- The book of 25 interviews is part of
the campaign of Navajo uranium miners and their families to gain
compensation for the great loss in death and illness brought about
by mining uranium, with no warning of its ill effects, during the
Cold War era of 1947- 1971.
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- The following interviews and
photographs are from the book "Memories Come To Us In the Rain
and the Wind", Oral Histories and Photographs of Navajo Uranium
Miners & Their Families. Doug Brugge was director and
photographer for the book project. Timothy Benally and Phil
Harrison conducted the interviews. It was translated and
transcribed by Timothy Benally, Martha Austin-Garrison and Lydia
Fasthorse-Begay.
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- Logan Pete
- Mitten Rock, New Mexico
- Interview by Phil Harrison
Translation by Martha Austin-Garrison
Transcription by Martha Austin-Garrison
Photograph by Doug Brugge
As far as I am aware, there were no
safety warnings told to us. But when I was working with Kerr McGee they
did tell us something. Just before we began our work every morning, they
told us to be sure before you enter in there where you are going to work
.... to feel the ceiling for any loose rocks. Do not stay under too
long. I knew what they were telling us. So I obeyed their rules.
... there were two of us working one day,
Kelleywood Yazzie and I were working together. We had finished digging
out the stuff with our shovel and we were told to dig more out. We were
getting ready to go back in as we moved on each side of the entrance. In
the place where we were a few moments ago, there was a rock slide, with
a big boom sound. We were both very scared, looking at each other with
wide eyes. We were very lucky that the rocks did not fall on us while we
were still digging/mucking stuff around. We were both shaking all over.
Did they tell you about the smoke? Did
you wear nose guards?
None, they did not tell us to wear such
things. When the explosion of dynamite did not take place, whatever was
in it that did not burn would be so smelly. It got us all very sick for
sometime. That stuff was so smelly. The smoke was bad too. We were
treated rough. They told us to hurry up and enter the mine. "If you do
not dig out all the stuff, you will be standing there digging again
tomorrow," we were told. Kerr McGee treated us bad almost as though we
were slaves.
I think it did something to my feet. I
was wearing my rubber boots so it did affect my feet. I almost became
crippled because of my leg/feet. (His wife: He suffers from his legs).
My feet get very cold (freezing like) and they get fire like. So it
bothers me in two ways. My feet cannot stand the cold.
How about your lungs?
It does bother my breathing especially
when I go up a hill. It is not strong. It is like that, and my blood
pressure is high. They (clinic staff) told me that I have high blood
pressure. My thyroid is not working right, I was told. Yes, my eyes are
bothering me too. When I look at something like paper or other things,
they get blurry or I cannot see a long way anymore.
No. I am thinking back about all the
votes I have made in Aztec for 18 years. Overtime an Indian person does
something wrong the Whites will speak against all Indians (one Indian
person does some-thing wrong, then every Indian will be blamed for that
wrongdoing). This is the reason why I spoke/voted against the Whites,
such as patrols so that they do not hold their jobs. Just thinking about
these things makes me feel that they are prejudiced for that reason our
young people are gone (died). They think of the Indians like they
thought of the Black slaves. Does the president of US think of us
(Navajos) as though we are slaves too? We have suffered in the holes
(mines). On top of that our language was used to win a war. Is that
worthless too? I served in the war too. I was drafted. I was injured and
there was no room for me to stay (in a hospital) so I was sent back
home.
When one is in need of something, one
wishes to be better. I would like to have this and that. How shall I get
something a little bit more, one usually thinks/wishes for, even when
one gets too old to do something for oneself. I usually think that way
for myself. And you think of something valuable that one has; will my
children carry that forward with them, is what one wonders usually.
They will observe how you care for your
livestock, cows, horses, your work, skills, and from these they learn to
do as you did, and one wonders how long they can do the same. I usually
think of these things. My father also taught me some songs, I still have
those songs in me. These are the Blessing Way and Shootingway songs. My
grandfather taught me these things and told me to think this way.
"You try harder, the good ones begin
right here" as he would stretch his arms. "You remember these things in
your future." What he said is true to this day. "There is the very good
thing that exists just beyond my reach (as he extends his arms). You
remember that as time goes on, you think about that and before you know
it will happen." That is true today. "Just beyond your reach is where
the good stuff exists. These you will be aware of and walk in a holy
way. There is one life that one lives. No one lives two lives." This is
what Hastiin Tseta' taught me. I remember what he taught me.
....counseling helped me to express a lot
of my feelings, a lot of the grief that I was going through, and that is
one of the reasons why I stress that a lot of counseling is needed in
these areas.... the victims, I and others, are suffering out there. I
know they are grieving, it's all inside and they don't know how to
express that. And, being a young person and knowing what's out there,
the help that can be there, that's why I always express that they should
have counseling for the victims, the survivors, the grandparents, the
parents, the brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts and this way we
could talk about our feelings. This is another way of having and taking
a positive step into the future and dealing with all the grief that we
have been through, the trauma of the death of our relatives ....
.... And dollar amounts should be
earmarked specifically for counseling, because a lot of them, as the
Navajo people, you really don't express a lot of these things unless,
you know, somebody brings it up. And there are a lot of widows who live
alone, and their kids are all grown up. They are by themselves and when
I go out in my community out at Cove, I always say kinship and I know
how that makes me feel because when you say, "k'é" that we have
relatives and that's your support by saying "k'é". My relatives
and I even offered to help to do part of the counseling too because in
my field when I do there are a lot of people that know me by helping the
youth, the adults. There is a lot of spiritual healing that needs to be
done and a lot of the grieving.
