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Roberta Blackgoat
Sovereign Dineh Nation
07 April 1996
Since passage of P.L. 935-31, the “Relocation Act”,
Dineh have been victims of governmental attempts
to deny us traditional practice of religion. In our sacred ways
we cannot be separated from the lands of
our birth. The U.S. Constitution says, “Congress shall make
no law...prohibiting the free exercise (of
religion) )”. Yet this is the very effect the Act inflicts
on our inalienable rights. By the U.S. claiming
powers only God can ordain, we have been compelled to resist an
immoral and illegal legislative edict.
Many of us will die before we allow the profaning of what we know
to be good, just, and holy. The
Creator is the only one who is going to relocate us.
Traditional Dineh cannot separate any facet of our lives from
prayers and ceremonies given us by the
Holy Ones. Long ago Creator’s helpers instructed us to live
between four sacred mountains. Just as
Hopi were told to settle on their Mesa after long wanderings,
so too were we brought together within the
natural boundaries of Dinehtah. Hogans were built to represent
our place in this universe, defining the
area we conduct our lives much the same way a Kiva does. Our
religion tells us the land is our Church
and the Hogan it’s Altar. We won’t be driven from our
Church, or allow our Altar to be destroyed. to do
so would be to abandon our religion. Without our land and sacred
ways we lose the essence of what it is
to be Dineh, and become fallen leaves scattered by the winds.
At birth our children are made part of the Earth by burial of
their umbilical cords. At death they are
returned to the Earth in a traditional way. Between those times
Dineh pray at established sites within
their customary use area. The ceremonies-Puberty, Blessing Way,
Yei Bi Chei, and many others, which
insure our health and place in creation, are performed in this
same region. Sacred springs and offering
points, as well as the location of ceremonial plants, are also
contained here. Ours is a religion of Nature,
based on specific places, and guided by natural laws. Through
the beauty of nature we gain the beauty in
our lives.
We who are unalterably opposed to Relocation gain our strength
by maintaining our traditional religion.
We wish harm to no one and don’t understand why we’ve
been made to suffer so much for so long. We
remember our honored friend and Traditional Hopi Elder, Grandfather
David Monongye,. He often told
why many Traditional Hopi knew it was the Creator’s idea
for Dineh to live here. He was taught the
Dineh were brought to surround the Mesas by the Holy Ones so as
to provide a protective buffer from the
forces of greed and destruction. If, and when, the Traditional
Dineh are removed from these lands, his
people would fail in turn, and the Earth would be destroyed.
He knew from ancient teachings that Dineh
and Hopi were physically and spiritually bound together. He realized,
as do the current Resisters to
relocation, that if the Dineh’s Church and Altar can be destroyed,
so could everyone
else’s.
Roberta Blackgoat
Sovereign Dineh Nation
7 April 1996
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