Count your blessings

Writing this week from Kaibeto, Az. in the heart of the Navajo Indian reservation.
The prompt this week is "everybody hurts sometime".
Out here on the reservation you could say that "everybody hurts most of the time" especially in an area known as Black Rock.  Black Rock is in the part of the reservation that is referred to as The  "Bennett Freeze" area.  Some stats about the area and a few pictures.


In 1966, Robert Bennett, then commissioner of Indian Affairs, stopped all development on 1.6 million acres of tribal land in Arizona that was claimed by both the Navajo Nation and the Hopi tribe.

Bennett imposed the ban to stop either tribe from taking advantage of the other while they negotiated ownership.  The ban became known as the Bennett Freeze and initially affected approximately 8,000 Navajo tribal members.

No development meant no new homes, no home expansions and no home repairs.  They were not even allowed to fix roofs or windows.  They could not start any type of businesses and they were not allowed new schools, paved roads, electricity, gas or water.
The United States government flew helicopters and planes over the area and if any development or repair work was discovered they were made to take it out.

The area and the Navajos that live there have also been adversely affected by industrial mining operations for coal and uranium.
There are approximately 1300 uranium mines located within the Bennett Freeze area, most of which have been abandoned without proper cleanup, resulting in soil and water contamination.


Here are some of the statistics from the area.
  • Average unemployment of Navajo Nation is 65%... former Bennett Freeze area is 95%
  • 77% of homes are considered uninhabitable by U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • 97% of the homes of DO NOT HAVE electricity
  • 90% of the homes DO NOT HAVE running water
  • 10% of the populace must make a daily trip someplace for uncontaminated water
  • Cancer rates among teenagers living near mine tailings are 17 times the national average
  • Reproductive-organ cancer in teenage girls is 17 times the national average
  • Infant mortality rate is 7.5 times the national average
  • Area has high rate of teenage suicide

Yes, we all hurt sometime, but these people...wow

4 comments:

  1. I just read a book written by 2 Lakota women around the time of the great re-location of numerous tribes....it totally disgusted me, and, after reading your important information, I have got to wonder: how can this happen in America - land of the free???

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  2. These facts are truly incredible. I don't know all the history and politics that are responsible for this situation, much less understand why aggressive action isn't being taken to correct the situation.

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  3. Wow Grizz, that is just terrible. I feel for them.The trials that aboriginal people face to stay on their patch of earth is the same all the world over. AND it is wrong.I am so pleased that you are trying to do your bit to help.You should be proud.

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