Walker urges Navajo Nation to go to the horizon & beyond

Thomas Walker Jr.

Thomas Walker Jr.

BIRDSPRINGS -- Thomas Walker Jr. has served the communities of Birdsprings, Leupp and Tolani Lake as one of two council delegates for the past three and a half years. As an incumbent, Walker said he believes that he has the experience and insight to serve his community for another term.

"I'm very involved in local planning activities," Walker said. "I've lent my help to local organizations that have contributed towards community development."

This help has come not only in the form of official chapter support. Walker has been visible on a grassroots level.

"I've devoted considerable time in helping develop local plans and community mobilization at work," Walker said. "These are people with vision, who have organized to bring back a better quality of life."

Walker currently serves on the Health and Social Services Committee and the Navajo Hopi Land Commission. He also serves as chairman of the 1934 Reservation Subcommittee of the Navajo Hopi Land Commission -- the area known as the "Bennett Freeze."

The Freeze area encompasses 1.5 million acres within the western agency -- where approximately 15,000 people live. The freeze -- or law against repairing or building within the area -- was lifted from 800,000 acres, but remains in place elsewhere.

"Our subcommittee is charged with monitoring the administrative freeze moratorium that established the Bennett Freeze," Walker said. "We monitor living conditions and other problems there, and are involved in government-to-government interactions between the Navajo and Hopi governments. We seek to bring about a better understanding of Bennett Freeze issues to federal representatives. They don't see the conditions the way we do. Also we are working on plans to rehabilitate the lives of people after the freeze is lifted.

"We have held many outreach meetings to inform residents on the progress of mediation. We look to the residents directly, and took the meetings out into the community where we could interact face to face. We know what the needs are."

Walker said his subcommittee also speaks directly with the mediation team, which includes Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Attorney General Louis Denetsosie, and Chief Legislative Counsel Raymond Etcitty.

Walker is a strong advocate for local governance and said that he uses traditional Navajo approaches in his leadership capacity.

"I don't believe in mimicking the dominant laws and policies," Walker said. 'Some believe that if it's good for California, it's good for us, but that just isn't true.

"Chapters should be autonomous in decision making regarding their own community issues and natural resources, yet support strong sovereignty in relationship to the Navajo Nation as a whole," Walker said. "At the same time, we must foster our own unique language and way of life. We can incorporate holistic techniques in our government and incorporate those into the foreign (American) model -- we can take our traditional ways to resolve conflicts and solve problems -- the DinŽ way. We must employ what I call the four 'R's -- respect, reverence, responsibility and relationships.

'It is time to take a serious look at how we govern at the chapter level," Walker continued. "The wishes and desires of the voting members of the chapter must be given the highest importance, and decisions made at the chapter level must be agreed upon as a collective group. A delegate should vote in the interest of the people he or she represents, taking the wishes of the majority of the constituency to heart."

Walker takes care in the language he uses as a council delegate.

"We can all be in agreement over a resolution," Walker said. "We could all say, 'Give the power back to the people.' But what does that actually mean? Does everyone take that statement the way a delegate meant it?"

Walker also believes that it is time to implement that land use plans adopted by the chapters he represents. Those plans address agricultural, residential and economic development in a manner consistent with the wishes of the actual residents of each community.

"We should allow the local residents to be their own planners and visionaries -- agreeing to devote local resources to bring about development."

Walker believes it is important that the Navajo Nation acquire more resources -- land and businesses off the Navajo Nation in places like Gallup, Albuquerque, Flagstaff and Las Vegas. He has studied how other tribes have taken this initiative and the success each has achieved.

"It is important to learn from other tribes' experiences with economic development on a national level and beyond," Walker said. "I would like to see the Navajo Nation be part of a global economy. I encourage our people to go to the horizon and beyond."

Walker sees this as a way for the Navajo Nation to wean itself economically from federal and state governments.

A healthy economy, Walker said, can help prevent social, health and behavioral problems.

"I listened to a Navajo elder who said that we on the Navajo Nation are 30 years behind the dominant society in areas like economic development, government, housing and infrastructure," Walker said. "Many have taken that statement in a negative way, referring to our reservations as third-world countries. I choose not to. I look to the dominant society and see problems that have taken a stronghold there 30 and 40 years ago. Our problems are also 30 years behind -- if we are proactive, we have ample opportunity to stop those problems from entering our communities."

Walker also took time to thank fellow Birdsprings, Leupp and Tolani Lake Chapter leaders, administrators and planning groups.

"They are doing absolutely everything they can do to allow their chapters to be functioning entities. They have given their prayers and visions, and I appreciate and commend them."

In Walker's opinion, the top three challenges facing the Navajo Nation are dangerous substances, ever-diminishing federal support and as the biggest, developing and sustaining the Navajo economy.

"Drugs, like methamphetamine, have been making their way onto the Navajo Nation. Drugs have been making their way onto the Navajo Nation. It is now making a big impact -- this is going to continue unless we take drastic action," Walker said. "The Nation has passed a Title 17 amendment with teeth -- before this we had no laws to regulate and prohibit the use of meth. Now it does.

Walker also looks to the ever-diminishing support given by the federal government -- support, he said, is subject to both environmental and political weather.

"Hurricane Katrina made a big impact on the federal budget," Walker said. "The cost of war has also attributed to the reduction in federal aid. Trends within the larger society influence the way our services and programs are funded. Our nation is very depended on federal aid."

Walker believes the Navajo Nation is also dependent on the political climate -- the control, ideology and philosophies of the different political parties as they come into power.

"Politicians are either going to support Indian tribes, or they will not," Walker said. "We are reactive to external forces as the quality and quantity of services rendered. Many health and social service program employees depend on this funding, like elderly care or WIC nutrition programs -- all are federally funded.

Finally, Walker reiterated that Navajo business and economic activity has been at a minimum over the past few decades.

"There just are not enough goods and services on the reservation to sustain the economy," Walker said. "This has always been a challenge, and will continue to be a challenge."

Donate to nhonews.com Report a Typo Contact
Most Read