Dear HCN,
After 10 years of
monitoring the Diné-Hopi land dispute (HCN, 3/31/97), I’ve
never really faulted the Diné (Navajo) for their tactics,
since I would probably do the same things if I were faced with
losing my home (though I cringe at the rhetorical excess: Buying
someone a $70,000 home in Flagstaff is not
“genocide’).
But there’s something I’m missing
here. How exactly did the “Save the Whales, Save the Rain Forest,
Etc.” propaganda machine get its guns turned on the Hopis, who
happen to be a truly endangered species?
The
bottom line is this: The Hopis are compelled to take a hard line
against Diné encroachment to ensure their survival as an
independent people. Your own writer concedes as much, citing the
figure of 10,000 Diné living on the Hopi side of the fence, in
what was supposed to be a “joint-use” area.
This
has been extremely difficult for the Hopis, because their culture
places a premium on accommodation and avoidance of conflict. But
they refuse to play the victim and parade their old people in
public to appeal for pity, therefore they lose the public relations
battle to the superior marketing tactics of the opposition. The
history is that every inch of Hopi accommodation has been met with
a mile of Diné usurpation.
Though I’m often
dismayed at Diné intransigence, I do understand it. What I am
completely burned out on is their well-meaning but ignorant and
insensitive supporters and their relentless Hopi-bashing. In my
many conversations with “Big Mountain” Anglos I have found
universal ignorance about Hopi affairs and a “don’t bother me with
the facts, I know the truth” attitude. They’ve made things a lot
more painful and expensive than they needed to be.
The Diné’s problem is not the Hopis but the
reality of a rural culture with a sheep-based economy and a high
birthrate in a land that receives six inches of rain a year.
However, they are an extremely adaptable and resourceful people,
and I think their long-term success is assured. It’s time to get
off the Hopis’ back and give them their
space.
Reed Schrichte
Erie,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Hopis have a point.
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