good. Yeah,
I guess one of the things that also needed to be raised and to add to my
conversation on schools and education on the Navajo is that yes, it was
hard to transform education from federal boarding schools away from the
reservation back to the neighborhood nation on
the Navajo reservation because what I saw was a gradual parental
involvement that grew out of uh, that federal policy establishing schools
on an indian reservation. And it was a tough time period where where we
saw for, for example, for many years, the Navajo people were sent in their
Children off reservation many many years and I was a product of that. And
the parents never really had a role. They sent their kids away from the
family environment, nine months out of a year. So the parents didn't have
us for, for except for three months out of the year. And so in the long
run, who's going to win out in terms of influencing their, their Children
, of course, the federal government, what they were trying to do is going
to win out because they have us for nine months and our indian parents
only had us for three months. And so that was that kind of a dilemma that
took place. And then all of a sudden for the federal government didn't
turn right around and say where going to get ourselves out of educating
the indian students away from the reservation boarding school, we're going
to begin, uh, we're going to begin building schools back on your own
territory, back on your reservation. Now you have to learn how to
participate
in the running of schools and the teachings of uh, your own Children were
then that's your responsibility in the neighborhood. Parents had a hard
time dealing with that issue because they really didn't know what uh, the
non indian people were saying to them and why they were saying that I
guess on the downside was maybe someone of a Navajo traditional upbringing
and thinking that that's an insult because yes, we love our Children and
we liked and we love to have them here. But why are you still telling us
how we should educate our Children? When you're on one hand, you're,
you're telling us that we now need to be responsible for our own Children.
But yet you're still telling us as parents what we should tell them how
we should teach them what they should learn. So, uh, the uh, the insult
was probably back on the, on the other foot. And so I saw some difficult
times with the neighborhood parents trying to understand that dilemma. And
of course when never a nation began taken a full control of their own
educational institution in the systems, the local community. They went at
it 100 once that was understood and uh, I guess the best evidence in terms
of how that transformation was done was the teaching of Navajo culture,
language and history, uh huh by the local institution and some may say
that what kind of evidence do you have to show that one of the outstanding
thing that I have been seen during the last several years when I go out
and visit the schools. For example just this year I had an opportunity to
go into a class to go into a classroom uh at the various high school
starting at Gray Hills High School, Tuba City High School, Monument Valley
High School in Canyon to and Monument Valley High in Utah, Shiprock High
School, Window Rock, Benado Navajo Prep Crown Point High School to Apache
high School gallop. Hi going into those high schools in the neighborhood.
This is only for this year. My own involvement. one of the things that is
so outstanding that hit you is that any time you talk to the youngsters,
the young people that are going to those institutions when they introduced
themselves, they don't introduce themselves only simply using their name.
That's that's secondary using your english name. But the first thing they
say is I am this clan, my father's clan is this and my grandfather's clan
, my maternal grandmother's clan is this. And uh and that's the first
thing they see, they say to me when they're in the process of introducing
themselves and then they say I want to go to your school at A. S. U. And I
want to know what kind of classes you offer and what kind of scholarship
and dormitory program do you have. So that's the first thing that they
tell you and you know, and, and they're very proud of saying that, very
proud of said, you could have never Heard 30 years ago. Uh, Navajo
youngsters wouldn't, wouldn't tell you that they wouldn't know. They
wouldn't really know because the whole educational institution, the system
was trying to get them out of their Navajo goodness into modern, uh, quite
ways of, of life and education that they were imposing on the indian
students. And so by visiting these schools, that's what I hear. And the
second thing they, they tell you about is these cultural instructions and
neighborhood history. They will tell you that maybe there's less of that
than the clan system. But the fact that they're making an effort, the fact
that they know, they may not know all the details. They may not know the
dates. They may not know all the things that happened specifically the
novel people, but they know that there's a history, neighborhood history
in the long walk, never whole history on all of these other events that
took place. Now. For for me, uh, that's a great progress that the
neighborhood nation is making because if we keep that up For the next 10
2030 years, you're going to really have a nation onto itself, A nation
that is self determined. A nation that really understands where it has
been in a nation that really, really understand where he wants to go. So I
really, really think that never, who has has a future. Yes, We hear a lot
about drug involvement, Yes. We hear a lot about alcohol and the meth that
has a, uh, gone onto the Navajo nation among the youth. You know, those,
those are man made things, those are problems that they're also challenges.
And I think under myth controversy on the Navajo, the Navajo people
really rose up in armed this year, last two or three years and they're
really fighting it very effectively. And so it's going to take those kinds
of community involvement, uh, to get these kinds of terrible things that
are happening to the level of people in local schools and local community.
It's up to them to get rid of that. No one's going to get rid of them for
them. And so they're, they're basically involved in effectively come, uh,
dealing with that. And so there's a lot of community cohesiveness based on
what is happening at the local school. Many, many of the community
activities really revolve in many cases around the school and what the
school is able to achieve. And I'll give you one or two a good example, Uh
, in the 19
70s and 1980s, when the Navajo people in the, in Tuba City began taking
the full control of their local schools at Tuba City High, They went all
the way to support in there, high school sports program. And I remember
the, going to high school basketball games and football games and I
remember going to cross country and track meets and those kids were so
proud of themselves and the tuba, city high school women's basketball team
took the state championship maybe four or five times Uh, during that 20
year, 15 year period Where to be city was # one. They won the state
tournament and to have that state tournament here at the America West
Arena where the phoenix Suns professional basketball team plays, they had
those state tournament basketball tournament at that gymnasium and
neighborhood people would come by the large numbers, fans, families,
relatives, and they would fill that place up with never who supporters.
