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TranslaTing greeninTo navajo
Alternates t Cal Mnng andThe Campagn fr a Naaj Green Ecnmy
YvoNNE YEN Liu
March 2010
Appled Research Center www.arc.rg/greenjbs
applied research center
Racial Justice Through Media, Research and Activism
2 • Applied Research Center | Translating Green Into Navajo 2010
TranslaTing green inTo navajo
att t C M dT Cm n g ecmMc 2010
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Yvonne Yen Liu
ect Dct |
Rnk Sen
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Dmnqe Aplln
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Kathryn Dggan
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Hatty Lee
Copyright 2010
ad rc Ct www.c.900 ac st., st 400od, Ca 94607510.653.3415
3 • Applied Research Center | Translating Green Into Navajo 2010
“When i Was groWing up, My DaD alWays WorkeD arroM hoMe.
He worked in Phoenix or California or New Mexico tosupport the family, to give us money to survive. There weren’t good jobs closerto home,” said Ryan Johnson, volunteer with the Navajo Green Economycampaign. “So, I didn’t spend a lot of time with my dad as a kid. It wasn’t justour families. I have a lot of friends and that’s how they grew up. There’s nojobs on the reservation.”
1
Ryan Johnson was laid off in May 2009 at age 30. He spent four years as asheet metal worker in Las Vegas and southern California, riding the constructionboom of the fastest growing city in the United States. Like many young Navajos,no work was to be had closer to Flagstaff, a border town where his motherlived, or in the reservation where his grandmother made her home. Instead, Johnson lived a nomadic life, following work opportunities, sometimes stationedin a city like Los Angeles for a construction project that took a week, sharingan extended stay hotel room with coworkers. Other times, living for years in arental apartment with his father in Phoenix, miles away from home. Johnson’s other options were to follow in his father’s footsteps and earna living wage as a sheet metal worker (a union job), or to work in the coalmines in the reservation to be closer to his family. Coal companies are majoremployers in the Navajo Nation. In fact, more than half of the General Fundwas revenue from coal mining. Over ve mines are currently in operationin the Nation, employing over 1,942 Navajos.
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Activities are not just limitedto coal—oil and gas are also collected, which comprised over a quarter ofthe General Fund budget (see
ad a: Bcd nnt
). Uranium is currently banned, but prices have been rising in themarketplace while Obama announces his intention to develop clean nuclearenergy, so the ban may not be for long.
3
This is the missing generation: young Navajos ranging from 18 to 24;
4
thousands of young people in their prime not present to have dinners withfamilies, to participate in local Chapterhouse meetings or to help build theNavajo economy. Unemployment in the Navajo Nation historically hasbeen high, at 48.04 percent in 2004.
5
A typical young Navajo leaves thereservation after high school to continue schooling or to nd a job.
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The BlackMesa Water Coalition (BMWC) was concerned about the endemic lack ofopportunity for youth in their nation, as well as the destruction of communityand environmental health due to the national reliance on extractive mining(see
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. BMWCand the coalition they started, the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, wona campaign to diversify the Navajo economy andcreate green employment for youth. The Navajo GreenEconomy plan was enacted into law by the NavajoTribal Council in July 2009.This case study is a narrative of the Navajo GreenEconomy campaign, told from the perspective of theBMWC organizers and the Navajo Green EconomyCoalition. The grassroots campaign fought an uphillbattle against large energy corporations and tribalbureaucrats to envision and realize a green economy
inTroDuCTion
2009 BMWC Staff. Photo courtesyof Black Mesa Water Coalition.
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