Ya’a’tee (December 2000)

From: UNCLEJAKE74@aol.com
To: unclejake74@hotmail.com
Subject: Ya’a’tee
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 07:22:44 EST

Ya’a’tee (December 2000)

As usual, I am behind schedule getting the next VFH out to you, so in the meantime I thought I would pass on some more words from the resistors.

The first is a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs in 1991. Many of the Elders in the Big Mountain area sent letters, that is to say they spoke in Dineh, and was then translated into english and written down. The one I include here is by Kee Shay. What is striking about all these letters is the simple, powerful clarity that the elders express. Not only have the words been translated from Dineh into english, but must also be translated from an oral tradition into the dominant societies literary tradition. For this reason I would suggest that if it is possible, you print this out and read it later. In some quiet time, when you can read it slowly and carefully. Which is the way it was composed. Read more