Talk:Navajo Livestock Reduction

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important[edit]

This page needs work but it is an important subject. It is about a significant event which had a serious social and economic impact upon the Navajo and the South West by the federal government. There were reasons for the government's actions that the Navajo and others did not agree with. Good addition to wikipedia. I will pull out Compiled (1974). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press. ISBN 0-912586-18-4. and some other references I have. --Rcollman 11:10, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To do on this page[edit]

Please jump in with some edits here.

The references are great but they need to be cited in the article. For example, which idea used page 21 of "A National Disgrace". Otherwise the references just clutter things, perhaps belong on the Navajo People page.
We need more dates which I will try to find.
While the Navajo been raising livestock for 100s of years, they did not go from 15,000 to 500,000 in 10 years.
I think the Livestock reduction took place around the time of the dust bowl. Federal grazing permits on federal land were also impacted?

Again, nice page.--Rcollman 12:07, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Needs to be re-written[edit]

I pulled out my Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace ^[1] for a Navajo perspective. I bought this book for the oral histories and as a companion to Stories of the Long Walk. I mistakenly remembered that the well meaning but mistaken John Collier started in 1933 to reduce Navajo livestock and by 1935 they were 25% of their previous level. The Forward and Appendix, plus many of the oral histories, point out the time frame was much longer, the policies changed over time and the reduction continued into the 1950s.

I don't know much about people like William Zeh, a land manager for BIA who gave estimates about the carrying capacity of the land in 1930. I would like to find his report.

The book points out that Navajos observed that things got worse AFTER the initial reduction. A Navajo viewpoint was that the way the livestock reduction was carried out was the ultimate cause of the erosion:

The Holy People gave the Navajo sheep and were pleased to see them increase. They provided rain and vegetation to promote growth of the flocks. The Holy People held back rain because the sheep were being disrespected in the livestock reduction program. The lack of rain reduced plant life which caused of the erosion. Rcollman (talk) 18:54, 6 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not up on my Navaho mythology, but could someone explain who these "Holy People" are?--Bellerophon5685 (talk) 21:56, 9 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Diné_Bahaneʼ may give you some clues. In my culture, the emergence myth starts with the Garden of Eden. I could say Adam and Eve are my "Holy People". I am not exactly sure of how I am related to Adam and Eve, but the story sets the foundation or is in harmony for many of my cultural beliefs. Does this help? Rcollman (talk) 14:44, 13 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Compiled (1974). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press. ISBN 0-912586-18-4.

Embarrassment to Free Enterprise[edit]

I just learned of this from an Audio Book on the Code Talkers. What a totally messed up situation. What an embarrassment to America's free enterprise philosophy. The implementation of this travesty must also be told. One day, without warning, the BIA workers came around to each families plot with a bull dozer and dug a deep trench with one end being a dead end. The next week, they came back and herded 80% +/- of each families sheep and goats into the trench...sprayed the living animals with a flammable liquid....and burned them alive....screaming sqealing while being burned. What the **** kind of people do that? The Navajo had a personal relationship with their animals...giving them names...and then without warning to have that happened one day. God help us all. I am no Indian apologist but this just sickens my soul. Boyd White boyd@boydwhiteandassociates.com Palestine, Texas 75801 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.232.122.149 (talk) 16:09, 2 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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[1] Compiled (1974). Roessel, Ruth (ed.). Navajo Livestock Reduction: A National Disgrace. Tsaile, Arizona: Navajo Community College Press. ISBN 0-912586-18-4.

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