Human rights
Relocation trauma echoes through generations of Diné

Former Navajo Nation President Milton Bluehouse Sr. speaks at a Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission meeting on Wednesday in Dilkon, Ariz. The commission heard testimony on the effects of forced relocation due to the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act. “Forced relocation is a human rights issue,” commission Chairman Duane H.Yazzie said. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

DILKON — The Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act of 1974 separated the Navajo people from their homeland, their livestock and their way of life. Politicians say it is history, but resisters and relocatees told the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission this week that the effects are just as real today as they were then.

The commission was in Bird Springs and Dilkon conducting a series of public hearings to assess the impact of the settlement act, which divided thousands of acres of Joint Use Area land into Hopi Partitioned Land, or HPL, and Navajo Partitioned Land, NPL. About 100 Hopis were relocated from NPL and approximately 10,000 Navajos were required to move from HPL.

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