President Jonathan Nez blasted by another Navajo Times Journalist

(Starts at 19:09)

Another Navajo Times staff member has blasted President Jonathan Nez as just another president who’s not going to get anything done.  Pauly Denetclaw is a writer for the Navajo Times.  She is also a  great Navajo Youtube Vlogger as 'The Other Native'.  About 4 months ago she posted a vlog where she announced that Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez is overrated and we need to come back down to reality and re-evaluate him.  She says the Nez-for-Prez hype is just that, nothing more.

What has he accomplished?

She calls President Nez a “career politician” from his days as the Shonto Chapter President, Council Delegate, Vice-President, and now the Navajo Nation President.  Ms. Denetclaw asks us ‘what has he accomplished?’  Can you name one thing that he's done for the community?  She says nothing for his political career and nothing for his first 100 days.  He hired some professional people but they haven't accomplished anything either.  If you ask him, he doesn't say anything because he cannot offer a response, she says.  She also says that all he does is make appearances and testify.

Vacation in Washington DC

Ms. Denetclaw interviewed President Nez in Washington DC. She says that he spent three weeks in DC. He stayed at the Mayflower Hotel which costs $400 per night. For the lodging expenses, if you calculate that, $400 per night times 21 days is $8400. That’s $8400 of the nation’s money! There is nothing to show for that. Why do our leaders take these lavish trips when our Nation's revenues are down? I would like to go to Washington DC and stay in a hotel at $400 per night.

The Mayflower Hotel, Washington DC

A while back there was a white collar investigation into President Nez's trip to Disneyland and his family's use of the P-card. What happened to that investigation? ("Allegations against Nez include use of plane, P-card purchases")

The further we go, the more people are beginning to realize that President Jonathan Nez is just like the others. He is not going to accomplish anything. All he does is spend spend spend.  The Navajo Times has realized this and that is the reason they are criticizing President Nez.

President by default

And the way that he was voted in as President, People voted for Jonathan Nez because nobody wanted to vote for Joe Shirley Jr, not really because Mr. Nez was more qualified.  For the next elections, all the people who keep running and losing should not run so that we can focus on a qualified candidate.  These are people like Joe Shirley Jr., Rex Lee Jim, Dine Benally.  They just dilute the votes.

Only active uranium mine in America

I cannot believe that the only active uranium mine in the United States (active in present-day 2019) is located a few miles north of the Navajo reservation line near Montezuma Creek and Aneth, Utah in a place called White Mesa, Utah. ("White Mesa Uranium Mill")  It is closer to the Ute Reservation.  Both Native American communities are worried about the dangerous chemical.

More Navajo real estate professionals needed

Shannah Smith is one of the few Navajo real estate agents.  This an article from the Navajo Times that I found very interesting.  ("Real estate pro: More Dine needed in the field") Our leadership need to take notice.  Why are there no Navajo real estate agents?  The article says that because Native American are on reservations, we are not used to buying our own property.  We say "shi keiya" but that is referring to home site leases.  We need to understand how to buy a home.  Shannah says it's just like buying an automobile.  We Dine don't know that home ownership allows people to get loans for other things such as start-up money for business.  And we say economic development is the biggest issue on the reservation that leads to other issues such as high unemployment, high alcoholism, high crime, and you get the picture.  I think it is worth reading this article and paying attention to what Ms. Smith has to say.  

Should Miss Navajo speak Navajo?

This year, there were only two women running for Miss Navajo. Shandiin Parish from Kayenta won the Miss Navajo contest this year.

Unable to Speak Navajo

At the sheep butchering contest, the judges (former Miss Navajos) were frustrated with the contestants when the judges asked questions in Navajo and the contestants did not answer back in Navajo.  The women in the audience were shouting "T'aa Dinek'ehji!" (translated, "In Navajo!").  The contestants had a scripted response, "Dine bizaad binahoosh'aah," which avoided the question and translates as "I am re-learning the Navajo language." I too was sad and frustrated to see that neither of the contestants spoke Dine Bizaad. One judge stated that she was not going to translate the question into English because she stands for Navajo language and culture. Another judge said she would translate the question after the other contestant had an opportunity to answer the question. The other contestant also did not understand the Navajo question. One former Miss Navajo stated that we can forego one year of having a Miss Navajo if none of the contestants speak Dine bizaad.

Few contestants

It was also surprising that only two people ran for this contest. Perhaps all the recent criticism of the Office of Miss Navajo turned off a lot of people so that this title is no longer prestigious. ("Questions about Miss Navajo pageant", August 30, 2018)  In 2017 and 2018, there were accusations that the judges were biased and abusive. One writer wrote:

"To begin with, a scoring rubric and committee is put in place to ensure the impartiality of judging all contestants. Sadly, this was not the case because relatives are known to be a part of the judging, which questions the validity of the scores."

Maybe women no longer want to be Miss Navajo.

