorched earth” policy; deploying orders were to kill any Navajo resisting to surrender, burning crops and orchards, kill livestock, destroy homes, and contaminate water sources to “effectively starved the Navajo into submission”.[5]

Between the summer of 1863 and the winter of 1866, an estimated 11,500 Navajo Navajos were led, by several marches, through major cities on a forced march to a destination 400 miles away; only 8,500 reached Fort Sumner. Many Navajos who could not swim lost their lives traversing across the currents of the Rio Grande. The sick and pregnant were either left by the roadside or shot and unburied, while some women and children were captured by slave traders. Smallpox and other infectious diseases killed many incarcerated, as well as exposure from inadequate clothing, lack of shelter, and little to no fuel for fire. 6

The purpose of the Bosque Redondo reservation was to force nomadic hunter-gathers tribes of the Navajo and Apache to adopt an agrarian lifestyle and sedentary patterns similar to Pueblo Indians. By

1863, the fields that had been plowed and crops planted failed and were not harvested due to cut worms and alkaline water. Without the intended crops, Army rations were meager, which resulted in the decline of health in the native populations and human suffering. Without their traditional diets, people became sick with dysentery from drinking alkaline water from the Pecos River. Army rations of rancid bacon, uncooked flour and coffee beans contributed to further stomach ailments for the Indigenous population. Navajos would refer to this time and place as, “hweeldi” translated means “pushed aside.” 6

In what was deemed a failed attempt at resolving the “Indian problem” in New Mexico, General James Carleton was removed from command and ordered to report to duty with his regimen in Texas, on February 25, 1867. In the spring of 1868, General William T. Sherman and Colonel Samuel F. Tappan met with Navajo leaders, Barboncito and Manuelito to negotiate the Treaty of 1868 which established, under Federal Law, the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation. On June 15, 1868, the Navajos began their journey home and a cavalry escort which lasted over a month. Under the Treaty, parcels of land were granted to individuals and two livestock animals promised to every man, woman, and child.5

Bosque Redondo and the Indian policies give the context for land use patterns and practices that displaced Indigenous peoples from their homelands and sacred places. Relocation, eradication, and forced assimilation practices created significant health crisis such as starvation, infectious diseases, inadequate housing, mistreatment, as well as substantial loss of life at the hands of the military. These experiences are remembered and resonate within tribal communities and are the source of deep intergenerational trauma and mistrust of the federal government today.

In the early 1800’s, the U.S. government became involved with Native American health when U.S. army physicians began treating tribes living near military posts for smallpox and other contagious diseases. In 1803, the federal government sought to decrease the spread of diseases while at the same time assimilate “The Indian” and assigned the health care of Native Americans to the War Department. Federal legislation in 1819 appropriated $10,000 to religious groups to provide medical services, then in 1832, $12,000 was appropriated by Congress specifically to hire physicians, purchase, and administer the smallpox vaccine.

In the case of Worcester v. Georgia (1831) Chief Justice John Marshall defined “trust responsibility” as the federal government, not the states, has the ‘authority over and responsibility' for matters relating to members of Indian tribes’, and four principles of federal Indian law were established:

1. Tribes retain all of their inherent sovereignty that the federal government has not encroached upon

2. The federal government, and not states, is in charge of Indian affairs

3. The federal government only deals with tribal organizations or governments that it has recognized

4. The United States has assumed a trust responsibility towards Indian nations, resulting from treaty language and from the role it has assumed with respect to limiting tribal sovereignty

In 1871 passage of the Indian Appropriation Act stated that Indian tribes would cease to be considered independent nations for the purpose of treaty negotiations.

1872: Mining Law In response to the California Gold Rush and an increase in mining gold, silver, copper, and uranium on federally designated lands in the West, the Mining Law of 1872 was designed to transfer rights from public ownership to miners. The Mining Law allows individuals and corporations, including foreign companies, to freely prospect on public lands and extract minerals from public lands without payment of royalties or rent to the federal government and constrains protections for public health and the environment. Claims may bought, sold, or transferred, and may be held in perpetuity without mining or making use of the property, in addition, the claimant may buy (legally referred to as patent) lands with mineral interests for less than $5.00 per acre. This law has not been reformed since its enactment and continues to allow permits for mineral exploration which has increased oil and gas drilling, fracking and potential reopening of uranium mining in New Mexico.[6]

1887: Dawes Act

Federal Indian policy during the period from 1870 to 1900 marked a departure from earlier policies that were dominated by removal, treaties, reservations, and even war. The purpose of the Dawes Act or General Allotment Act was to divide communally owned reservation lands by granting land allotments to individual Native Americans, “To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section ; To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section…”.

