 |
Black
Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O.
Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086 Email: blackmesais@riseup.net Newsletter:blackmesais@lists.riseup.net |
ELSIE AND MAE SHEII, BIG MOUNTAIN ELDERS:
2/24/04
(Elsie)This place over
here they call the Hopi Land,
it was fenced off some time ago. Right near our home
here by Big Mountain. Somehow the fence was cut.
During the night we see our cows went in there. A week
ago or so we heard from our neighbors that the Hopi
Rangers were around agin doing the impoundments. They
didn't warn us beforehand or anything. We rushed off
to try and get our livestock back over. We got some of
it but there were 3 cows missing. We went back to look
for it and we saw the rangers herding it up. They got
some other people's cows too but we don't know whose.
They took it to tsetsohk'id (about 50 miles away)
where the impoundment place is. We had to pay for it
in Oraibi. It took us two days of driving around and a
lot of gas to get our cows back. They charged us 270
dollars, they said it was for the labor of the rangers
and for the cows to eat their hay and water. The one
cow had a baby the day she came back, the other had a
miscarriage from the rough handling.
We didn't have much to say to them. The guy on the
horse spoke a little Navajo, he was Apache i guess. He
said to me, "look you're grandma's getting tired." I
said, "Maybe that's because you're chasing her cows
around for no reason."
These cows of ours mostly stay around the house and
eat hay. But in the old days they used to go down
there in the winter. Maybe that's why they went over
there. Its part of our old grazing range where the
fence was put through. Kii used to take care of the
cows but he doesn't get too far these days. In the old
days he would have stopped them.
I just want people to know what's going on here. It's
hard living under this.
(MAE) We barely have enough money to eat, so it was
hard to get the cows out. There's no economy here.
(Elsie) We even went to the grazing manager and the
chapter officials for Navajo to see if they could help
us but they said the money they have is not for that.
That's all.
(Elsie and May Sheii are
grandmas well over 70 years
old. Their husband Kii is the headman of the Sovereign
Dine Nation and was a longtime spokesperson for the
struggle against relocation.)
Statement translated by Rachel Whitesinger and
transcribed by Owen Johnson