No role model

I was annoyed at the recently-crowned Miss Navajo when I read about her platform in the Navajo Times:

"Her platform is focused on Navajo homes and families to encourage all generations to come together to preserve the Navajo language and culture, “making sure our elders and our children make those connections even though some of our kids might not have grandparents and our grandparents might not have younger children to teach,” she said.  

“Our language and our teachings need to be passed on regardless of kinship. We as a people need to come together. I think this year’s pageant really opened a lot of people’s eyes to that.”" ("New Miss Navajo sees her role as public servant", September 8, 2019)

How can Ms. Parrish talk about language preservation when she falls short of being a role model by not speaking her language?   She would be more convincing if she spoke Dine Bizaad.  Many Navajo speakers are frustrated and rightfully so. The newspaper says that Ms. Parrish held two other titles previously, Miss Indian ASU and Miss Indian Arizona. Perhaps she won because she had better pageant skills. Her Miss Indian Arizona bio says,

"Although she was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation she is not fluent in the Navajo language. To be fluent is her greatest educational and personal goal. She competes in pageants to improve her public speaking abilities, to practice the Navajo language and to learn more about her culture. "

If it's her greatest educational and personal goal, she should have put in the effort to learn at that time (three years ago) by taking language classes and relearning the language.  If she meant to learn the language, she would have learned the language.

Marrying your relatives

I also don't like how Ms. Parrish introduces her clans when she says, "I am and born for Kinyaa'aanii." By saying it in this manner, she appears to be hiding the fact that her first two clans are the same. She needs to say, "Kinyaa'aanii nishli, Kinyaa'aanii basishchiin…"  While that is not her fault, it is her parents' fault, and she needs to address that to say that people with the same clans should not be dating, marrying, and having children. By remaining silent, she is condoning it. By our remaining silent, we are saying it is okay to marry your own relatives. We as a society are not addressing this deterioration of our culture. We need to. ("For Navajo Nation, Finding unrelated mates within tribe")

Like many people, I am frustrated and saddened at the way our society is losing its identity. The 2019 Miss Navajo competition is just another reminder that we are losing our language and culture as a nation. The whole idea of Miss Navajo is rooted in Navajo culture and language. Yet, as we go along, we see Miss Navajos talking less and less of the Navajo language, and not following the traditional values. This year is a special year because it will be known as the year that there were no young women who spoke Dine bizaad.

Navajo President and Former Miss Navajo should not be promoting rap

Navajo Leadership at Rap concert

Once a Miss Navajo, always a Miss Navajo.

When a woman is crowned Miss Navajo, there is a high expectation of her that she will represent the Dine People in a good way.  Even after she is done with her reign, that expectation continues.  In the past, former Miss Navajos have struggled with issues such as getting arrested for criminal felony charges. ("Cody ties prison sentence to domestic abuse", December 10, 2002)

This year, my mouth dropped at former Miss Navajo 2006-2007 Jocelyn Billy Upshaw dancing at a rap concert with the sexualize backup dancers for a Black rapper with the Navajo President Jonothan Nez and Vice-President Lizer cheering them on.

This is wrong on so many levels.

The former Miss Navajo should not be dancing along side the back-up dancers in bikinis. It does not matter whether it's true or not, but one comment I heard is that Ms. Upshaw's butt was slapped.  Doesn't she know that she is not representing our people positively?  I am embarrassed.

One person said that the Black rapper slapped former Miss Navajo's butt.  These photos appeared in the Navajo Times

Former Miss Navajo looking at the Black rapper.  Navajo Times photo.

Sexualized back-up dancers in bikinis

More dancers in bikinis

A woman with traditional attire at the rap concert

More women in bikinis on the screen behind the rapper

President Nez should know better

The Navajo leadership should not be promoting the deterioration of our culture by inviting rap and heavy metal bands to the reservation. Rap and heavy metal bands are associated with violence, gangs, and a sexualize society. President Nez should know better.  I don't think he realizes that he is representing us.

It's not right

I don't think it's right considering that many of our Navajo women are going missing and being murdered, being accused of prostituting themselves at the fracking man-camps ("Congresswoman asks about Navajo prostitution in New Mexico"), and with the increasing number of inter-racial social issues such as blood quantum and interracial domestic violence.

Navajo flag being draped while women being sexualize on screen in back

Watch the video

NTEC buys coal mines in Montana

I am nervous about the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), a Navajo Nation enterprise being runned by 3 Bilaganas, purchasing the coal mines in Montana. ("Navajo Nation's very risky bet on coal") Why isn't President Nez saying anything about it? Why isn't the Council saying anything about it? Didn't the Council say it had the power to dissolve NTEC? I thought coal was phasing out? I thought the Navajo Nation was in discussion about a clean energy policy? Why is the Navajo Nation buying these mines? What is the Navajo Nation going to do with it? What is the Navajo business in Montana? I thought the politicians were all about transparency, especially President Nez. I don't like this.