This policy’s intention was to assimilate the Native American population into mainstream “American Society” it would no longer be dependent on governing and would require less welfare aid. Often land allotted was unsuitable for farming, or more often farmers could not afford the tools and practices necessary to be self-sufficient. Children who inherited allotments and were forced to attend boarding schools far distances away could not utilize their farming allotments and the holding increasingly became smaller to the extent that farming was no longer feasible.[7]

Indian Boarding School Era

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of the treaties that created reservations, the government paid Christian missionaries of various denominations to educate and assimilate Native American children and eradicate their culture. Many children were forcefully removed from their homes in order to meet the compliance agreed to in the treaties. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) founded additional boarding schools based on the assimilation model of the off- reservation Carlisle Indian Industrial School that institutes policies to cut short the hair of

children, military clothing and behavior, speaking native languages were forbidden, and traditional names were replaced by new European-American names.

Boarding schools emphasized skills that the government thought would best be needed on reservations such as agriculture and domestic chores. During the summer, students living far from their homelands often lived with local farm families and townspeople, providing labor at low cost to the families. (Bosworth, Dee Ann. "American Indian Boarding Schools: An Exploration of Global, Ethnic & Cultural Cleansing" (PDF). www.sagchip.org. Mount Pleasant, Michigan: The Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways. February 7, 2015).

Forced assimilation practices used violent corrective action including physical, mental and sexual abuse. Intimidation and fear. Students were expected to return to tribes and induce assimilation practices within their communities. Disconnection from cultural practices, loss of language, and posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from the trauma of boarding schools created conflict within Indian societies.

Coal mining began in the early 1900s but gain significance in the 1930s. Coal was a small industry run by families who would sell within their communities. In the 1930s, those small coal industries would be centralized under the government based on stricter regulations. These regulations were put in place to conserve the land, under Collier’s influence, and provide a safer environment for the workers. This limited the number of coal mines operated by Navajos but allowed for larger companies to enter the coal industry. Coal became linked to a larger moment in Navajo land history, the Navajo-Hopi land dispute. The Executive order of 1882 was the beginning of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute as it created the Joint Use Area (O'Neill 2005).

The passage of the Metalliferous Minerals Leasing Act of 1918 and the General Leasing Act of 1920, led to mineral exploitation on Indian land. This caused a flood of prospectors and private companies onto Indian land seeking minerals and mining opportunities, the Navajo Nation being one of the many tribes. Mineral extraction has led to a larger and organized government that provides more services, and a shift towards a wage economy.

1934: Reorganization Act The Indian Reorganization Act or Wheeler-Howard Act was a measure that was designed to address the deplorable state of life on the reservations that the Meriam Survey of 1928 reported was the result of the Dawes Act. The Reorganization Act effectively decreased federal control and increase Indian Nations’ self –government. The act reduced the practice of allotment of tribal communal lands to individuals and encouraged tribal government to reform to the policies and practices of the U.S. government in the form of constitutions and charters. Credit funds were made available to tribal government for the purchase of land in which millions of acres were added to reservations. Funds also allowed for improved health and education.[8]

1930s-40s Livestock reduction

During the Great Depression, New Mexico became part of the Dust Bowel experiencing extreme drought failed farming, decline in mining and cattle ranching activities. In a 1930 report to the U.S. government, serious erosion of the landscape on different parts of the Navajo reservation was observed and a reduction in livestock was recommended. It was argued that the land’s animal carrying capacity had been surpassed and environmental degradation as well as drought conditions was contributing to immense dust haboobs that blew to the Central Plain and MidWest regions. An estimated capacity for sheep was about 500,000, and Navajos were thought to own 2 million.

