To: Supporters of the Dineh Resistance:
Verna Clinton of the Star Mountain Communityhas asked me to send her thanks
to all of you who knew and supported her father Alvin Clinton. She wants
to tell you that her whole family and all of the residents of Star Mountain
feel your support.
The folllowing are transcripts of newspaper articles that honor the memory
of Alvin Clinton. He was to have testified before Mr. Abdelfattah Amor,
Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance of the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights. Instead news regarding Hopi Tribal refusal for
Alvin Clinton to be buried on Star Mountain will be forwarded to Mr. Amor,
who is investigating specific instances of religious intolerance against
the traditional Dineh and Hopi people, and in accordance with his mandate
given to him by the General Assembly.
Alvin Clinton was a great man.
Marsha Monestersky
Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation and
Co-Chair, NGO Human Rights Caucus at the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development
TRANSCRIPT: NAVAJO TIMES Thursday, February 5, 1998
Hopi Say No to Burial Request
By Marley Shabala, Navajo Times Staff
WINDOW ROCK Respect for veterans that fought to protect the Navajo and
Hopi people is Navajo Nation Council Speaker Kelsey Begaye,s hope for the
future.
Begaye made that statement in a Wednesday press release after learning that
the Hopi Tribe denied a request for traditional Navajo medicine man Alvin
Clinton to be buried near his home in Teesto, which is located in Hopi
partition land.
He stated, "It bothers me greatly to see a veteran of the United States
Marines buried away from his ancestral homeland. Especially when Alvin
Clinton bravely fought to protect the United States of America during the
war so all people in this country would remain free.
Begaye stated that he respect the work of Alvin Clinton, who was a medicine
man that had knowledge about the southwestern portion of the Navajo
reservation.
He stated that Clinton identified many sacred sites and related many
beautiful stories about Star Mountain.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Elmer Clark, at the request of Clinton,s
family, asked the Hopi Tribe to allow Clinton to be buried a mile from his
home at the family burial grounds.
Clark, in a letter to Hopi Tribal Chairperson Wayne Taylor Jr., stated that
even though Clinton never signed the accommodations agreement that the Hopi
Tribal leadership respect Clinton,s "long and hard struggle to remain on
the HPL.
He also stated, "I understand that the burial issue is an issue that is
still unresolved as far as the accommodations agreement is concern, and
since the issue is not yet final, I hope, Mr. Chairman, that you and the
leaders of the Hopi Tribe would truly make this an exception.
"The Clinton family have Hopi Tobacco clan relatives that also supported
this request for the burial of Mr. Clinton on HPL and I understand that
there is a delegation from the Hopi relatives that will, if not already,
consult and make this request of you and the Hopi Tribe for your favorable
consideration, Clark stated.
Taylor, in a February 4 letter to Clark and Navajo Nation President Albert
Hale, stated "As such, I have no authority to approve burial requests on my
own. Unfortunately, the Hopi Tribal Council recessed for the month of
February out of respect for the religious activities scheduled in the
villages, he stated.
Taylor also stated, " I hope that you can understand the position I am in
and will respect the council,s position. Please express my personal
sympathies to the family.
Clark, Hale and Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office director Colbert Dayzie,
in a Wednesday press, described Clinton as a traditional medicine man who
aggressively blocked the fencing off of Star Mountain by Hopi Rangers and
the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in March 1991.
They stated that Clinton was arrested and charged with malicious mischief,
disorderly contact, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer by the
BIA after a scuffle broke out. Two of the charges were later dropped, they
stated.
Clark stated, "To the very end, he never wavered on his religious beliefs
or compromised them. He was the last of the Navajo warriors, in the
tradition of Guanado Mucho and Manuelito.
"He never accepted or considered any options offered by the Hopi Tribe
which he believed would compromise his beliefs and values.
-end-
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TRANSCRIPT: THE INDEPENDENT (Gallup, N.M.)
Thursday, February 5, 1998
Navajo Activist Death
By Kathy Helms, Western Bureau
TUBA CITY, Ariz. When the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Hopi Tribe
attempted to erect a fence near Star Mountain in March 1991 on Hopi
Partitioned Land, Alvin Clinton made history.
The then 67-year old medicine man was arrested and handcuffed after he held
on to a post in an effort to stop the Hopi cattle fence coming through his
customary use area. Officers physically removed Clinton from the post,
cuffed his hands behind his back and led him away to jail.
Today, the Navajo elder will be laid to rest following 10 a.m. funeral
services at the Catholic Church in Winslow. A 2 p.m. reception will follow
at Teesto Chapter.
Clinton died about 11 a.m. Sunday at his residence near Star Mountain. He
was 74.
"It,s a tremendous loss to the families out there, said Colbert Dayzie of
the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office. "He was the mainstay. He stood for
what he believed * his religious beliefs.
According to a news bulletin issued Wednesday by the Navajo Nation, Clinton
was a traditional medicine man who aggressively blocked the fencing off of
Star Mountain by Hopi Rangers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in March
1991. He was arrested and charged with malicious mischief, disorderly
contact, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer by the BIA after
a scuffle broke out. Two of the charges were later dropped.
When U.S. District Court Judge Earl Carroll failed to halt the BIA-Hopi
fencing project, Clinton said, "All of us, especially the veterans who
fought for this land, really hoped that the Hopi and federal governments
would give us a true opportunity to voice our concerns.
"The action of the court today makes like the government does not respect
our religion.
Teesto representative Elmer Clark, a close relative of Clinton,s, said,
Being a medicine man, he understood the history and religious significance
of Star Mountain, Finger Pointe Butte, Egloffestein, Horse Point, and many
other sacred buttes near Teesto.
Clinton developed charts and illustrations to convey his knowledge about
the religious importance of Star Mountain, Clark said.
"Too the very end, he never wavered on his religious beliefs or compromised
them. He was the last of the Navajo warriors, in the tradition of Guanado
Mucho and Manuelito, Clark said.
"He never accepted or considered any options offered by the Hopi Tribe
which he believed would compromise his beliefs and values.
Navajo Nation President Albert Hale, upon learning of Clinton,s passing,
said, "His humbleness, honesty, and candor in refusing and sometimes
challenging the federal government,s Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act was well
known to all.
"For many people across the country who sympathize with Navajos, he
represented the struggle for resistance and bringing public awareness to
the plight of Navajos facing relocation, Hale said.
Last March, Clinton refused outright to sign a 75-year Accommodations
Agreement with the Hopi Tribe. When asked by a CNN reporter whether he was
going to sign the agreement, he replied, "When you sign, you sign your life
away.
In October, Clinton was one of eight Navajos who filed a class-action
lawsuit against Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, challenging the
Accommodations Agreement. The suit alleged the agreement was faulty,
contained no provisions for funding, and signatures were obtained by coercion.
Clinton often testified on behalf of the Navajo Nation in the land dispute
cases before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and
U.S. District Court in Phoenix. He also testified on sacred sites and
Navajo customs.
-end-