Relocation
Testimony
(This testimony was given for use in this web page.)
Star Mountain
"My Name is Louise Begay. And I am the daughter of Phoebe and John Nez and we reside at Star Mountain. I relocated in 1974. One day I got a letter from, I guess, the Washington was writing to all these people that they wanted to relocate. In that letter, I remember it says that any one of us are to be relocated. It says that if we do not relocate they are going to reduce our livestock. And I thought of my Parents, because they are the ones that are making a living off the sheep, the cattle. So I relocated thinking that they will not have to sell their livestock. But they went ahead and sold their livestock because that was the thing that Washington wanted them to do.. . "
"So I relocated to Flagstaff, Arizona. I had eight children, at that time, and I still do (laughter.) Anyway they got me a house, I don't know what it is called, but it is just something that they put together. My kids and I only lived in that house for one year. And then one day it rained, and it was making all kinds of cracks, and we found out that -- the foundation, they just threw it on the ground. Then when it was raining it would just settle into the ground. And I found out that it was dangerous for us to live in it. And part of the electricity went out, and I found out too that, at the relocation office, that I had to move out of that house. And then pay somebody to fix the electricity for us that would cost $300. I didn't have that money even though I was working as a nurse at the hospital. . . "
"Now I live in Tuba City. I rent from the Navaho Housing Authority. And I started to write a book about the relocation about 5 years ago, and I still continue. As I remember going home when my parents had sheep and cattle. As you drive up to the hill you could see the sheep. And it was like cotton. A lot of sheep and horses and cattle. Now it's nothing there. It's just like some kind of a disease that came through here. And wiped out the people. All you see is hogan, abandoned. Houses all broken in. All you see is Hopi cattle around there. And the Rangers driving around."
"Now I live in Tuba City. I rent from the Navaho Housing Authority. And I started to write a book about the relocation about 5 years ago, and I still continue. As I remember going home when my parents had sheep and cattle. As you drive up to the hill you could see the sheep. And it was like cotton. A lot of sheep and horses and cattle. Now it's nothing there. It's just like some kind of a disease that came through here. And wiped out the people. All you see is hogan, abandoned. Houses all broken in. All you see is Hopi cattle around there. And the Rangers driving around. . . "
"As much problem and trouble that I went through, I still love my parents and my land. And the Star Mountain. A few months ago some people from the Washington came to look at Star Mountain. We drove by and All these 4 wheelers they were running up the mountain. I started crying. Because the mountain, Star Mountain, is just like a human being. She probably would have never thought that one day some people would be climbing on her and digging her up. She's just like a human being to us and we pray to that. And a lot of the Anglo people do not understand. We pray to God too, and he's our heavenly Father, but we have our own religious way too.