Hopis arrest 5 Navajos for trespassing

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Hopi Rangers arrested five Navajos this week, charging them with trespassing on Hopi-Partitioned Land.

Cause of the incident was the Benally family's insistence on holding a Lakota (Sioux) Sun Dance ceremony without prior Hopi approval.

Claire Heywood, the Hopi tribal spokeswoman, said those arrested were Louise Benally, described as a part-time resident of Hopi Range Unit 262; Ruth Benally, full-time resident of Hopi Range Unit 262; Elvira Horseherder, a Navajo-Partitioned Land resident, and Ruth Benally's daughter; Joella Ashkie, full-time resident with her mother of Hopi Range Unit 262; and Pauline Whitesinger, a full-time resident of Hopi Range Unit 259.

Louise Benally, Ashkie and Whitesinger did not sign 75-year leases, known as accommodation agreements, with the Kykotsmovi government. The Hopis call them "non-signers," while Navajos call them "resisters."

Ruth Benally signed the lease and Horseherder is a relocatee.

Navajo President Kelsey A. Begaye's legal adviser, Karen Bernally, said Friday afternoon about the Big Mountain incident, "To our knowledge, the five individuals who had been detained have been released on their own recognizance."

She added that Begaye and Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor talked about the incident briefly in Flagstaff on Friday during their regular monthly meeting.

"We must note that under the specifications of the accommodation agreements, there is a judicial process that now has to be followed. We have to allow that process to take its course," Bernally said.

She said Begaye and his staff are reviewing the situation "and we will report further as comprehensive information becomes available."

Bernally's statement admitted, "The accommodation agreements require Navajo families to secure approval by the Hopi Tribe to conduct certain ceremonial practices. From our understanding the Sun Dance ceremonial performances (the incident in question) have been taking place in the Big Mountain region for quite some time for more than 10 years now and were not always part of the ceremonial practices requiring Hopi approval. However, in more recent years, the Hopi Tribe has required approval for the Sun Dance ceremony to occur."

Hopi spokeswoman Heywood's statement said the last approval was three years ago, and it was given with an explicit condition that the 1998 ceremony would be the final one on Hopi land.

"Once again groups of Navajo resisters living illegally on Hopi-Partitioned Land (HPL) and their friends are flouting the laws of the Hopi Tribe this time under the guise of participating in a religious ceremony," Heywood said. She said Ruth Benally signed in acknowledgment of Taylor's July 7, 1998, letter.

More than 100 people set up camp about seven miles north of the Rocky Ridge Boarding School, announcing they will stay until the ceremony is completed.

But Hopi Rangers set up roadblocks, and most people are turning back voluntarily, according to Acting Navajo Law Enforcement Chief Captain Francis Bradley.

Bradley said pamphlets are being distributed warning people they are subject to arrest if they go to the camp and take part in the ceremony. Bradley said Navajo police continue to monitor the situation and would go onto Hopi land only if invited in a mutual aid emergency situation.

Heywood said, "It is clear that Hopi law requires such a permit and the Benallys, as well as others seeking to use the HPL, have been repeatedly reminded of this fact."

Taylor's Chief of Staff Eugene Kaye reinforced that by saying, "We issued the 1998 permit as a goodwill gesture and clearly stated that it was to be the last Sun Dance held on the Hopi Reservation."

Hopi Land Team Chairman Cedric Kuwaninvaya responded to allegations that the Hopi Tribe is violating the Sun Dance participants' religious freedom by saying, "The Hopi Tribe's objections to this Sun Dance have nothing to do with the religious aspects of the ceremony. We are opposed to this ceremony taking place on Hopi land against our wishes. Just like any other government or landowner, the Hopi Tribe has the right to regulate the use of its land by requiring permits and by objecting to any use which violates Hopi laws."

Kuwaninvaya said the alleged trespass violates Hopi sovereignty. He also said the medicine man for 2001 Sun Dance, Joseph Chasing Horse, is a Sioux and should know that the Lakota ceremony requires the land owner's permission.

Hopi Chief Ranger Mervin Yoyetewa alleges that John Benally, a member of the host family, verbally threatened to shoot Hopi officers, or anyone else, who would try to stop the dance.

"It is remarkable that a participant in a ceremony, the supposed purpose of which is to promote peace and solidarity, would issue such threats of violence," Yoyetewa said.

Part of the route to the ceremony on the east side of Big Mountain in known as the Turquoise Trail and it is near the Hard Rock Chapter, one of the most isolated on the Navajo Reservation.

People who want to attend an undisputed Sun Dance can go to another one being hosted by the Leland Begay family in the Sagebrush Springs area 4.5 miles south of Pinon.

A family member said the purification ceremonies will be held July 15-18, with a tree ceremony on the 18th, and the actual sun dances the 19th-22nd.

No cameras or recorders of any kind are allowed, as the Sacred Mountain Sun Dance is a highly traditional observance.

 

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