And, like for me, it was really hard to
do this interview because you go back in time and then, you know, our
elders always say "go ahead" and that's how I was brought up by my
grandparents, my father, my uncles; they always encouraged me to "go
ahead." And as I speak I always say now, as I speak, I am my
grandfather, my grandparents, my fathers, my uncles, my aunts and my
mother, as I speak, I am them .... I say my relatives have gone on to
the spirit world, they come in the wind, the rain, the four seasons and
I will always say that in my prayer and they guide us in the right
direction.
And the only thing we have is our prayers
(crying) and as a relative and person that is concerned about
this, you know, I really appreciate the people that are willing to help
and their concerns because they don't know how much we hurt and yet
people think it's, you know, the people that did this, they think, "hey,
deal with it, it's done and it's gone." It's not, it's not done and it's
still there and that's why I say we really need a lot of counseling in
our areas even though it's a remote area, no matter where you go there
has to be some type of counseling support group. (crying) Thank
you.
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- Floyd Frank
- Oakspring, Arizona
- Interview by Phil Harrison
Translation by Timothy Benally
Transcription by Lydia Fasthorse-Begay
Photograph by Doug Brugge
"Uranium is
really dangerous ...Why did they not tell us this?"
.... several of my brothers have died
from the effects of uranium (one was married to Mary Frank). So their
lives ended in front of my eyes, and several others who are related to
me have had the same thing happen to them .... My sympathy goes to them
and I am affected from it (I have silicosis) and have become weak. I
lack energy to work even at my own home. If they told us about it at the
time of uranium mining, perhaps we would not have worked. This is what I
think, and our families .... are worried and concerned about how I
worked, and its effect on me .... And later, when it really starts to
affect me, I think I'll also be one of the victims.
There are many things we could talk about
regarding uranium mining on our land. Some of our animals have been
affected; calves have been born defected and sheep had lung problems,
these we learned about ourselves. Uranium is really dangerous, we
learned, and that is how it is. Why did they not tell us this? Perhaps
we were just experimental subjects to them, I wonder. "How will it
affect them, and what will it do to them in the end," perhaps this was
what they thought. Were these the reasons they did not tell us? It
generates many thoughts. They were studying us. Doctors learn about
surgery using various animals and others. Perhaps in that way we were
used for experiments. There are many thoughts.
Are we disposable to the government?
These are some of our thoughts this uranium brings out to the front ....
For sure water has been contaminated from it. Tributaries wash uranium
ore from different mines and concentrate it in the main washes and thus
contaminate land and livestock .... From the government's point of view
.... they tell miners that they will only be compensated if they (have)
lung cancer. I think this is wrong. I watched two of my brothers die
from cancer. Sores appeared all over their bodies. It does not just
affect the lungs!
(Added in English by Mr. Frank in
January, 1997) They just piled low grade ore and put it around our
cabin .... So we didn't know if that was dangerous. They didn't tell us.
Low grade is just waste, but there is some uranium in it. Here is the
mine and our cabin is about 100 feet from the mine. We mined the ore and
piled it up and the children played on it. They didn't tell us that our
kids should not play on it. This is what I really worry about for our
kids.
- Donald Yellowhorse
- Cove, Arizona
- Interview by Phil Harrison
Translation by Timothy Benally
Transcription by Martha Austin-Garrison
Photograph by Doug Brugge
How it is, I'm not sure, but what I think
is that all the residents of Cove Community have been affected in one or
more ways, this is what I think. From there (pointing), waste and ore
that were hauled out, some of these washed down with water. Also here
(pointing), they hauled some in front of where the trading post is. It
used to be piled over across; there was a pile. Then they hauled it over
the roads, uranium fell off the trucks, so this makes uranium
everywhere. Some homes, they used rocks for foundations which are
radioactive; perhaps in the community there are also some like that.
Some houses are also built with these same rocks.
Water too, this wash, irrigation
ditch-the same water. Dig wells, you drank the same water, there was no
water system then. We carried water home in buckets from there. So, they
just dumped the waste into the washes, they flow down, that way
everything was exposed, animals as well. This is what I think. Even down
to the babies are like that.
Effects are not noticed until later on,
some years later. From observation, this is what I have determined. When
it starts on you, there is no turning it, nothing to back it off with.
It just progresses to the end. Several people here in Cove, this
happened to them, from that came my thinking. If they had informed the
people, perhaps something would have been done then, perhaps our leaders
could have done something about it, this I think about sometimes.
Why did I work there, is what I often ask
myself, when I'm lying with chest pain. Perhaps, if I had not worked, I
would be well. There are some men who worked for short periods or had
not worked at all and they're well and living their healthy lives. Some
are old, still they are in good health. From this I form my opinion.
From these observations. If the people knew, if brothers, cousins, etc.
had not worked in mines, they'd be with us today, this is what I think.
If they try to open more mining they should say no! We've found out it
is a very dangerous material, no cure.
For more information see
Navajo Uranium Miners fight for Compensation -
Timothy Benally, Sr.
For more information please contact Doug
Brugge at
dbrugge@aol.com
or Timothy
Benally at
thbenally@shiprock.ncc.cc.nm.us.
