Navajo Code Talkers
by Chandler Hood
American Icon Project
The American Icon project required students to choose a figure, group, or thing that has influenced American culture. Students were to create a black and white self-portrait photograph that depicted their icon, or the effects their icon has had on American culture. Each self portrait was to be accompanied by a one page artist statement explaining the icon’s place in the continuum of American icons, and how has the icon inspired the student and other individuals.
Artist Statement
I was nine years old when I realized the importance of the Navajo code talkers. I remember sitting in my room assembling legos when I heard my dad call me from another part of the house. I set down my bricks of assorted colors and walked into the living room. As I walked in, I saw my dad sitting on the couch grasping a box. Standing in front of my dad, I glanced down to see a man lying in the box staring at me through the glossy plastic, and below that plastic a label read “Navajo Code Talker” in bold red letters.
My dad handed me the box; I turned the box over and read a summary recognizing the pivotal role the Navajo code talkers played during WWII by using their language to code U.S. military communications, thus preventing Japanese forces from obtaining valuable information.
Although my father had already told me most of this information, I had never previously imagined the intensity of the Navajo code talkers’ service. Next to the summary was an exposed portion of the man’s back accompanied by the words, “Press Here!” I pressed the button and those words wrapped around my mind and teleported me to the islands of Pacific where I saw the man in the box, along with several of his friends, storming onto the gloomy beaches of Iwo Jima while dodging machine-gun fire. These men dove into fox holes and shouted radio transmissions coded in their own language, the same language that had brought me to this battlefield scene. I saw Japanese soldiers furiously trying to break the code these men spoke, but failing to understand a single word spoken. These Navajo men, the icons of my culture, fought not only on the behalf of the United States, but also the Navajo nation.
The Navajo code talkers embody a fusion of patriotism and cultural pride that has inspired many Navajo people to join the U.S. armed forces. My great uncle Jimmy’s service as a Navajo code talker during WWII led my father and my father’s brothers to join the armed forces and develop a deeper sense of cultural pride. My father has handed me the baton of cultural identity and devotion to one’s country; I am now determined to pass the baton to the next generation of Navajos. The Navajo code talkers are the heroes within my culture; they have subsequently taught me, and thousands of other Navajo tribe members, that one can embrace both their heritage and national citizenship without internal conflict.
Reflection
The American Icon project required students to choose a figure, group, or thing that has influenced American culture. Students were to create a black and white self-portrait photograph that depicted their icon, or the effects their icon has had on American culture. Each self portrait was to be accompanied by a one page artist statement explaining the icon’s place in the continuum of American icons, and how has the icon inspired the student as well as other individuals.
I strongly communicated the importance of the Navajo code talkers to the reader by means of my self-portrait and artist statement. I wrote about why the Navajo code talkers were inspirational to me and everyone else within the Navajo culture. My artist statement easily related to a large audience because I explained that one’s own heritage and national citizenship do not have to be conflicting components of one’s own personal identity. My self portrait stands out as a very powerful image representing cultural pride and patriotism.
I am very proud of several components of my final product. My self portrait clearly depicted the Navajo code talkers as bold and patriotic figures. I believe my personal experience described within my artist statement definitively connected myself to the Navajo code talkers and grabbed the reader’s attention. When I began taking photos for my self-portrait I did not have a specific outline of the elements that I wished to include in my self-portrait. As a result, I experimented with many different elements and lightings until I finally decided which picture I wanted to use for my self-portrait. If I were to do this project again, I would make a more detailed outline of the different elements I wished to include in my final product.
Although I have displayed my Navajo culture as a defining characteristic of my identity in other projects throughout my freshman and sophomore year at High Tech High Media Arts, I felt a far greater sense of cultural pride doing so during this project.