RIP first Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah

[Tanuki]

https://ictnews.org/news/peterson-zah-85-lead-and-inspired-several-generations?utm_source=Indian+Country+Today&utm_campaign=dc8f935279-The+Weekly%2C+2%2F16_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e3432615c-dc8f935279-361333920

"Peterson Zah, who died earlier this week, left behind a massive legacy in both the impact he had as both a tribal and educational leader, but as a fondly remembered icon who has inspired several generations.

Zah died Tuesday in a hospital in Fort Defiance, Arizona, after a lengthy illness. He was 85.

The burial service will be on Saturday on the Arizona side of the Navajo Nation with the procession starting in Window Rock and ending in Low Mountain. A nearly 100-mile journey west.
...
Under Zah's leadership, the tribe established a now multi-billion-dollar Permanent Fund in 1985 after winning a court battle with Kerr McGee that found the tribe had authority to tax companies that extract minerals from the 27,000 square-mile reservation. All coal, pipeline, oil and gas leases were renegotiated, which increased payments to the tribe. A portion of that money is added annually to the Permanent Fund.

Zah sometimes was referred to as the Native American Robert Kennedy because of his charisma, ideas and ability to get things done, including lobbying federal officials to ensure Native Americans could use peyote as a religious sacrament, his longtime friend Charles Wilkinson said last year."....(more)

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. Thank you for posting this. nt