Hopi Traditionalist Movement
Despite the miscarriages of justice at home, Native peoples had the highest per capita rate of service during World War II. But support for serving in the war was not universal, and concerns about the kind of world it created abounded. While previous documents illuminated the grand expectation of “Double Victory” and the translation of it into a rights agenda, Native people also turned to the advent of the atomic age and its implications. As Alaska Natives fought for equal rights and the Three Affiliated Tribes called for the honoring of treaties, the Hopis in the village of Shungopavi took the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 as a sign that they were to begin sharing teachings given to them years before. The movement manifested itself in statements such as this letter sent to President Harry S. Truman on 28 March 1949. Consider how the authors asserted a vision of sovereignty, citizenship, and belonging that was at once distinctively Hopi and inseparable from Cold War geopolitics.39
To the President:
We, the hereditary Hopi Chieftains of the Hopi Pueblos of Hotevilla, Shungopovy, and Mushongnovi humbly request a word with you.
Thoroughly acquainted with the wisdom and knowledge of our traditional form of government and our religious principles, sacredly authorized and entrusted to speak, act, and to execute our duties and obligations for all the common people throughout this land of the Hopi Empire, in accordance with the fundamental principles of life, which were laid down for us by our Great Spirit, Masau’u and by our forefathers, we hereby assembled in the Hopi Pueblo of Shungopovy on March 9, 13, 26, and 28 of this year 1949 for the purpose of making known to the government of the United States and others in this land that the Hopi Empire is still in existence, its traditional path unbroken and its religious order intact and practiced, and the capstone Tablets, upon which are written in the boundaries of the Hopi Empire are still in the hands of the Chiefs of Oraibi and Hotevilla Pueblos.
Firmly believing that the time has now come for us the highest leaders of our respective pueblos to speak and to re-examine ourselves, our sacred duties, our past and present deeds, to look to the future and to study carefully all the important and pressing policies that are coming to us from Indian Bureau at the present time, we met here.
What we say is from our hearts. We speak truths that are based upon our own tradition and religion. We speak as the first people in this land you call America. And we speak to you, a white man, the last people who came to our shores seeking freedom of worship, speech, assembly and a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we are speaking to all the American Indian people.
Today we, Hopi and white man, come face to face at the crossroad of our respective life. At last our paths have crossed and it was foretold it would be at the most critical time in the history of mankind. Everywhere people are confused. What we decide now and do hereafter will be the fate of our respective people. Because we Hopi leaders are following our traditional instructions, we must make our position clear to you and we expect you to do the same to us.
Allow us to mention some of the vital issues which have aroused us to action and which we recognized them to be the last desperate move on the part of the leaders in Washington, D.C. They are as follows:
1. From the Land Claims Commission in Washington, D.C. a letter requesting us to file in our claim to land we believed we are entitled to before the five-year limit beginning August 13, 1946 is expired. We were told that after the five-year limit is expired we cannot file any claim.
2. We are being told by the Superintendent at Keams Canyon Agency about leasing of our land to some Oil Companies to drill for oil. We are told to make the decision on whether to lease out our land and control all that goes with it or we may refuse to do so. But, we were told if we refused, them [sic] these Oil Companies might send their smart lawyers to Washington, D.C. for the purpose of inducing some Senators and Congressman to change certain laws that will take away our rights and authority to our land and placing that authority in another department where they will be leasing out our land at will.
3. We’ve heard that a $90,000,000 is being appropriated for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Act No. S. 2363 which read: To promote the rehabilitation of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes of Indians and the better utilization of the resources of the Navajo and Hopi Reservation, and for other purposes.
4. Recently we were told about the Hoover Commission’s proposal to Congress the launching of a program to convert the country’s 400,000 Indians into “full, tax-paying citizens” under state jurisdiction.
5. Now we heard about the North Atlantic security treaty which would bind the United States, Canada, and six European nations to an alliance in which an attack against one would be considered an attack against all.40
Now these vital issues coming to us from Washington touch the very core of the Hopi life, a peaceful life. By this we know it is time for us to speak and act. It is now time for us as highest leaders of our respective people to come to a definite understanding of our positions before we go forward into the future and before you embark upon your new program. We want the people everywhere to know our stand, the Hopi people. It is of utmost importance that we do this now.
The Hopi form of government was established solely upon the religious and traditional grounds. The divine plan of life in this land was laid out for us by great Spirit, Masau’u. This plan cannot be changed. The Hopi life is all set according to the fundamental principles of life of this divine plan. We can not do otherwise but to follow this plan. There is no other way for us. We also know that the white people and all other races everywhere are following certain traditional and religious principles. What have they done with them?
Now we are all talking about the judgment day. We all are aware of that fact because we are all going to that same point no matter what religion we believed in. In the light of our Hopi prophecy it is going to take place here and will be completed in the Hopi Empire. So for this reason we urge you to give these thoughts your most careful consideration and to reexamine your past deeds and future plans. Again we say let us set our house in order now.
