Letter to the editor: Navajo leadership weakening Nation

To the editor:

I was inspired by the letter from Irma Bluehouse and Milton Bluehouse Jr., on thoughtless statements by leaders on water rights. The Bluehouse's are correct, there is no "New Dawn," just more dark dusk. It's caused by Window Rock corruption and outsider control. These often work their way in and through the Navajo Nation Department of Justice (DOJ). There is also the DOJ allies who spread across our government... like the arms of a deadly octopus.

The president's legal counsel is a DOJ lawyer working for him for now. She's his daughter (nepotism) and helps make DOJ felt everywhere. The chief legislative counsel was a DOJ lawyer. The acting director, for now, of the Division of Natural Resources came from DOJ. The boss of our water rights (ruling over a rubber stamp president, council and other attorneys) is a DOJ lawyer. He turns the minds of Navajo professionals against our best interests. DOJ has complete access to all our leaders, and corrupt allies in key places, like the deceptive Department of Water Resources.

Arizona has a water rights motto that goes something like this: "We're going to take as much water rights from as many sources as we possible can, we're going to use as much water rights as we possibly can and we're going to fight anyone who gets in our way." Compare that to the wimpy policy that DOJ has our weak leaders repeat like trained parrots.

Arizona has hijacked Navajo water rights for decades, with DOJ's help. We've seen the recent press release proudly announcing the vice president asked Arizona's governor "to be our champion" on Navajo water rights. What a pitiful giveaway of rights and sovereignty. All Southwestern states declare that "water is blue gold," and that to not maximize water rights is "economic suicide." What the vice president did, per DOJ's training, was raise the white flag of our final surrender - this will place us in more economic slavery and further diminish sovereignty. The Bluehouse's were right - asking the governor to champion water rights was asking the fox to guard the hen house.

The vice president and speaker also asked the governor to help save our language and culture. Gov. Ducey doesn't know a Navajo from a Hualapai. What if he came to the Navajo Nation and asked us to champion Arizona's water rights and save languages and cultures in Phoenix. It would be as ridiculous as what the speaker and vice president did. These actions by our leaders are part of a final surrender of our rights and future and also our responsibilities for ourselves. Our leaders are handing them over to someone who has no idea who we are, and who works for a state that has, for decades, helped leech from us water rights that are worth billions of dollars.

We won't survive such Navajo "leadership" treachery. Our Navajo Nation is sinking like the Titanic, and DOJ and our leaders are the ones drilling the holes into the ship's bottom. This is not leadership. To tell the blunt truth, it's treason and cowardice. We're the largest Native Nation in North America, but we're being made weaker than the tiniest.

Wallace Hanley

Window Rock, Arizona

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