- Navajo Nation
Guns and COVID. A strange and frightening combo. But that’s what we have to discuss today’s on the subject of the Navajo Nation.
But before we get into these two topics and recent events, let’s give a brief overview of the Navajo nation – who, where, when etc. to get anyone caught up who might not know much about this group.
According to the Navajo Tourism Department, the Navajo Nation originally occupied the Four Corners area of Colorado which is where the North East corner of Arizona, meets the North West corner of New Mexico, meets the South West corner of Colorado, meets the South East corner of Utah. The four, 90* corners come together in a perfect T or cross shape… Kinda like a four square court? If you remember those. The Navajo Nation then sits straddling all of those borders but the majority of it lies in Arizona. If you just google maps “four corners Colorado,” and zoom out a little, you can see a perfect view of where the Navajo Nation sits on the map. The area is referred to on the websites as Navajoland – which I had never heard before! The land it sits on is a combination of QUOTE “arid deserts and alpine forests with high plateaus, mesas, and mountains.” END QUOTE
Like so many other groups of Native Americans, the Navajo was subjected to atrocities and was forced to walk long distances to imprisonment, resulting in death at the hands of first, Spanish settlers and later, American military commanders.
In 1863, according to NPR, General J.H. Carleton (a military leader of New Mexico) teamed up with Kit Carson (a frontiersman known for rounding up Natives) to essentially round up approximately 10 thousand Navajo and force them to walk all the way to Ft. Sumner in the South Eastern part of the state – approximately 450 miles. The sick, the elderly, and children died due to the frigid temperatures, drowning while crossing the Rio Grande river, or shot when lagging behind. Those who survived the journey were imprisoned once they reached their destination. Hunger and exposure swept through killed many more people. Pneumonia, dysentery, and smallpox all descended on the tribe and took many of their lives as well. After about four years of this torture, the Army declared it a failure and escorted the Navajo back to their homeland. But there were only 7 thousand of them still alive to make that journey. Approximately 3 thousand were killed on behalf of this failed experiment of physical and emotional toil.
According to Navajo-nsn.gov – the website run by the Navajo tribe itself on the subject — the Navajo Government was founded in 1923 and has over 110 chapters and a centralized government with 88 representatives. Their government has three branches just like the U.S. government – judicial, legislative, and executive. The Counsil Chambers are in Window Rock Arizona and Navajo language is spoken during session. They have their own Navajo Nation seal, flag, faith, and even a newspaper, the Navajo Times. So what has been reported on lately in that paper? Well, there’s been two important things I wanted to tell you guys about especially.
First, COVID. So COVID hit the Navajo Nation particularly hard. BBC stated that existing health issues, access to healthy food, and poverty on the reservation, have all played a roll in the spread of the virus. One third of the households do not have access to running water or electricity – making it difficult to sanitize their hands and spaces. Additionally, many Navajo households are multi-generational which lead to the virus reaching the elderly at a swifter pace than elsewhere.
Again, BBC reported that over 300 people have already died of the disease as of June 14th.
Fortunately, there has been a BIG PUSH from the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to get the Navajo what they need and they received $600 million dollars as part of the stimulus package. But a lot of money has come in from an unexpected place: Ireland. Why Ireland right? Well, I’ll quote the BBC on this one: QUOTE “More than $5.1 million dollars has been raised for the ‘Navajo & Hopi Families Covid-19 Relief Fund’ – a crowdfunding campaign started by former Navajo attorney general Ethel Brand. In an unusual twist, thousands of dollars have come from donors in Ireland – many paying respects to the Choctaw Indians who in 1847 donated $170 towards relief efforts in Ireland during the Great Hunger.” SO FREAKIN’ COOL & inspiring right?
So where do the guns come in?
Well, in even more recent Navajo news… The Nation might be BUYING America’s oldest gun company: Remington Arms.
As this company, among so many others, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (this is the kind where the company just gets restructured because it’s bankrupt, not actually take apart), the company is in QUOTE “advanced talks for a potential sale to the Navajo Nation” END QUOTE according to the Reuters (roy-ters) on Friday. Remington has previously filed for bankruptcy in 2018 after one of their guns, a Bushmaster AR-15-Style rifle was used to kill 20 first graders in 2012. The Navajo bid on the company back in 2018 but was rejected. Now, they seem to be back at the negotiating table. Back in 2018, the Navajo said they would re-focus Remington, if they won it, on hunting firearms and “smart gun” technologies that would essentially make it to where the gun would recognize only’s it’s owner for use making it less appealing to steal guns and making them less dangerous in the hands of children/ adolescents. We’ll see what happens!
- LOUISVILLE SHOOTING
There was a fatal shooting in Louisville Kentucky while people were gathered protesting the death of ANOTHER homicide victim, Breonna Taylor. We know that the victim was Tyler Charles Gerth, a white male age 27. We know the suspect who has been arrested had been causing trouble at the otherwise peaceful protests routinely and was asked to leave several times prior to this incident. But that’s pretty much what we know at this time. I will definitely keep you guys posted as this story unfolds.
- TAY SWEEZIE
So Taylor Swift USED to be the type to avoid any type of political discussion. But after seeming to mellow out after a little bit of a bad girl revolution, she has spoken out about a lot of issues, mostly surrounding gender.
She has now, most recently, spoken out about the census overlooking an important demographic: non-binary individuals. She said QUOTE
END QUOTE
WE COULDN’T AGREE MORE TAYLOR! We all have to get out and vote. But the most important time to vote is in LOCAL AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS. The legislature who make the vast majority of laws. Local ones, are often going to affect your life much more directly. Here in Oklahoma, we have an election THIS TUESDAY! Aka – TOMORROW. So if you haven’t researched who to vote for yet, here is your sign from the universe to DO SO NOW!
And that’s the news du jour!
I want to leave you with the quote:
“The best way to make a dream come true is to WAKE UP. “