Oscar and Zonnie Whitehair

P.O. Box 127

Kayenta, AZ 86033

 

September 3, 1998

 

To: Ms. Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, UN

Commission for Human Rights

Mr. Wayne Taylor, Chairman, Hopi Tribe

Mr. Bluehouse, President, Navajo Nation

Mr. Roman Bitsuie, Navajo Hopi Land Commission

 

Re: Withdrawal from the 75-year lease Agreement

 

We are great grandparents and we are being threatened. The Relocation Commission officials got us to sign the 75-year lease Agreement by telling us "If you don't sign the 75-year lease Agreement they will take all our valuables to the other side of the fence, your house will be burned down, and your livestock will be confiscated." This is how they threatened us to sign the Agreement.

 

The Hopi grazing permit allows us 1 horse, 8 sheep and goats, 5 cows. We have 33 total. The officials say that is all I can have and under this Agreement they are threatening to impound my livestock. We have 33 total. And because I withdraw from the 75-year lease Agreement, I am no longer subect to the terms of the Hopi grazing permit and other permits. I wish to stand by our old Navajo permit which allows us to keep enough livestock to survive.

 

Before we used to move around, houses, hogans all over the area. Now I have to stay in one place and they took down my older sister's house. They took out furniture, appliances and set it outside. The US, Hopis and Dineh officials don't know what this caused.

 

We get water from Peabody mine or Dinnebeto. 13 miles each way on rough roads. We get wood from the base of the mountain near us but they want me to get dead wood not green wood. We have restrictions and cannot have outside fires for cooking.

 

They promised us a new home if we signed the lease, then the Chapter people came around and we told them we need doors and windows. We need to put an addition on the south side of the house but not even the roof is fixed. This has been dragging on for years. We are not even allowed to fix our homes.

 

We have children but they can only visit for about 1/2 hour on the weekend. We would like our children to live by us but they are not allowed to build a home.

 

 

Zonnie's house was dismantled by Peabody. They are doing blasting 1 mile away. Peabody promised her a new house there but we don't know when this will happen. Now if we want to take our sheep there when it rains there is no home there. That house was given to her by her late parents. She wants the house rebuilt and replaced in the same area it was. Peabody bulldozed my mother's house she gave to me. The reason they wanted my house is 25' thick of good coal. This is why I am forced to give up my house. Peabody goes where rich coal is, other areas are low grade. In the canyon here it is 10' thick and more in the mesas. Peabody visited us twice promising that they would rebuild our hogan after they are finished blasting. They said they would do this within 2 years. But that 2 years is up on January 1, 1999. Is this a promise or a lie?

 

If things get any worse we can relocate. There is no hope. But we are still planning to hang on. This home is all that we have. Even though kids relocate, they are displaced out there. I have seen places with houses and water but there is no place like here. We have to do something.

 

It is for these reasons that I would like to withdraw my name from the 75-year lease Agreement. It is all lies and corruption. I don't know how many promises and lies the US government, Hopi and Navajo officals have told us.

 

It would be good if the United Nations hears us. We have given documents about sacred springs and have been telling people information. It is important that these sites are protected.

 

We stand on our human rights.

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

 

 

Oscar Whitehair Zonnie Whitehair