This land is a sacred home of the Hopi people and all the Indian Race in this land. It was given to the Hopi people the task to guard this land not by force of arms, not by killing, not by confiscating of properties of others, but by humble prayers, by obedience to our traditional and religious instructions and by being faithful to our Great Spirit Masau’u. We are still a sovereign nation. Our flag still flies throughout our land (our ancient ruins). We have never abandoned our sovereignty to any foreign power or nation. We’ve been self governing people long before any white man came to our shores. What Great Spirit made and planned no power on earth can change.
The boundaries of our Empire were established permanently and were written upon Stone Tablets which are still with us. Another was given to his white brother who after emerging of the first people to this new land went east with the understanding that he will return with his Stone Tablet to the Hopis. These Stone Tablets when put together and if they agree will prove to the whole world that this land truly belongs to the Hopi people and that they are true brothers. Then the white brother will restore order and judge all people here who have been unfaithful to their traditional and religious principles and who have mistreated his people.
Now, we ask you Mr. President, the American people and you, our own people, American Indians, to give these words of ours your most serious considerations. Let us all reexamine ourselves and see where we stand today. Great Spirit, Masau’u has granted us the Indians, the first right to this land. This is our sacred soil.
Today we are being asked to file our land claims in the Land Claims Commission in Washington, D.C. We, as hereditary Chieftains of the Hopi Tribe, cannot and will not file any claims according to the Provisions set up by the Land Claims Commission because we have never been consulted in regards to setting up these provisions. Besides we have already laid claim to this whole western hemisphere long before Columbus’s great, great grandmother was born. We will not ask a white man, who came to us recently, for a piece of land that is already ours. We think that white people should be thinking about asking for a permit to build their homes upon our land.
Neither will we lease any part of our land for oil development at this time. This land is not for leasing or for sale. This is our sacred soil. Our true brother has not yet arrived. Any prospecting, drilling and leasing on our land that is being done now is without our knowledge and consent. We will not be held responsible for it.
We have been told that there is a $90,000,000 being appropriated by the Indian Bureau for the Hopi and Navajo Indians. We have heard of other large appropriations before but where all that money goes we have never been able to find out. We are still poor, even poorer because of the reduction of our land, stock, farms, and it seems as though the Indian Bureau or whoever is planning new lives for us now is ready to reduce us, the Hopi people, under this new plan. Why, we do not need all that money, and we do not ask for it. We are self-supporting people. We are not starving. People starve only when they neglect their farms or when someone denies them a right to make a decent living or when they become too lazy to work. Maybe the Indian Bureau is starving. Maybe a Navajo is starving. They are asking for it. True, there are the aged, the blind and the crippled need help. So we will not accept any new theories that the Indian Bureau is planning for our lives under this new appropriation. Neither will we abandon our homes.
Now we cannot understand why since its establishment the government of the United States has taken over everything we owned either by force, bribery, trickery, and sometimes by reckless killing, making himself very rich, and after all these years of neglect of the American Indians have the courage today in announcing to the world a plan which will “convert the country’s 400,000 Indians into ‘full, tax-paying citizens’ under state jurisdiction.” Are you ever going to be satisfied with all the wealth you have now because of us, the Indians? There is something terribly wrong with your system of government because after all these years, we the Indians are still licking on the bones and crumbs that fall to us from your tables. Have you forgotten the meaning of Thanksgiving Day? Have the American people, white people, forgotten the treaties with the Indians, your duties and obligations as guardians?
Now we have heard about the Atlantic security treaty which we understood will bind the United States, Canada and six other European nations to an alliance in which an attack against one would be considered an attack against all.
We, the traditional leaders want you and the American people to know that we will stand firmly upon our own traditional and religious grounds. And that we will not bind ourselves to any foreign nation at this time. Neither will we go with you on a wild and reckless adventure which we know will lead us only to a total ruin. Our Hopi form of government is all set and ready for such eventuality. We have met all other rich and powerful nations who have come to our shores, from the Early Spanish Conquistadors down to the present government of the United States all of whom have used force in trying to wipe out our existence here in our own home. We want to come to our own destiny in our own way. We have no enemy. We will neither show our bows and arrows to anyone at this time. This is our only way to everlasting life and happiness. Our tradition and religious training forbid us to harm, kill and molest anyone. We, therefore, objected to our boys being forced to be trained for war to become murderers and destroyers. It is you who should protect us. What nation who has taken up arms ever brought peace and happiness to his people?
All the laws under the Constitution of the United States were made without our consent, knowledge, and approval, yet we are being forced to do everything that we know are contrary to our religious principles and those principles of the Constitutions of the United States.
Now we ask you, American people, what has become of your religion and your tradition? Where do we stand today? The time has now come for all of us as leaders of our people to re-examine ourselves, our past deeds, and our future plans. The judgment day will soon be upon us. Let us make haste and set our house in order before it is too late.
We believe these to be truths and from our hearts and for these reasons we, Hopi Chieftains, urge you to give these thoughts your most earnest considerations. And after a thorough and careful consideration we want to hear from you at your earliest convenience. This is our sacred duty to our people.