Bears Ears is sacred to Native Americans. But heritage isn't all equal for Trump
History and heritage are powerful words in American politics. In the United States, the Founding Fathers are second only to the apostles; the Constitution comes just after the Bible on the bookshelf and the Declaration of Independence is nearly as important an origin story as Genesis.
Just days after bloody white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville last month, Donald Trump argued that a growing chorus of voices calling for the removal of Confederate statues would inevitably lead to the removal of monuments honoring the Founding Fathers – tantamount to heresy.
But not all heritage and history is holy in these United States. While Trump is quick to defend his Confederate forefathers, he has been equally swift to desecrate places held sacred by Native Americans.
Just weeks into his presidency, Trump ham fisted the Dakota Access Pipeline through the graves and homelands of the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota.
Now, thanks to a leaked memo from interior secretary Ryan Zinke, we know the president plans to shrink protected areas and lift restrictions on extractive developments at 10 national monuments across the country – including the sacred Bears Ears national monument in southern Utah.
Bears Ears is one of the most powerful and historic cultural and spiritual centers of the first peoples of the Southwest. The monument, established in the twilight of the Obama Administration, stands just next door to Canyonlands National Park, north of the San Juan River and east of the Colorado.
The rock formation after which the monument is named comprises twin buttes standing high above the piñon-juniper treetops, carved canyons, and majestic mesas – like the head of a bear emerging from the Southwest landscape.
The area is revered by a full five Native nations in the Southwest: the Navajo, Hopi, Uintah amp; Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and Zuni.
This land was the birthplace of Chief Manuelito of the Bít’aa’níí or “Folded Arms People Clan.” Manuelito led the Navajo, the second-largest tribal nation in the United States, in a valiant struggle against removal to internment camps in desolate Bosque Redondo, present-day New Mexico.
The Navajo were removed from their homes by gunpoint in 1864 – a dark chapter in Navajo and American history now known simply as the “Long Walk.” Manuelito, the warrior and leader, signed an 1868 treaty that ended this forced exodus, allowing the Navajo to return to a reservation established on homelands spanning across parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
To this day, the Navajo Nation is the largest Indian reservation in the United States—larger by landmass than many states.
Historical analogies are always imperfect, but for all intents and purposes, Manuelito was the Navajo equivalent of a Founding Father. He is, rightly, a legendary figure in the pantheon of the Navajo and Southwest. Moreover, Manuelito’s story is but one of many that emanate from Bears Ears.
There are a full five nations and dozens more clans and families with roots in the area. Utah Diné Bikéyah, a coalition created to protect Bears Ears, estimates that there are more than 100,000 cultural and archaeological sites protected within the current boundaries of the monument.
The Trump administration has not bothered to learn any of that history. Zinke only spared one hour to meet with tribal officials when he visited Salt Lake City in May.
“What we are asking for is just a small acreage compared to what was taken away from us.” Utah Diné Bikéyah Board Chairman Willie Gray-eyes said in a press release. “We ask for this simple honor to be given by the President and Secretary: do not alter or change our Proclamation.”
But Indigenous calls to honor this sacred place have been ignored. Evidently, history and heritage are only important when invoked to defend alabaster monuments to slave-holders.