On December 25, 2016, as one of his final acts before leaving the office, U.S. President Barack Obama invoked the Antiquities Act and designated Bears Ears, a 1.35-million-acre area located in southeastern Utah, a national monument. The proclamation was a triumph especially for five tribes – the Diné, Hopi, Uintah & Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni – who in 2015 had formed a historic consortium of sovereign tribal nations, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, in order to conserve the cultural landscape sacred to the first peoples of the South-west. Calling the protection of Bears Ears National Monument “a massive federal land grab,” Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump, now plans to drastically reduce its size.
#trumpthemonument
Following Trump’s orders to review whether Bears Ears and nine other national monuments created by the president’s immediate predecessors could be modified, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended in late August that the size of the Bears Ears National Monument should be reduced dramatically. This would open up parts of the sacred Indian land to economic activities such as drilling, mining, and timber production—regardless of the area containing tens of thousands of cultural artifacts. Siding with many Utahans who believe the Antiquities Act allows excessive power to the president, Trump announced on October 27 that he will, in fact, shrink the monument. Confident that the president does not have legal authority to enforce his plan, tribal leaders and environmentalists alike anticipated Trump’s decision, and already have lawsuits ready to be filed.
“This is our land. The damn Navajos need to go back to the reservation.”
The heated debate over federal use of the land has led to increased racial tensions especially in Utah as citizens are divided between those demanding respect for the culturally and spiritually significant Indian lands and those who protest reduced public access. Many fear, that the mutual understanding that has been developing between Native Americans and non-Natives is now diminishing. Among non-Natives, ironically, the frustration stemming from this “land grab” has much to do with losing access to what they consider home, a familiar tragedy when looking back at the histories of Indigenous peoples in the United States. A white male interviewed in a CBC report summarized his dissatisfaction as follows: “They are going to start restricting it, restricting access, restricting freedoms that we already enjoy up there.” Another Utahan, commenting on a YouTube video that supports the monument writes: “You don’t know what it is like to have something this big took from you! This is our home that Obama took from us!” The unseen benefit of this dispute, however, is that it continues to increase awareness of Native American cultural and spiritual life.
Nahodishgish: A Place to be Left Alone
Several southwestern tribes have populated the Bears Ears region since time immemorial, and have significant spiritual connections to the land. The area is still used in ceremonies and for hunting as well as collecting herbs and medicine. For some tribes, the area is a burial ground; to all it is a place where anyone can go and pray. A history of broken promises with the United States has caused deep wounds to many Native peoples, and rescinding Obama’s monument declaration would mean tearing those wounds open once again. As Willie Grayeyes, the board chair of Utah Diné Bikéyah, puts it: “What we are asking for is just a small acreage compared to what was taken away from us.” It remains to be seen whether President Trump will follow in the footsteps of Andrew Jackson, one of his self-proclaimed heroes, and go down in history as yet another leader of the United States who has dishonored Native America.
Sources:
Bears Ears Coalition. https://bearsearscoalition.org/
“Controversy over Bears Ears National Monument designation.” FoxNews, January 4, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt2gX9Kt2G4
Eilperin, Juliet & Fears, Darryl. “Interior secretary recommends Trump alter at least three national monuments, including Bears Ears.” The Washington Post, August 24, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/24/interior-secretary-recommends-trump-alter-a-handful-of-national-monuments-but-declines-to-reveal-which-ones/?utm_term=.f438e0cddf39
Eilperin, Juliet. “Shrink at least 4 national monuments and modify a half-dozen others, Zinke tells Trump.” The Washington Post, September 17, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/shrink-at-least-4-national-monuments-and-modify-a-half-dozen-others-zinke-tells-trump/2017/09/17/a0df45cc-9b48-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?utm_term=.2edcaeda2ee2
Eilperin, Juliet & Fears, Darryl. “Trump says he will shrink Bears Ears National Monument, a sacred tribal site in Utah.” The Washington Post, October 27, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/10/27/trump-says-he-will-shrink-bears-ears-national-monument-a-sacred-tribal-site-in-utah/?utm_term=.296dc930930b
Grayeyes, Willie. “Op-ed: Bears Ears is a place for healing, not conflict.” Desert News, May 20, 2017. https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865680391/Op-ed-Bears-Ears-A-place-for-healing-not-conflict.html
Noisecat, Julian Brave. “Bears Ears is sacred to Native Americans. But heritage isn’t all equal for Trump.” The Guardian, September 19, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/bears-ears-sacred-native-americans-heritage-trump
Siegler, Kirk. “With National Monuments Under Review, Bears Ears is Focus of Fierce Debate.” NPR, May 5, 2017. http://www.npr.org/2017/05/05/526860725/with-national-monuments-under-review-bears-ears-is-focus-of-fierce-debate
“The Battle for Bears Ears.” The National, April 29, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K70t7eugbg
“The Battle Over Bears Ears.” Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, September 14, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsLkzUjOCUM