In a culture that teaches not to revisit suffering, a proposal to memorialize routes that Navajo and Mescalero Apache Indians marched as they were forced from their homelands has stirred up painful memories.
The march in the 1860s from tribal lands to a desolate tract in eastern New Mexico, known as the Long Walk, led to the deaths of thousands of American Indians.
So while the federal designation as a national historic trail is supported by some tribal members who believe that healing and appreciation for the resilience of their ancestors will come only through education, memorializing such an event goes against some elder members beliefs.
“For those who are willing to talk about that, it’s a form of healing,” said Judy Martin, a cultural specialist for the Navajo Department of Historic Preservation. “But the older people, they still treat it as taboo” to revisit a site associated with death, she said.
“It will bring bad effects on you, evil effects on you, bad dreams,” Martin said. “It could disrupt your well-being. In that, that’s where they really draw the line.”
Public meetings across the Navajo Nation this week will complete a study that the National Park Service will turn over to US Congress.
Lawmakers will then decide whether to add the Long Walk to the list of 30 historic and scenic trails within the National Trails System.
If designated, it would be the second historic trail to commemorate the forced removal of American Indians from their homeland. The Trail of Tears that led the Cherokees from the Southeast to present-day Oklahoma in the late 1830s was named a historic trail in 1987.
Frank Norris, a historian with the National Trails System, said the Trail of Tears is now viewed as a testament to the cohesiveness of the Cherokees.
“To a large extent, that has happened with every other Indian nation, too,” he said.
The US military took action against the Mescalero Apaches after years of intertribal warfare, according to the park service. After the Mescaleros were imprisoned, the military led by Christopher “Kit” Carson turned to the Navajos, destroying their crops and livestock and forcing them to surrender.
More than 8,000 Navajos were marched 480km from the Four Corners area to Bosque Redondo, where 400 Mescaleros were being held captive. Navajos call the land near the Pecos River “Hweeldi,” which means a place of suffering and fear. Those who could not keep up along the journey were killed. Disease, the harsh winters and unfamiliarity with how to prepare foods also led to deaths.
Many say that although the Long Walk is one of the darkest parts in the tribe’s history, it’s important to understand what their ancestors endured before they were able to return to their homeland, which is within four mountains the Navajos consider sacred.
“We can’t sweep it under the rug,” said Etta Arviso, whose grandmother marched on the Long Walk as a three-year-old.
The Mescalero Apache, who were more familiar with the land around Bosque Redondo, did not stay long in the area. They evaded military guards on Nov. 3, 1865, and were not recaptured.
The Navajo, however, were held until the signing of a treaty in 1868, when they were freed and the US government acknowledged the tribe’s sovereignty.
Holly Houghten, historic preservation officer for the Mescalero Apache tribe, said tribal members do not want to glorify the Long Walk but support the trail designation to help ensure that history does not repeat itself.
“They are interested in learning about their past, the good and the bad,” she said. “The elders think it was good to learn about the difficult times and what made them strong.”
At Bosque Redondo, a museum shaped like a hogan (a typical Navajo dwelling) and a tepee, and an interpretive trail help tell the story of the Long Walk. A group of Navajos ride motorcycles to the site each year in honor of their ancestors.
Clifford Jack of Shiprock, New Mexico, who is leading the group this year, says he sees the trauma the Long Walk has brought upon Navajos in his work at a domestic violence shelter. He says the only way to address it is to acknowledge and talk about it.
“We celebrate that our ancestors survived the horrible conditions so that we can be free people within our four sacred mountains,” he said. “I don’t see anything wrong with going back there. It’s a healing process.”
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion