From: Robert Dorman <redorman@theofficenet.com>

From http://pechanga.net/mccain_rally_dazzles_everyone.htm

McCain rally dazzles everyone -- except Navajos and Sioux

Psychedelic lights and eclectic sounds don't electrify Navajo resisters

By Brenda Norrell
Indian Country Today

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Brilliant strobe lights swept against the colors of
Americana, as techno
hip-hop pounded the speakers in the dimly-lit gym, hazed by a fog machine.

Those sounds bled into Mariachi and pep squad tunes, then hard rock dance
beats, creating an
incredibly surreal atmosphere for the political rally of a presidential
hopeful.

But, as supporters of Senator John McCain screamed their support waving
"VIVA McCAIN!"
signs at the University of Arizona, Kee Watchman felt no sense of the
victory that McCain
promised.

When, "Play that funky music" faded, Watchman's thoughts were on his fellow
Navajos at Hardrock
Chapter now facing eviction by federal courts.

"The elders at home can't sleep, can't eat," said Watchman, expressing none
of the cheer of the
thousands that surrounded him.

During the late night, rock-concert style rally, McCain promised a sure
victory, and chided George
Bush, thanking him for his $3 million advertising campaign to the Arizona
economy.

McCain said it was good to be back in his home state. "We didn't have to
run any ads because the
people of Arizona know who John McCain is."

But while speaking in southern Arizona, a state with 21
federally-recognized Indian tribes,
McCain made no mention of American Indians.

As thousands packed into the Bear Down Gym, Fred Buckles, Fort Peck
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes
of Montana, was among the few American Indians in attendance. Buckles
praised McCain as a fellow
Vietnam Veteran.

"He was a prisoner of war and served his country heroically. I think he is
a hero," Buckles said.

"I think he is a man of integrity and consistency, he tells it like it is.
He is just
John McCain. I like that."

Asked about the common criticism in Arizona, that McCain has a quick
temper, Buckles said McCain's
temper doesn't seem to flare more than anyone else's does.

"As a Veteran, he is someone who has paid his dues. He has found humility
in his life and who
he is."

The morning after the late night rally, a delegation of Navajo elders held
a press
conference outside McCain's office in Tucson.

A dozen Tucson police were positioned outside McCain's office, preventing
entry, following the
recent arrest of two protesters who locked themselves together inside
during a protest of
Navajo relocation.

Navajo elders spoke to national news reporters trailing McCain's "Straight
Talk Express"
campaign. Navajos urged McCain to support the in their resistance and
effort to remain on their
ancestral lands.

Huck Greyeyes from Coalmine Mesa said he came to speak from his heart.

"If you are relocated from the land, your way of life is destroyed."

Greyeyes, an herbalist, who says humbly that he is preparing himself to be
a medicine man, said
because of federal relocation, he was told that he can not gather healing
plants on his land.

"When you collect herbs you don't just uproot them. You go to the herb and
tell them what the
sickness is - then the herb will tell you what to do, what the healing is."

Greyeyes said there is no word in Dine' for religion, for it is life, and
to leave the land
would be to take away life.

"Early in the morning at dawn, I pray and in the evening I pray. I pray to
the Four Directions. I
pray for my children. I pray for everyone."

Speaking in Dine' with translator Tom Bedonie from Hardrock Chapter,
Greyeyes stood beside his
wife and said he has lived on Coalmine Mesa since marrying Genevieve 50
years ago.

"I will not relocate. When I plant, I put food on the table, I feed myself."

At the McCain rally on the university campus, hundreds were halted at the
door when the crowd
reached capacity.

Guy Lopez, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, gave up his place inside the gym, so
Watchman could go
inside.

Lopez said he remembers too well how things were before gaming dollars
began flowing into Indian
country.

"That was before politicians like McCain began presenting themselves as our
friends."

Lopez said true sovereignty means, "real control of our resources and
land." He praised Bill
Bradley for support of Sioux land rights of the Black Hills.

"McCain's support for our sovereignty is very narrow in terms of our
historical legacy of
sovereignty."

"We ought not let his model of sovereignty rule us."

Cliff Burger, Fort Peck Tribes, attending a rehabilitation accreditation
conference here
along with Buckles, said he came to the rally to hear McCain's views on
national security.

Burger said negative reactions to military personnel in Kosovo and
elsewhere made him
concerned for his son, now stationed with the military in Kentucky.

Burger hoped to hear McCain's position on American Indian issues. Although
McCain's
campaign platform promises to make economic development in Indian country a
priority, the
view wasn't delivered at the rally.

Multi-colored confetti fell and mingled with strobe lights as the camera
lens of every
national television network in the United States focused on the Arizona
Republican.

Watchman paused on his way back to the truck bound for Big Mountain. He was
critical of
McCain's sponsorship of legislation leading to 75-year lease requirements
for Navajos on
coal-rich Hopi Partitioned Lands in northern Arizona.

Watchman said Navajos are being forced of the land for coal mining
expansion. Traditional Hopi
stand beside Navajos in their resistance to relocation.

Leaving the rally, Watchman said, "One sign said, 'John McCain has a vision
and George Bush has a
wallet.'"

"But, Senator McCain has sacred Black Mesa in his wallet already."

"That will cost the traditional Navajo and traditional Hopi if he becomes
president."

 

 

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