Presidential Candidate in Navajo Nation Protests a Language Requirement

[Playinghardball]

Daisy Yazzie of Tuba City, Ariz., said she teaches Navajo to her granddaughter, Abigail Yellow.

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — In his run for president of the Navajo Nation, Chris Deschene has presented voters with impressive credentials: A veteran of the Marine Corps, he is a lawyer, a trained engineer and a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives, where he represented part of the tribe’s reservation.

But there is a problem that may disqualify him as a candidate: His command of the Navajo language is far from perfect, as he himself admits. And Navajo law requires the tribe’s president to speak the language fluently.

Thus Mr. Deschene’s candidacy has exposed a deep divide within the Navajo Nation, the country’s largest Indian tribe, about the role that language should play in modern Navajo society, the tribe’s direction in the new millennium and how traditionally Navajo the tribe’s leader needs to be.

As in so many Indian tribes, fewer and fewer young people understand the language. And for many tribal elders, the prospect of a president who does not speak fluent Navajo has stoked fears that the language could recede or even die, taking many of the tribe’s traditions with it.

Christopher Deschene, a candidate for president of the Navajo Nation who is fighting a rule requiring candidates to be fluent Navajo speakers.

“We are at a crossroads,” said Peterson Zah, 78, a former president of the Navajo Nation. He spoke proudly of the role the Navajo language played in World War II, when it was used as an unbreakable code that helped the United States defeat Japan. “Our nation is renowned for our language around the world,” he said. “If English becomes the dominant language, then what are we doing to ourselves?”

Election officials will now decide if Mr. Deschene, 43, who finished second in the primary election last month, is fluent enough to remain on the ballot in November. On Friday, the Navajo Supreme Court held a hearing in which it declined to rule on his candidacy, but did reaffirm the requirement that the president speak Navajo.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/us/a-presidential-candidate-in-navajo-nation-protests-a-language-requirement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

[Igel]

1. That might eventually make for an interesting election.

The winner gets 5 votes because he's repulsive and unelectable, however he's the only applicant who speaks the language fluently and was able to stand for election.

Borders, everybody borders.

[freshwest]

2. A timeless people, thanks for the picture and the story.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. he did lie on the application. heard this story on npr this week

Impressive credentials but he did lie