Another occupied land; white settlers on Navajo land

Life on the Reservation
The story of my month on the Navajo reservation
by a Church of the Brethren volunteer

Rena Babbitt Lane is a Navajo Elder living on a remote rim of Black Mesa. She is a "resister" for refusing to leave her ancestral land to make way for Peabody Coal Company. My name is Charles and I had the privilege of being of a "supporter" for her.

Rena is an amazing grandmother fiercely dedicated to the land and her traditional culture. She lives a largely traditional life style with no running water or electricity. She tends a flock of sheep and goat from which she spins wool, weaves blankets, and gets meat for daily life and ceremony. Along with herding she plants corn and other crops in the rainy season.

For the past thirty years or so the land her she lives on has been under dispute. Distant governments and corporations haggle over where imaginary lines are drawn and who gets what. Slowly, fences have started to decorate the landscape. Prickling and taut, they slice their way through families' historic grazing and agricultural lands. Along with the fences come a litany of laws and agreements that similarly bisect traditional culture. With the laws comes enforcement!

From the Navajo/Hopi partition land, to the Israel/Palestine Green line, from the US/Mexico boarder to the Economic Summit barricades, fences make more enemies than friends. With the sprouting of fences come the flowering of guns and the smell of fear and harassment.

A few days after her 84th birthday, Rena was assaulted by 3 BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Hopi Rangers. It all started when a couple of Rena's young goats scooted under a fence that stretches across her historic grazing area in search for better forage and water. Though she is an amazing and capable grandmother, her vaulting of fences days are over, so she got a hacksaw, cut the fence and herded her goats back across the fence. Being tired after this work, she retired to her house for a nap.

While she was lying down, three BIA Hopi Rangers barged into her home, pushed her around and forced her outside while they searched her house. While outside they threatened to arrest her and let the coyotes eat all her sheep (her only means of support). Eventually the Rangers left. Feel scared and in pain from her rough treatment, she walked miles down a rugged dirt road to a neighbor's place.
Eventual she was taken to town and admitted to the hospital having suffered a mild heart attack during this incident.

You can read more about the incident at:
Nov 24th
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/nov/112406jch_biaabuse.html

Nov 27th
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/nov/112706jch_mtngasslt.html

While in route to the reservation with FIRE UP! Work Crew (which I was a part of) we got news of Rena's assault. FIRE UP! had some projects lined up with other relocation resisters. The first few days I was on the Reservation I worked with the Crew fixing a road re-mudding a Ceremonial Hogan and working on a couple cars. Rena was in need of support so another supporter named Megan and I went up to her homesite. For the next month, Megan and I lived with Rena.

Along with lending our white privilege as a shield to prevent further abuse, we herded sheep, fixed meals and took on many of the daily chores. No other rangers came by during this time and life was fairly quiet. Though there were no more altercations with the rangers, Rena struggled with the trauma of the incident and often complained of pain related to her rough treatment. In our time there we visited the hospital many times to help Rena cope with the pain she is going through.

Just before we left, Rena was served with papers to appear in Hopi court on charges of criminal trespass. Of course the Rangers have a dramatically different story about what happened on Nov 4th. Her court date is set for early January. I am sure she would be grateful for and all prayers of support. May the courts rule justly and the abuse of the elderly be reprimanded.
I pray for all those who lives are disrupted by fences and walls!
I pray for safety and healing for all those who have been abused!
I pray for a world where all life can be free!

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