Oil revenue since the first lease to 1937 was $1,227,7045.19 but oil was in decline due to other oil fields being discovered in New Mexico (Kelly 1968). Oil regained a small boost when it was discovered in Aneth, Utah and produced revenue of $76.5 million (Iverson 2002, 220). Oil played a role in creating the first form of tribal government and expanding the Navajo boundaries. Its discovery prompted the creation of government that was intended to represent the Navajo people and allow the approval of mineral leases. Its revenue also allowed the Navajo government to buy new lands and expand the Navajo reservation (Kelly 1968, 103).

By 1938, Hill noted that the inheritance system was shifting toward patriarchal systems of control (1938). To this day, this sudden imposition of patriarchy has engendered land disputes in the Navajo Nation. Livestock reduction caused a lot of sorrow and grief. Considering the importance of sheep in Navajo culture and life, the reduction was seen as a strike against the people and their wealth (Bailey and Bailey 1986, Weisiger 2011).

Spanish explorers and colonists brought sheep and horses and Navajos increased their flocks of sheep and herds of horses again after the government killed many animals during the Long Walk. Their sheep provided cash income; wool and meat was sold at local markets, as well as Navajo woven rugs and blankets. Livestock was a measure of wealth and the animals considered gifts from the Holy People. The government mandated quotas for animal land occupancy and when the Navajo Nation could not get its residents to voluntarily comply, the government slaughtered thousands of animals without compensation to the Navajo; this act is considered the Second Long Walk, because of the devastating effects that it had on the Navajo way of life and their economy.

In 1942, During World War II, it was imperative that the U.S. secure communications in order to get the upperhand in war with the Japanese who were brilliant cryptographers and adept at breaking codes. At the time, Dine bizaad, the Navajo language was not written nor an alphabet developed yet. The U.S. recruited 200, young and fit for combat (16-35 years), well educated Navajos from Indian agencies at Fort Wingate and Shiprock, NM and Fort Defiance, Az to assist as communications specialists. An estimated 421 code talkers were mostly assigned to combat units overseas, and most returned home. “When I was going to boarding school [before the war], the U.S. government told us not to speak Navajo, but during the war, they wanted us to speak it! In combat he thought that is he could return home safely, he wanted to become a

Navajo language teacher and educate young Navajos.” Teddy Draper Sr said. When code talkers returned to the reservation, unemployment was high and jobs weren’t available. The G.I. bill provided money for home loans to veterans, but banks refused to grant loans to Navajos because their land parcels were held in trust and they had no proof of title http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers.htm

On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in New Mexico. The rural towns surrounding this site were never warned of the test and thought the world was ending during the actual event. News of this event, and the knowledge of the government’s power and desire for control, traveled throughout the state and must have frightened all communities of color.

Uranium mining started in the 1940s though 1971. Navajo men were paid a low wage, sometimes below minimum wage, unbeknown were the dangers of radiation exposure and lung cancer linked to inhalation of uranium. The only U.S. government remedy for the hazardous conditions of uranium mining was ventilation. Many Navajo miners came home with yellow dust covered clothing, held their children covered in dust, used uranium waste tailing rocks as building material for their homes, drank off of springs containing uranium and thus became ill along with their families during the early 1960s and 1970s and could no longer work in the mines.

1948 Pueblo People Win the Right to Vote

Miguel Trujillo of Isleta Pueblo, a United States Marine Corp veteran of World War II, attempts to register to vote in 1948 and when he is denied successfully brings suit, known as Trujillo v. Garley, against the Recorder of Valencia County.

1910–1997 Public Health leader: Annie Dodge Wauneka: https://www.nmhistoricwomen.org/location/annie-dodge-wauneka/

Dr.Annie Dodge Wauneka was a politician and public health activist who worked tirelessly to reconcile differences between Western and Navajo traditions in healthcare, especially in the fight against tuberculosis. She was the daughter of prominent Navajo leader, Henry Chee Dodge.

July 16, 1945 - Trinity Bomb

The truth about the “Great Discovery” is that there were significant amounts of people, poor communities of color, living in the area of Los Alamos and the “Trinity Site” at the time of atomic testing. These communities continue to experience health and safety risks due to the lack of clean-up at the lab’s waste areas, as well as from continued nuclear research that continues to generate waste piles and contaminant discharges into New Mexico bodies of water.

