So the world will know
Memorial honors 'Long Walk'

The Bosque Redondo Memorial officially opened Saturday in Fort Sumner, N.M. The memorial is a monument to those Navajos who were forced to make "The Long Walk" in 1863, when the government forced-marched about 10,000 to walk 400 miles to face 5 years of interment. [Photo by Jim Maniaci/Independent]

By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

FORT SUMNER, N.M. — The younger ones said they are more proud now than ever to be Navajo.

The older ones said the leaders' should talk Navajo to them.

And a local resident summed up Saturday's somber ceremony with, "It's all appropriate."

The ceremony opened a state museum about the five-year stay by 500 Mescalero Apaches and almost 20 times that many Diné held under U.S. Army guard at the Civil War-era Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation. It drew a wind-blown and sun-baked crowd of more than 1,000 men, women and children to listen to 90 minutes of speeches from 13 leaders, tour the Navajo-designed building, and enjoy a free barbecue.

Fort Sumner was located on the banks of the Pecos River in east-central New Mexico. It sat in the middle of a 1,562.5 square-mile (1 million-acre) reservation. Called "Hweeldi" by the Diné, it was the end of the journey for thousands of Navajos who survived three forced marches of 300-400 miles from 1863-1866 from their homeland in northwestern New Mexico and northeast Arizona, along with their Apache cousins from the mountains of southwestern New Mexico.

Most of the speakers centered their brief words around the tragic results of the work of Gen. James Carleton to subdue both tribes, inter them on the reservation and turn them into peaceful farmers.

Genocide, holocaust
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said, "So that the world must know, it is fitting that a monument has been erected here at Fort Sumner, Hweeldi, the place of suffering, to serve as a reminder of the genocide and the holocaust which was perpetrated on a nation."

Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan said, "... we have returned to what can only be pronounced as a slaughter house. This return is nothing to commemorate, much less celebrate. But in doing so, we honor the lives that had been sacrificed in order for our people to live freely."

Holding his 8-month-old grandson Dylan, Bill Skeets said, "It's a unique opportunity to continue the remembrance of the Long Walk for the Diné Navajo and all who suffered for decades and centuries. For Navajos life goes on. But the significance is of our past, the relation to great leaders who endured hardships. We have always continued to grow, and look forward, and to walk in beauty. The K'e way is of our relatives and extended families. We love our friends and neighbors, and we see this (beauty) in our neighboring communities. They say character counts and K'e works."

Mary Davis of the Crownpoint area shaded herself with an umbrella since the cottonwood trees were several hundred feet away. "It's unique, the way people get to come from far away," she said.

Fort Sumner resident Bill Crist said all he needed to say of the speeches about the lesson history teaches was that, "It's all appropriate."

Speak in Diné
Sitting in the shade of a large tent in front of the east-facing entrance, Mabel Morgan said the president should have spoken to the elders in Navajo, which they understand, just as the speaker did. (Lawrence Morgan, she said, is her nephew.) She added that John Pinto, a long-time New Mexico state senator, should do the same "so we can understand what they are talking about."

Cheyene Antonio of Torreon said she had not studied much about the imprisonment in class, so the speeches and exhibits were "OK."

Misty Jim of Lake Valley and Chenelle Benally of Gallup had lots to say, also resting in the tent's shade after the speeches while people jammed the museum to see the displays about the wretched life in which lack of food the Army was supposed to feed the people and diseases killed an estimated one-third of those who made it to the reservation.

Jim commented, "The Speaker spoke real good," adding that she learned a great deal, especially about why the museum should be supported.

Benally said the most impressive part was when Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was interrupted by a girl in native dress carrying the beige and rainbow Navajo Nation flag as a scout for a woman whose was covered from head to toe with a wool blanket obscuring her face crying about the disharmony of what happened.

"That was really emotional because our ancestors died for us," Benally said. Jim interjected, "Just like Jesus."

Benally said what she learned, "Makes me proud to be Navajo, because that's who I am." She added, "It's really cool that I got to meet President Shirley." (The dignitaries talked with people in the lobby of the museum, posing for photographs.)

Jim said, "It's so neat. And everything said was true." She was sad that "Not all Navajo people are happy to be Navajo. I don't know why they are not happy being Navajo. Maybe they think other races are better; so they try to be other people. If you are proud of yourself, you are not going to want to be anyone else."

In short, she said, "I learned a lot today" and asked, "How many other tribes made a walk that long?"

Benally said, "I learned to have more respect for what my ancestors did, more respect than I ever had."

Other speakers included John McMillan of the Friends of Bosque Redondo, Cultural Affairs Department Secretary Stuart Ashman, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, Gov. Bill Richardson, Ellen Big Rope for Mescalero Apache President Mark Chino, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Cal Curley for Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., State Senate Pro Tem President Ben Altamirano and Indian Affairs Department Secretary Benny Shendo.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone (505) 371-5443.