by Judy Nichols
The
Arizona Republic
04 May 2004
NAVAJO
RESERVATION - Marie Keams, 49, humbly welcomed members of Congress
into the two-room house south of Cameron where she raised seven
children.
One room
held two beds, two couches, dressers and a wood stove. The other
room had a propane stove and an U.S. flag taped over the door.
No
electricity. No running water. And the well outside is
contaminated with oil, so Keams is forced to get her drinking
water from the Cameron chapter house several miles away.
"I've
been to 48 or 50 different countries, and that housing is
comparable to the Third World," said Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio,
chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing
and community opportunity.
"Those
are the toughest living conditions I've seen."
Ney and
members of his subcommittee were on a tour of housing on the
reservation before attending the first housing subcommittee
hearing ever held on Native American land.
The tour
was arranged by Rep. Rick Renzi, who was appalled at housing he
saw in his district after being elected about 18 months ago.
"I
visited Kaibito and saw three children living in a mud hut with
their grandmother," Renzi, a Republican who represents
Arizona's 1st Congressional District, said. "Their stomachs
were distended with dysentery.
"When
I came home, I cried," Renzi said. "I thought, 'How can
I call myself a congressman and not do something about this?'
"
During a
late-night hearing, about 2 a.m. in the House, Renzi asked Ney to
come see the conditions himself.
He agreed
and the tour and hearing were set up.
"Something
is wrong," Ney said. "Some wire is crossed
somewhere."
Housing
on reservations is substandard because of poverty and the lack of
infrastructure like water, sewer and electrical service. Because
much of the land is held in trust for the tribe by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, individuals do not own it and cannot use it for
collateral to secure loans or mortgages.
Because
of the lack of employment, many tribal members cannot qualify for
credit.
Another
member of the subcommittee, Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said she
represents inner city areas of Los Angeles, which contain large
pockets of poverty.
"They're
heaven compared to this," Waters said. "It's
unbelievable seeing this kind of poverty in America. It's like
South Africa."
In
Bodaway Gap, west of Tuba City, the group visited the home site of
Betty Wilson, 80, whose house burned down three years ago.
Because
she lives in the area involved in the Hopi-Navajo land dispute,
she has been unable to rebuild and is living in a 6- by 8-foot
tent shored up with tarps and bits of wood she scavenges. A
stovepipe sticks up from the front of the tent and a discarded
school desk serves as a table.
Through
an interpreter, Wilson, who speaks only Navajo, said she was
depressed when her house burned down because she lost everything.
Asked if
she stays warm, she laughed and said, "I'm outside with the
sheep most of the time."
Last on
the tour was a modern eight-sided hogan built with 9-inch pine
logs.
The house
was built with high-school labor and federal grant money through
the non-profit company Indigenous Community Enterprises.
Annie
Jackson, 58, said she has been waiting for the home since 1980.
When she
finally walked in, stepping onto the smooth concrete floor and
seeing the finished walls, she prayed.
"I
was real thankful," said Jackson, who has raised 10 children
and has 22 grandchildren, five of whom are in her custody. "I
cried some tears. It's 100 percent better than the old hogan. That
one, the roof was collapsing and the rain was coming in."
One of
Jackson's sons and his children are living in the old hogan, which
has an uneven concrete floor and walls held together with only a
few nails.
At the
hearing in Tuba City after the tour, the subcommittee heard from
the heads of several Native American tribes, including Kathleen
Kitcheyen, chairwoman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe; Joe Shirley
Jr., president of the Navajo Nation; Chad Smith, principal chief
of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Johnny Endfield, vice chairman
of the White Mountain Apache Tribe; and Wayne Taylor Jr., chairman
of the Hopi Tribe.
The
leaders said that, at the current funding level, it would take 123
years to meet the current need. And budgets are being cut each
year.
Committee
members vowed to return to Washington and work for improved
funding and other solutions
They also
said they were disappointed that representatives of the BIA did
not attend, even though they were invited. The committee members
said they would meet with them in Washington to discuss the
issues.
"We
are very patriotic, and many of our members have served in Iraq
and we are proud of them," Kitcheyen said.
"But
when we see billions being spent in Iraq to build their homes and
infrastructure, we wonder why the United States is helping them
while putting the issues of the First Americans aside."
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