The Tularosa Downwinders HIA is an example of how advocates were able to engage state leaders to address a policy change for health care compensation to impacted individuals.

Lincoln, Otero, Sierra, Socorro Counties – HIA: Potential Impact of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments on the Health of People of New Mexico

1956 Indian Relocation

The Indian Relocation Act was an adult vocational training program that encouraged Native Americans to leave reservations, acquire vocational skills and find employment within major metropolis. Assimilation into the general population would decrease federal welfare dependence and increase the consumer tax base for the U.S.

1959-1975 –Vietnam War

During the 1950s, the fear of the spread of Communism was apparent in the administration of the U.S. Perhaps due to lack of job on reservations or a land stewardship ethic, Native Americans became the largest ethnic group serving in this war with more than 42,000 Native Americans served in Vietnam. The outcome of war would be different than any other before with men and women returning, some with horrible memories of the atrocities witnessed, many more missing in action. Alcohol and drugs were used overseas by military personnel and upon returning home, many veterans used these substances to cope with the trauma and pain incurred. The number of Vietnam Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is felt to be about 15 percent. Fifteen of every 100 Vietnam veterans carried the diagnosis of PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s. (Found on U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.)

During early 1960’s, the Four Corners Power Plant was built near Shiprock to take advantage of the coal resources within the area. During this time, grassroots organizing began advocating for the health of surrounding communities with concern for the environmental effects of coal and uranium production and extraction, Early protestors were often silenced through bribes, threats, and violence. Members of the American Indian Movement joined traditional and environmental activists, the Coalition for Navajo Liberation (protesting uranium) and other Navajo groups formed.[9] Traditional Navajos who remained on their homelands possess a deep cultural connection to the land and sense of stewardship that is based on traditional teachings and religious moral beliefs.

Navajo-Hopi land dispute

By 1970, the Hopi government created ordinances that labeled Navajo stock on Hopi land as trespassing and subject to impoundment. To ameliorate “conflict” created entirely by the federal government, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act in 1975 that authorized a crude partition of land and the forced relocation of 100 Hopis and an estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Navajo people from their homelands (Benedek 1992, Benally 2011).

In 1974, Congress passed a Public Law 93-531 which created a Relocation Commission which forcibly relocated 10,000 Navajos and 100 Hopis out of their homelands for a Peabody Coal strip mine. Those who opposed or resisted relocation faced punitive actions such as: livestock seizures, fencing by government, a housing construction ban, and other types of harassment. The Four Corners area would be called a, “Land Sacrifice Zone”. [10]

For more than 40 years, Navajo families who refused to comply with federal orders to move were harassed by Hopi rangers and police and were disallowed from improving their homes, something referred to as the “Bennett Freeze” named after the former Commissioner of Indian Affairs who proclaimed the absurdity in 1966. President Obama lifted “the freeze” in 2009. Still, the partition exists and Navajo families living on “Hopi” partitioned land have little right to their ancestral lands.

1970 Return of Blue Lake to Taos

On December 15, 1970, former President Richard M. Nixon signed into affect Public Law 91- 550, approved in a bipartisan manner by the United States Congress. In speaking of the Bill’s significance, President Nixon stated, “This is a bill that represents justice, because in 1906 an injustice was done in which land involved in this bill, 48,000 acres, was taken from the Indians involved, the Taos Pueblo Indians. https://taospueblo.com/blue-lake/

In 1971, President Richard Nixon presented the code talkers with a certificate of appreciation for their patriotism, resourcefulness, and courage” in developing an unbreakable code which saved thousands of American lives. http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers.htm

In 1973, facing an energy crisis fueled by the OPEC oil embargo, President Richard Nixon made a series of decisions that put our nation on a path toward energy independence. One of those decisions was to designate the Four Corners region as a “national energy sacrifice zone.”

1965 Navajo and Hopi Nations are fighting for the protection of Arizona burial grounds as one of the world's largest coal companies.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/10/black-mesa-mines-native-americans- demand-ancestral-bones-navajo

Uranium mining in New Mexico had become prolific and employed many Navajos. On July 16, 1979 the largest uranium waste tailing spill in the United States occurred at Church Rock, NM. More than 1,100 tons of toxic yellow cake waste flooded the Pecos River and by 8AM radioactivity was monitored 50 miles away in Gallup, NM. The surrounding towns were not alerted of the spill for days and the Rio Puerco measures over the standard limits for radioactivity.

Although the Church Rock Spill received less media coverage than that of Three Mile Island, many scholars suggest this incident was an example of environmental racism, which led to neglect from the U.S. government regarding the health and contamination clean-up. Leader of the Red Rock community continue to advocate for culturally sensitive methods to address the health of impacted communities and environmental contamination that persists.

McKinley County native leaders conducted an HIA – Looking Within: A Health Impact Assessment on Uranium Mining: http://HEP.org/resources/hia-reports/mc-hia/

Water Wars

Winters Doctrine states that water and land was reserved for Indians when their reservations were established with the intent by the U.S. government for Indians to use great quantities to develop their reservations into peaceful pastoral communities similarly to that of the Pueblos.

The Reserved Rights Doctrine

“Indians’ claims to water rest primarily on rights attaching to the reservation lands they occupy. These are not restricted to water flowing through or contiguous to the reservations, but extend to the sources of the waters as well. This means that Indian reservations have priority of the use of waters in watersheds adjacent to their reservations and can thus deprive upstream and downstream users including states of all waters except the surplus after Indian needs are fulfilled.”

As a result of the Arizona v. California case, it seems that the Navajo Nation appeared to limit its claim to upper basin waters to the 50,000 acre-feet allocated to the State of Arizona by the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact even though the upper basin waters rights for NN estimated to be many times over that allocation amount. “It shall be understood that the Navajo’s Tribe’s promise to limit its claim to 50,000 acre-feet of water per year shall only be for

the term of the lifetime of the proposed power plant, or for 50 years, whichever shall occur first..” The Navajo Nation has retained 50,000 of annual acre-feet of water, does not have a share of use of Arizona’s 50,000 annual acre-feet allocation. The tribe has a potential claim to the Colorado and San Juan rivers. It is important to note that 17,000 annual acre-feet is the estimated foreseeable use (Daniel MacMeekin-April, 1971).

Uranium Waste

In 1979, Congress authorized WIPP, and the facility was constructed during the 1980s. Congress limited WIPP to the disposal of defense-generated TRU wastes in the 1992 Land Withdrawal Act. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified WIPP for safe, long-term disposal of TRU wastes. On March 26, 1999, the first waste shipment arrived at WIPP from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is an underground disposal facility for plutonium-contaminated waste generated by the research and manufacturing of U.S. nuclear weapons. Although WIPP faced political opposition and residents of the area voiced their concerns and rejection of the facility, there is presently a need for long term disposal facilities of high level uranium waste in the United States.

1980s-2000: Economic Development

Resource extraction, lease agreements, water rights adjudication during the 70s led to the creation of jobs for many Navajo Nation and pueblo individuals.

Four Corners Region

Within the Four Corners region, there are invaluable cultural resources and scenic natural beauty such as the Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Canyon lands, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, and Chaco Canyon. These protected places face threats from aggressive mining of resources such as oil, gas, coal oil shale, and tar sands. Environmental damage is evident in the physical landscape and includes scares by nuclear weapons testing, accidental spills, nuclear waste tailing spills and seepage from leach ponds, coal strip mining and abandoned mineral mines dotting the landscape.

Dr. Lora Shields, conducted a study of Navajos in the Four Corners region. She reviewed 13,329 births at the Indian Hospital between 1964 and 1981 and found cases of cleft palate, club feet, and Down’s syndrome, with a high rate of stillbirths and infant deaths occurring before 1975.[11]

The Four Corners Power Plant is the nation’s largest source of nitrogen oxides. In 2011, the plant emitted 14,488,178 tons of carbon into the air, 24 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, 77 million pounds of nitrogen oxides, 8 million pounds of soot, and 1,297 pounds of mercury. The American Lung Association estimates that 16,000 people in the region (15 percent of the population) suffer from lung disease presumably caused by plant emissions. Coal combustion

waste from the mines supporting the Four Corners and San Juan plants contaminated local groundwater with sulfates, which led to the death of livestock. According to Earth Justice’s 2012 report, 70 million tons of coal waste (containing cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and lead) was dumped in the Navajo Mine, and 80 million tons in the San Juan mine.[12]