And it was very hard for the people here in phoenix too, to understand
that, To understand why the neighborhood people would drive 300 miles to
come to support their high school basketball team. And so the way I saw
that there was, there's a, there's a big community pride, there's a
tremendous amount of support, support for the local school in those
communities and natural people. Uh, you know, I love their love their
Children, love their grandchildren, they go any distance how far they
drove, it didn't matter how much it costs to get there. It didn't matter
the fact was that they wanted to support their school, they wanted to
support their Children. And so that's what happens. That's what happens
when you educate and motivate the parents enough so that they go all the
way to support the activities of their local uh, sports program. Now let's
transfer that over to the city of phoenix. You know, I live in a school
district here in the phoenix And it's a big five a school, they don't get
that number at their basketball game, even at the state meet the state
tournament, they don't get that number. And you know, there probably maybe
1000 Or 2000 at the most that I have seen by non Indian teams. But
wouldn't it was Navajo? It's not unusual to see 14,015,000 people at these
games. And so I think people should just learn from that, that when you
get the indian people involved in supporting Some worthwhile things like
basketball games and supporting their Children, you know, they go out 100%
and support and I'm only used in tuba City as an example. Well that
happened with Window Rock High School, that happened with Monument Valley
High school and this year with Ganado, the girls basketball team went all
the way and took the state champion. Uh, and so it's something that, Uh,
you know, the Neville people are very proud of and if you look at New
Mexico, look what she broke high school did back in the 70s. You know,
when they had that tremendous basketball team and the whole community of
shipwreck going over to the pit in Albuquerque or university of New Mexico
lobo basketball team plays and you know, during the state tournament, that
place is just full to capacity with neighborhood supporters. And it was
really, really something to see. And for me as an educator and as an
observer, what the Navajo people really, really sold on is this self
determination and I'm using only the sports progress as an example and I'm
following one other thing that's happening The last two years. For example
, last night I was reading about the spell and be that just took place at
the national level here about a week, two weeks ago. And there were some
neighborhood kids that went all the way to, that went all the way to
Washington D. C. And uh, and they participated, sure they lost that and
they got eliminated in the second round or so, you know. But the thing
about it is that we're up there, we're up there, we're on the, on the
verge of having one of our never who youngsters become a national champion
in spelling spelling bee program the contest. And so it's the Navajo
people in the Navajo Children are the future of the Navajo nation. And
they're doing all of these things because the Navajo parents are giving
them that, that desire that the support that they really, really need to
do something very well in the community. Uh, and, and there never will,
kids are very proud of doing all of these things, Look at what happened in
the community of pinion where you have a young Navajo 8th grader Garry
Yossi and what he was able to invent to help out his mother to reduce her
electricity bill by inventing a water heater and a gadget that he used to
heat his home, his trailer and then for abc television to come out in May
and
bill in this a nice, beautiful home for him and his mother. And that's
going to get a lot of national intention. Uh And people are going to view
that in terms of what this young young neighbor who a boy was able to
invent just simply because he was really dedicated to his mother and
dedicated to looking at the overall problem that never a nation faces. And
so uh I look at these different events and what Gary Gary as what Gary
Yossi has done is not going to stop there because the home that they built
for him is all green green home uh there that home is recycling its own
water self contained, it's recycle and recycle its own water. And the
water that they recycle is used to to irrigate the little grass and and
other flowers that the family is grown outside of their home. And then
they have solar
solar panel that generates electricity. They have a wind panel that also
generates electricity. And as I understand it from the engineers that help
designed that facility here at S. U. The solar panel plus the wind
generated power uh that will produce enough to take care of their home
throughout the year. And there's going to be excess power. Uh That N. T. U.
A. Is going to buy from him uh neighborhood tribal utility authority, the
organization that provides uh electrical services to homes on the
neighborhood nation. And Garrett Yossi, this 8th grade kid and now A 9th
Grade High School Student made a commitment by saying that I would like to
have all of my excess electricity to go to my neighbors. Uh my uncle and
my aunts and my grandma and my grandpa. And so even at that young age he
has such a responsibility
towards his his own relatives in his own community and whatever he
invented, he was passing it around to get the result of what he was able
to come up with. And when when I see something like that happened, you
know that's that's the future of the neighborhood nation. We don't have
any indication right now for all we know is that the Navajo people might
start demanding that their homes be built with solar system uh with wind
powered electric producing machinery to heat their homes. And so we may
see that and may not necessarily need all that much energy that gets
produced by using the coal. And because that's controversial in itself
with all these power plants that we have on the Neverland nation anyway so
the invention and the creation of what curiosity did also to me is
unlimited. We haven't really seen
the full recognition in the full potential that this kid has in terms of
what he has in mind in terms of helping than ever people and the way the
way that we live. And so that only indicates to me that the neville people
really have what it takes to survive what it takes to do good and do well
and taking care of the other members of their family. And so I just wanted
to add these yeah, pieces of information that I observe on the Navajo and
it really goes alone the line of self determination and to to have a
nation that we can be proud of. We need more of the kind of activities
that is fully supported by the natural parents and never students.
Yeah.
Okay, very good.
Okay, 12:00 turn off again. Let's talk.