Hopi Tribe’s Order of Proposed Exclusion unfolds

By Wendy R. Young
Navajo Times Correspondent

FLAGSTAFF - In response to the Hopi Tribe’s Proposed Order of Exclusion, Kee
Shay has sent a letter to Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor requesting a 30-day
extension in order for him to obtain the texts of the Hopi tribal ordinances
that he has been accused of violating.

Kee Shay’s wife May Shay resides in the “unauthorized dwelling” on the HPL,
which the notice alleges is in violation of federal, Hopi tribal, and Hopi
village laws. May Shay told human rights activist Marsha Monestersky, “I
have lived here since before i was 18 years old when I married Kee Shay. I
am now 76 years old. My sheep corral, my house, and my ash pile is here.
This is where i live. We are even told that our hogan which we need to
rebuild in order to have ceremonies is illegal. How are we to survive?

“How can the Hopi Tribe say we are a danger to the Hopi Tribe? I am afraid
when I am here alone, the Hopi police come by here and tell me to leave my
home and that I do not belong here. (Or that) They do this to me when I am
sheep herding. Who is going to protect me? How can they do this to me?”

Kee Shay’s son Shay Benally has been trying to attain copies of the Hopi
tribal ordinances. Benally told Monestersky, “I went to see the people at
the Tuba City Navajo Hopi Land Commission to ask if they could give me a copy
of the Ordinance 46 and 43 that my father Kee Shay is being cited in
violation of. they told me they have the information but would not give it
to me. How are we supposed to respond to the Exclusion Order? They should
take the word ‘Navajo’ out of Navajo Hopi Land Commission.”

The Tuba City office of the NHLC says that Benally did in fact come to
request copies of the ordinances, however the staff person who handles legal
matters and who holds copies of those documents was out of the office.
Benally was told to come back.

Benally also reported that he approached the Hopi Chairman’s office on May 21
requesting copies of ordinances, “I asked him if he would give me the text of
the Ordinances that my father Kee Shay is being cited in violation of. He
just told me that he would not give me the information and that he wanted to
keep this information confidential. Confidential from who? My father Kee
Shay and my mother are being told they are going to be excluded from their
home.”

When asked to verify Benally’s visit to the Hopi Chairman’s office,
Administrative Assistant Jackie Nahee was unable to find anyone who had
spoken with Benally.

“We have no record of that,” she told the Navajo Times. “Usually they would
fill out a form and we would make copies...It’s public record,” so the
documents should have been provided, Nahee indicated.

The Shay family has never approached the Navajo Times to promote their case.
The Navajo Times covers this story because it has implications on all
residents of the Dineh HPL, including dual residents of the HPL and NPL, as
well as signers and non-signers of the Accommodation Agreement.

As Benally commented, “Kee Shay and May Shay are afraid of what will happen
to them at the hands of the Hopi Tribe and I wonder what will happen to us
and who they will target next.”

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The Navajo Times

May 27, 1999

Hopi exclusion ordered

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following press release was issued on May 20, 1999 by
the Hopi Tribe after the Navajo Times published a story in the May 13, 1999
issue about a Notice of Proposed Order of Exclusion issued by the Hopi Tribe
against elder Dineh resident Kee Shay. It is printed in its entirety.)

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - According to media reports, Kee Shay, a resident and
member of the Navajo Nation is opposing Hopi efforts to exclude him from the
Hopi Reservation. Shay recently received a notice of proposed order of
exclusion from the Hopi Tribe acting under authority of a Tribal law which
allows the Hopi to protect their people and lands by excluding or removing
individuals who are illegally on Hopi land.

“Mr. Shay has no right to be on Hopi land, no right to graze his cattle and
sheep on Hopi land or to construct buildings on Hopi land. In spite of
repeated Hopi warnings, he has done all of these things openly and without
permit or other authorization. Such behavior is not acceptable or tolerated
in off-reservation communities and it will not be accepted or tolerated here.
Our records indicate that Shay is not a member of the Hopi tribe. Shay is
also not among the Navajos who are eligible to continue living on Hopi land
under the process of accommodation negotiated between the Hopi, Navajo and
the United States. As such, Shay is simply trespassing on Hopi lands,”
stated Eugene Kaye, Spokesman for the Hopi Tribe.

According to the Tribe, Shay’s actions are considered harmful to both Navajo
and Hopi families. The Hopi Partitioned Lands hit hard by the ongoing
drought conditions has reduced the capacity of the land to support grazing
livestock.

“When outside individuals illegally trespass and allow their animals to graze
on lands that already suffer from diminished capacity, we hurt both Navajo
and Hopi families living on HPL who depend on t hose same lands for
authorized grazing. Shay’s actions in arguing his case through the media is
clearly an effort to disrupt and use for his own benefit the ongoing peaceful
process of accommodation taking place between the Hopi Tribe and Navajo
families to which he is not a party. Shay’s illegal presence on the HPL has
nothing to do with the Accommodation process,” concluded Kaye.

Lenora Lewis, Chairperson of the Hopi Tribe’s Land Team agrees. “The Hopi
government has a responsibility to look out for the general welfare of its
citizens. In this case, both Navajo and Hopi families lose when outsiders
encroach on natural resources they depend on. These families are already
facing livestock reductions due to the conditions of the land. HPL families
don’t need outsiders using up their grass when they are the ones who suffer
the consequences. They also don’t need outsiders creating issues surrounding
the Accommodation process, especially when it does not concern them. The
media needs to be more responsible in not agitating situations that could
hurt the interests of Hopi and Navajo families on the HPL.”

 

 

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