Ecological Cost The ecological cost of coal production is damaging, often irreversible with few options for restoration. Strip mining is used to excavate coal that is buried near the surface which destroys ecosystems by removing topsoil that contains plants, minerals, and microbes. Mining companies may completely remove portions of a mountainside or mesa to reach deeper pockets of coal thereby altering the geomorphology of the area. Denuded landscapes lead to gulling, erosion, landslides, flooding, as well as less annual precipitation due to the lack of trees to draw moisture from clouds. Water runoff from denuded areas has the potential to contaminate agricultural land within the region.

Coal slurrying and power generation drains underground aquifers and contaminates surface waters by releasing heavy sediment loads into streams and river channels which can choke fish and aquatic ecosystems. Once coal is crushed and mixed, water containing heavy metals starts to settle out and acidic water is created. This orange colored acid mine drainage can accumulate within abandoned mines and persist for decades or centuries after a mine closes. Any contact with such acid drainage would render surface water unsuitable for human consumption and kill animal organisms and aquatic life.

Battle for Water Quality and & Religious Freedom 1998 Verna Teller made history becoming the first woman governor of an Indian Pueblo in 1986, leading a historic battle over freedom of religion and the Pueblo of Isleta became the first tribe to assert its right under federal law, to establish its own water quality standards, which thereby set a new precedence for the state, and inspired other sovereign nations to set stricter water quality standards. “A tiny tribe wins big on clean water”: https://www.hcn.org/issues/123/3922

Protection of Sacred Sites 2001 Zuni Pueblo defends its sacred lake from a coal mine (https://www.hcn.org/issues/212/10769) Zuñi Salt Lake, or Fence Lake, referred to as Áshįįh by Navajos, and known as Las Salinas by Hispanic settlers; it is a neutral zone whose sanctity is shared by various Native American tribes of New Mexico. The Pueblo of Zuni led a historic battle that spanned nearly two decades to protect this sacred site from a proposed coal mine and oil development, which threatened the area’s ground water, natural resources, and rights to religion freedom and the continuation of traditional beliefs and activities

Dine’ Natural resources Protection Act-2005 The Navajo Nation has outlawed uranium mining and processing on its reservation, which sprawls across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and contains one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium ore.

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0721/ML072150169.pdf

Present Uranium issues Leona Morgan is part of the Nuclear Issue Study Group. A Navajo Indigenous woman from New Mexico (USA), she has participated in the COP25 to denounce how their people and lands are being nuclearized for uranium mining -that threatens to be put into motion once again-, for the currently existing uranium plants, due to the effects of the nuclear tests carried out in 1945 and to the current facilities for weapon development … and for having become the “nuclear cemetery” of the United States. Morgan claims that continuing to produce energy and nuclear waste is “a major human rights violation” and demands not to leave this legacy to future generations. Native leader, Leona Morgan, presently hosts education forums and engages in policy advocacy regarding new waste disposal sites and the legacy of uranium mine contamination and existing hazardous mixed waste dump sites. https://www.pressenza.com/2019/12/cop25-leona-morgan-continuing-to-produce-nuclear- energy-is-a-major-violation-of-human-rights/

2014 Mount Taylor has been designated a Cultural Property; the mountain is revered as a sacred entity by surrounding tribes of the area and is a place where medicinal plants are gathered, pilgrimages and cultural activities continue to occur on the mount today. Historic mining contamination has not been remediated and the mountain faces the threat of re-opening uranium mining operations. Leaders from the tribes within the Southwest region continue to advocate for the protection of sacred sites. https://www.abqjournal.com/349263/top-court-upholds-mt-taylor-designation.html

2015 There is a long history of environmental contamination of the Las Animas River prior to the Gold King mine spill of 2015. Outdoor recreational activities have decreased after the Gold King mine spill and the expenses from contaminated wells, river water, flooded agricultural fields, and hauling water for domestic purposes has further burdened the surrounding Navajo communities with unforeseen costs that the EPA has denied to recompense.

