Well-versed in Native American history, let me clarify Navajo and other native peoples’ opposition to having a cemetery next to their private residences. Such was the case of a family heard by Montezuma County commissioners on Aug. 28, concerning a bloated six-acre expansion to the existing two-acre Fairview Cemetery in Yellow Jacket. I have known one of the complainants for six years; both have assisted on at least three important civic boards, providing wider views than non-natives may have.
For historical background, until World War II, many traditional Dineh did not trust windows in their homes for fear of ghosts peering in, much like whites close their blinds at night. Not many Navajo go to graveyards on Memorial Day, even though they may have loved ones buried there. Look at the thousands of Tony Hillerman books sold and movies about “skinwalkers” and the unknowable. Important aspects of ourselves derive from our varying cultures. Disrespecting the difference deprives us of their insights and knowledge, and the literature that often derives from that culture.
What commissioner wants a cemetery across the street? Now, more than any other tribe, the Navajo have contributed soldiers to American wars and bought more liberty and U.S. savings bonds per capita than has any other native group. The presence of our large native community is an unfathomable practical resource to our local tourist economy and all of our spin-off businesses. To me, it makes no sense to espouse living in a multicultural community and then to deny it from being one. Native cultures brought folks like me to visit and then to live here, now for 15 years. There are other adjoining cemetery sites that do not infringe on voters’ sensibilities. Commissioners failed to realize how a negative decision against this family devalues my pride in being here.
Donal F. Lindsey
Cortez