Bears Ears National Monument-Sacred Land for Natives
Written by: Haylee Hunter
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Native Americans were some of the
first settlers in what is known today at the United States. They had an
abundance of land and a way of life that was different to the Europeans who
arrived about fifty thousand years after the Native Americans. When the
Europeans arrived they decided that their way of life was the right way to live
so they pushed their beliefs on the natives of the land. Europeans even brought
deadly diseases that killed many natives, they also began to control where the
Native Americans could live. For hundreds of years since, Native Americans have
been fighting for their rights to their land. They have been pushed and pulled
in every direction across the United States.
For Native Americans land is more
than just the ground we walk on, land is a sacred and spiritual place for them.
They have a land-based religion and what that means is that certain areas of
land hold a spiritual connection and these places are essentially gathering
points for ceremonies and even family gatherings to practice their religion. When
their land is taken from them for various reasons, their sacred place is stolen
from them and they can no longer practice their beliefs. This is an attack on
their religious freedom.
This is an issue all over the United
States. A specific location that is having these same issues is at a monument
called, Bears Ears National Monument. Bears Ears is located in San Juan County
in southeastern Utah. Several southwestern tribes, such as the Hopi and Navajo
tribe, trace their ancestry to the ancient people that once lived in Bear Ears.
It is home to more than 100,000 Native American culture cites. This location is
about 2,000 square miles and also holds ancient roads, shrines, pit houses,
cliff dwelling, and much more that are at least 700 years old.
Back in 2016, around December, Obama
had created the Bears Ears National Monument. The monument granted federal
protection to the land on which Bear Ears sits. Five Tribes including the
Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and Ute had petitioned the president do this for the area
so Native Americans really saw this as a huge victory. Things were great for
the Native Amerians that traveled to Bear Ears until the election of President
Donald Trump. In December of 2017 things changed. President Trump signed
proclamations that dismantled Bear Ears. His proclamation slashed it roughly 85
percent. He then replaced it with two smaller monumental units, but left the
rest of the land to be open to harmful developments like oil and even gas
drilling.
Native Americans in the area did not
let this slide. Tribes retaliated by filling a lawsuit in federal court in D.C.
stating that President Trump was being unlawful. Days later more groups
followed right behind in the lawsuits. There were a total of three lawsuits and
in January of 2018 the district court consolidated the lawsuits, but The Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) finalized plans to allow drilling and other extractive
activities in Bear Ears as well as another national monument, Grand
Staircase-Escalante. Today this is still an ongoing issue. Recently in February
of 2020, The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) argued that President
Donald Trump does not have the constitutional authority to take back monument
protections that were placed back when Obama was president. The NRDC put out a
statement that went as follows, “We stand with the five tribes and the millions
of Americans who vigorously oppose this degradation and giveaway of our public
lands, and we will continue to challenge the unlawful dismantling of these Utah
treasure in court.”
This is an issue that is seen far
too often in the United States. Native Americans face these issues and often
feel like they are not understood. Cultural Relativism is the ability to understand
a culture on its own term and not take judgement using the standards of ones
own culture. If people were more educated on not only specifically Native
Americans religion, but everyones religion, then issues like taking land might
not be so common. Religion is different for everyone and if everyone respected
those differences issues might be resolved.
Protection of this land like
mentioned previously is very important to Native American people. In past years
artifacts have been destroyed, stolen, and even vandalized. Native Americans
still to this day travel to Bear Ears to hold ceremonies and connect with
ancestors, but if they lose part of Bear Ears National Monument where will they
go to practice their religion? Relocating is not the answer for them. Lands
outside of this area might not hold that spiritual connection. Another problem
is that many Native Americans in the Bear Ears area use the land for natural
resources, they make medicines out of some resources, why should this be taken
from them? These are questions the Native Americans ask, but often go
unanswered.
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