Wednesday, 2 February 2000

2 arrested in protest for Navajo land rights

By Stephanie Innes
The Arizona Daily Star

As U.S. Sen. John McCain campaigned in New Hampshire yesterday, two
protesters advocating Navajo land rights locked themselves together in a
sit-in at his Tucson office.

Tucson police arrested Kristin E. Amdahl, 23, of the 400 block of North
Wilson Avenue, and a 17-year-old youth from Phoenix, both for disorderly
conduct and trespassing. The Star is not naming the juvenile suspect.

The two were taken into custody at about 3 p.m. after city workers cut the
U-shaped bicycle locks from their necks with a hand-held grinder used for
cutting hard steel.

Tucson firefighters protected the pair from the hot metal and sparks with
heavy covers, hearing protection and water.

Amdahl, who as of last night was in the Pima County Jail in lieu of a $551
bond, was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The
youth was taken to the Pima County Juvenile Court Center.

As Amdahl and the youth were fastened neck-to-neck inside the office, about
20 demonstrators outside voiced their concerns over a settlement to the
longstanding Navajo-Hopi land dispute. The protest took place at McCain's
downtown office at 450 W. Paseo Redondo.

 

Yesterday marked the first day that Congress' accommodation agreement in the
decades-old tribal land dispute in Northern Arizona could be enforced.

A statement issued by McCain's office said the Arizona Republican ``does not
have a problem with peaceful demonstrations.''

``However, Sen. McCain does hope that protesters will maintain an orderly
presence and respect the daily operations of his local office. If public
safety is in jeopardy, we understand that authorities will be on hand to
keep the situation under control and protect public safety,'' the statement
said.

Technically, according to the 1996 legislation that McCain sponsored,
Navajos living on Hopi land without a lease as of yesterday would be
considered trespassers.

When the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act passed, McCain hailed it as a firm
step in resolving the two tribes' differences.

The two Northern Arizona tribes have been in a spat over land rights ever
since the federal government began carving reservation boundaries in the
late 1800s. When the Navajo Nation continued to grow, Congress granted the
tribe additional territory - cutting into land that the Hopi believed was
theirs.

According to McCain, his 1996 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act was a
compromise. But to yesterday's crowd - none of whom identified themselves as
Navajo - the legislation was poison to Navajo elders living on what is now
rightfully Hopi land.

 

``We are asking Sen. McCain to introduce legislation to end the
accommodation agreement and to stop the forcible relocation of (Navajo)
elders.''

 

Although the accommodation agreement allows for Navajo to hold land leases
with the Hopi, several Navajo families have refused to sign leases or leave.

The protesters said the agreement forces the relocation of Navajos from
their homeland, and rather than a compromise it represents a grab at land
that is rich with coal and uranium deposits.

Protester Guy Lopez, a 36-year-old Tucsonan who works at the Center for
Biological Diversity, said that his family was relocated from the South
Dakota Sioux Reservation in the 1950s, and that the impact it had on his
family's culture continues to sting.

``McCain is a states' rights politician. He hasn't been true to the ideal of
sovereignty,'' Lopez said.

 

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... many prayers ...

dn: daily news code for auto placement

William "Sky" Crosby, director E C C O
Environmental and Cultural Conservation Organization
Tucson, Az
tel 520 749 0585