All Pueblo Council of Governors lead efforts to protect sacred sites in the Four Corners region: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/reader-view-crisis-is-opportunity-for-four- corners-region/article_4565692d-38ab-52e3-a6a6-dbab360a22be.html

2018-2020 H.R.2181 - Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2019 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2181/text Oil drilling in the Chaco Canyon area is currently a point of contention among environmentalist, archaeologists, and tribes within the region. The fate of one of the state’s most treasured archeological and cultural resources, Chaco Canyon, is uncertain at this time. In an area already experiencing contamination from the oil, gas, and uranium industry, further oil and gas production would increase risk to the heath of the environment and surrounding communities.

2020 Navajo Water Haulers

There population of 70,000 Navajos who presently do not have access to safe sources of clean water and lack running water in their homes. For Navajos choosing to live in their homelands and practice traditional farming and sheep herding, life is difficult hauling water, dealing with economic insecurity, health issues, lack of running water and often no electricity in remote regions. Traditional Navajos choose to endure such harsh conditions due to the physical, historical, and spiritual connections that the culture has to the land.

Rio Grande corridor

Diminishing water quality and quantity of flow of the lower Rio Grande basin is an environmental justice issue. This region includes some of the most disenfranchised counties in the U.S. who cannot afford to purchase more water from other sources, nor can they afford wastewater treatment for the polluted river water. Downstream communities include aquatic organisms, plants, and animals rarely get their allocated supply of water, thus impairing the ecological functions that the riparian system naturally provides.

Land contamination

Superfund sites pose immediate and future threats to the health and safety of residents. Illegal dumping and excessive contemporary packaging, combined with an increase in materialism has created a surplus of trash in poverty stricken regions of New Mexico, who have been accustomed to burning refuse rather than paying to dispose of their trash. The issue of dumping extends beyond the out-dated electronics, shopping carts, and old cars that are found dumped in arroyos and includes: animal carcasses from killing contests, used tires, industrial trash, and unwanted pets.

Migrant workers

Migrant Farm labor and New Mexico farm workers are among the poorest of the working class in United States. Present issues include: just wages, access to food security and healthcare, sexual harassment at the worksite, worker abuse, and pesticide violations due to a lack of agricultural regulation and oversight, and political representation.

COVID

Issues such as poverty, inadequate housing, unpaved roads, food desert, lack of education and employment opportunities, underfunded and lack of access to healthcare and clean water, sanitation and electricity, higher rates of suicides, chronic illnesses, exposure to pollution, nuclear colonialism, industrialization, and increasing murdered and missing Indigenous people continue to plague New Mexico’s Indigenous communities. COVID exposed underlying socio- economic conditions that are the result of and dispossession, oppression and institutional racism which exacerbated number of cases and death rates in Indigenous communities of New Mexico.

[1] New Mexico Mines-Mining Artifacts. Accessed: 11/19/16. http://www.miningartifacts.org/New-Mexico-Mines.html)

[2] Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico. University of Oaklahoma Press; 2007.

[3] Sando, Joe S.Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History. Clearlight Publishing; 1992.

[4] Sando, Joe S. Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History. Clear Light Pub; New Ed edition (April 15, 1992) Reference: pg.28-53.

[5] Bosque Redondo Memorial. Bosque Redondo Memorial.org

[6] https://www.perc.org/1997/12/01/the-mining-law-of-1872-digging-a-little-deeper/

[7] https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=50

[8] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indian-Reorganization-Act

[9] http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/05/05/dine-care-environmental-groups-sue-interior-over-navajo- coal-mine-164362

[10] Navajo Hopi Land Settlement. http://www.nnhrc.navajo- nsn.gov/docs/NewsRptResolution/070612_The_Impact_of_the_Navajo-Hopi_Land_Settlement_Act_of_1974.pdf

[11] Shields LM, Wiese WH, Skipper BJ, Charley B, Benally L. Navajo birth outcomes in the Shiprock uranium mining area. Health Physics; 63:542-51, Nov. 1992. http://www.sric.org/uranium/navajorirf.php

[12] Indian Country Today. “Dine environmental groups sue interior over Navajo coal mine”. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/05/05/dine-care-environmental-groups-sue-interior-over-navajo- coal-mine-164362