Those of us who believe in justice at times take some hope in dissent, not just a general dissent in society, but dissents in the Supreme Court. In the light of cases that have garnered much attention for those of us in the East, the dissent of Justice Gorsuch in the Navajo water case is worth reading.
Once occupying land in “northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and the San Juan drainage beyond,” in 1868 the U.S. government entered into a treaty that moved the Navajo 400 miles comparable to the Trail of Tears the Cherokee endured. The treaty promised adequate water from the Colorado; however, the Navajo have never been included in any discussions over just what that phrase would mean.
Gorsuch’s dissent notes how the Navajo, not to mention other native tribes, have been constantly rebuffed by one federal agency after another, since the time “Elvis was making his rounds on The Ed Sullivan Show.” We as a Nation have constantly shifted our stance on treaties with Native Americans, abrogating many of them. For shame.
Prayer for the Day
Our failures and faults as a people confront us, O God,
For we are afraid of the tasks to which we are called;
Leaving the poor in their poverty and the afflicted in their pain,
We are content to leave your demands for others to fill.
Erase the habits of our uncaring and inaction,
And transform our words into action as you call us to do.
In the name of the Transformer of our lives,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I hope to God you will not ask me to go to any other country except my own.
- Chief Barboncito to General William Sherman 1868 (1820-1871)
As they did at Bosque Redondo, they [the Navajo] must fight for themselves to secure their homeland and all that must go with it. Perhaps here, as well as there, some measure of justice will prevail in the end.
From the dissent by Justice Gorsuch in Arizona, et al v. Navajo Nation, et al Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts;
There is no fear of God in their eyes. For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
That their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
They have ceased to act wisely and to do good.
Psalm 36: 1-3
Bosque Redondo
Prison camp for the Navajo