Closer to Home: Living Conditions within the Navajo Nation

Mia Haceesa- Navajo Nation

Mia Haceesa SHP- Fall.webm

My Research

Living Conditions - Navajo Relief Fund.

“Living Conditions - Navajo Relief Fund.” A Program of Partnership With Native Americans, 2017, www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nrf_livingconditions

This article is talking about the different challenges that Navajo Nation face everyday. These problems are economics, health, and housing. Within the Navajo Nation, Tribal and Federal governments are the largest employers. Many people live miles and miles away from different towns and cities, so they have to travel far distances to look for jobs. Since they live so far, people who have kids often have to leave them with their grandparents. Which is how some of them end up growing up with their grandparents instead of their parents. Just to help provide for their families. Not only jobs, but housings. On the reservation many people don’t have clean running water, or electricity. Or their 2 bedroom home can have 10 to 15 people. These housing situations are made worse because people know that they need to be repaired but can’t do much about it. “About one-third of Navajo homes are deficient in plumbing and kitchen facilities and do not have bedrooms. About 15% of Navajo homes lack water. About 90,000 Native American families are homeless or under-housed.”(Living Conditions - Navajo Relief Fund.)

A Forgotten Health Crisis in Navajo Lands.

Linn, Amy. “A Forgotten Health Crisis in Navajo Lands.” Center for Health Journalism, 24 July 2018, www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/2018/07/08/forgotten-health-crisis-navajo-lands.

This article was talking about Linn who was doing a report about the Navajo Nation. She went to a, “School that was troubled in almost every way, Gallup Central Alternative High School.” (Linn) . Which was a rundown building, surrounded by a ghost town. That had the lowest test scores and the highest dropout rate in the state. Linn had asked the principal, what problems were the worst? She had expected poverty, childhood trauma, etc, but she was shocked when he said roads. Roads in the Navajo Nation is terrible. Washboard, 3ft deep potholes, dirt roads. “More than a third of the Díne people live without electricity, paved roads, cell phone service, landlines, safe housing or other essentials or modern life.” (Linn) With roads being so bad, school buses cannot pick up students. Even then, the parents cannot take their kids to school because most don’t have vehicles. Winter is especially the hardest; buses get stuck, slip off the roads; which makes the students late. With that being said, many people have to travel 20+ miles just to haul water in their plastic containers. Most of the time, the water they collect is contaminated! And they still live off of that. Some people live off of 10 gallons of water a day! In addition, the housing within the Navajo Nation is getting worse and worse. Some homes have poor roofing, lack of heat, etc.

An investigation into living conditions in the Navajo nation of the southwestern United States

Donaghy, Nina. “An investigation into living conditions in the Navajo nation of the southwestern United States.” YouTube, CGTN Americas Now, Jan 29, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APwUDx3mZ70

Within this YouTube video the “Americas NOW” Nina Donaghy has been doing an investigation on the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation “stretches” up to 25,000 square miles across the parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. They discuss a treaty that “splits” up the Navajos territory. Which in our case leaves us in the middle of nowhere with barely any water, electricity and resources. Then it turns out that the Navajo Nation land is RICH with natural resources, within these “treaties” the navajos have very little control over their own resources. Nina Donaghy has then started an investigation on why the Navajo people are living in “third world” conditions.

An Historical Overview of the Navajo Relocation

Lacerenza, Deborah. “An Historical Overview of the Navajo Relocation.” Cultural Survival, 1 Sept. 1988, www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/historical-overview-navajo-relocation.

This article is a historical overview of the Navajo Relocation. It talks about the search for minerals, land history, creations of tribal councils, hopi reservation, big business interests, land disputes and mineral rights and resettlement and relocation. It provides very good information; in the beginning it talks about the Long Walk. How our Navajo ancestors had to walk 400 miles to Fort Sumter. Thousands of people were killed or hurt during the walk. It also talks about how the 1868 Treaty at Fort Sumter had officially been added to the Navajo reservation. Which allowed the Navajos to return from four years of internment, but to only a small portion of their ancestral homeland. “The Navajo reservation was established to keep the people confined to a specific area of land. In contrast, a reservation surrounding Hopi villages was created expressly to keep certain non-Indian peoples out of the area.” (Lacerenza)

Life on the pine ridge native american reservation

Strickland, Patrick. “Life on the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation.” US & Canada News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 2 Nov. 2016, www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/11/02/life-on-the-pine-ridge-native-american-reservation/?gb=true.

This article was talking about how the Pine Ridge community has been going through many obstacles. Poverty, Water issues, basically everything the Navajos are going through the Pine Ridge is in the same boat. This was mostly an interview of how the Morrison’s family have gone through their time living within their community. Then they had interviewed a local teacher, Cheryl, who was talking about the different obstacles that students have to face on a daily basis. During the first few years that she was a teacher, Cheryl would grow frustrated when students came to class tired and unprepared. “After a while, I understood where they’re coming from because of what their conditions were at home.”(Strickland) “Explaining that many of her students live in crowded homes with multiple families and little parental supervision, she says: “There’s overcrowding and no [study] supplies at home, or no beds. Some of them sleep on floors or wherever they can, and then they’re expected to perform 100 percent. To make matters worse, teachers like Cheryl often struggle with underfunding and a lack of school supplies, turning to nonprofit organisations for help.” (Strickland) The article also talks about the history behind their land and communities. “The present-day poverty gripping many indigenous communities – on and off reservations – is firmly rooted in the historical laundry list of massacres, ethnic cleansing, land theft and broken treaties endured by indigenous people in North America, says Estes. “The fact is that Natives are poor not because they failed at civilisation. Before colonizers came we were not considered poor. We had plenty,” he argues.''” (Strickland)

Canada: Inuit, Metis, First Nations Communities

Sawchuk, Joe. “Social Conditions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 31 Oct. 2011, thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/native-people-social-conditions.

Inuit, Metis and the First Nations; they discuss how they have to deal with “poverty” Dealing with water contaminations, scarce food, improper housing, having many generations in one household. “Mould, bug infestations, inadequate heating and contaminated water , are just some of the issues that plague First Nations peoples living on reserves.” (Sawchuk) The social conditions that the Canadian tribes have to deal with, “Social conditions, including health, income, education, employment and community, contribute to the well-being of all people. Among the Indigenous population in Canada (i.e., First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples), social conditions have been impacted by the dispossession of cultural traditions, social inequities, prejudice and discrimination. Social conditions also vary greatly according to factors such as place of residence, income level, and family and cultural factors. While progress with respect to social conditions is being achieved, gaps between the social and economic conditions of Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people in Canada persist.”(Sawchuk)

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