Hundreds of Navajos braced themselves against the
threat of forcible eviction on the eve of April 1. That was the
deadline for more than 250 families living on Arizona’s Hopi
Partitioned Land either to sign a 75-year lease with the Hopi
tribe, or move (HCN 3/31/97). Navajo supporters rallied nationwide,
staging protests in San Francisco, New York City and Flagstaff,
Ariz. But the deadline passed without a standoff, and no evictions
took place.
“Navajo resisters are giving out
misinformation,” says Kim Secakuku, spokeswoman for the Hopi tribe.
“The perception is there’s going to be this mass eviction, and
we’ve always said that’s not going to happen.”
Nevertheless, the perception was effective: Half
of the families signed a lease called an “accommodation agreement”
acknowledging Hopi control of the land. Another 59 families chose
to relocate, says Marty Thompson of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission
Office.
The 60 or so families still refusing to
sign will be served with an official notice giving them 90 days to
change their minds, Secakuku says. Even those who have already
signed a lease have three years to reconsider and still be eligible
for federal relocation benefits, she adds.
Anyone refusing these options will be considered
a trespasser. Still, Secakuku says, no evictions loom until after
the year 2001.
* Danielle
Desruisseaux
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hopis extend eviction deadline.
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