Volume 4 Number 3
May 1965

Sidney H. Woolner

It is an honor and a pleasure to be with you tonight, meeting on the edge of your reservation, almost in sight of your Sacred Mountains. I come not only to tell you something of what the economic opportunity program can do for you, but to counsel and plan with you.

Diné, the Navajo people, are, I know, an ancient tribe with a long history rich in pride and courage. You are a tribe distinguished by many human qualities that we white people can learn from and emulate.

You are realistic people who know that all human beings are made up of both good and bad.

You are a dynamic people, devoted to living life to the fullest, not recklessly, but with what a great Indian Commissioner, John Collier, called "passionate tranquility."

You are adaptable people, who have been able to make use of white men’s tools and techniques without losing or changing the life style that is distinctively yours.

You are a sharing people, a giving people, dividing what you have with those related to you, those you love, and with your clan and tribe.

You are a sturdy, resilient people who have survived and multiplied in a land far more beautiful than generous.

You are a people who respect each other, who honor and give much authority to women, and who encourage children to develop their own strengths and independence.

You are a people who do not fight nature—its seasons, its weathers, its smiles and even its storms—but are one with it. You are in balance with it, as you are with your families and your Tribe.

It is a great tragedy that many white men have been slow to acknowledge these admirable qualities of your life style, that they have tried too often to make you live by rules right for them but not necessarily right for you; sometimes even trying to make you forsake your language and your ceremonials.

I hope that the day of such efforts is over, that there will be no more attempts to make Navajos think, speak and behave in ways not true to themselves and the long history which has shaped them. But though our understanding of each other is improving, this does not simplify the problems which concern all of us here, the problems which bring me to speak before you.

The problems of poverty—of want, disease and illiteracy—are tough and deep and are perhaps even older than the Navajos. We must deal with them in many ways, and finding these ways calls for great ingenuity and flexibility.

What we in the economic opportunity program hope to do is to help you develop your own resources and means of reducing poverty in ways that are suitable and appropriate for you.

I recognize, as you do, that the tasks confronting you today are intensely complicated and spring from stubborn roots. Some of the roots are these:

Your number has multiplied tenfold in 100 years. It has almost doubled in only 25 years, and the rate of increase in your population continues to be high.

At the same time, much of the land of your reservation is eroded and barren. Not enough land is being irrigated or properly fertilized so as to become rich and fruitful.

Some of your other resources, like gas and oil, have helped your economy, but are gradually being depleted.

Despite improving roads and communications on the reservation, many of you still live in great isolation. As a result of this isolation, your knowledge of each other—of what each Navajo does and can do is incomplete. You do not yet have a full inventory of the assets, skills and aptitudes of your tribe, and you are handicapped, therefore, in your ability to plan activities and projects.

And, most difficult of all, many of you—particularly your young people—are caught between expectations that war with each other. You are on the horns of the most painful of dilemmas. One horn is the old tribal way, rich in meaning and ceremonial, but now too poor in material resources to provide the most basic necessities for your increased population. The other horn is the new American way, offering greater physical comfort and economic security, but divorced from many of the old rituals and inner strengths.

So the question is: Can the two be brought together? Can the People keep most of the best of both and discard much of the worst of both?

In my mind, there is no doubt that you can. In fact, I think you are uniquely equipped to resolve this question. Your history shows that your ability to take the customs and devices of other peoples and make them useful and beautiful in your own special style is one of your attributes. You have taken the horse and the sheep, rug-making and silversmithing, even the clothing styles of others and made them into distinctive features of your life, handled with a flair completely your own. It is clear that you can find the means to combine old ways and new ways and get much of the best from both.

Navajos have lived a long time with economic uncertainty. In this respect you are tough and courageous, and you have preserved your zest for living and your inner wisdom, despite the physical hardship and inadequate income that are typical of too many of your families. But perpetual poverty is hardly necessary to the good life. The economic opportunity program provides a way to help you in your efforts to see to it that life is good and that the future for your children is better.

There have already been efforts along these lines, efforts like the Navajo-Hopi Long Range Rehabilitation Act, the Navajo Emergency Education Program and the Little Emergency Education Program, which have made it possible for thousands of your children to enter school for the first time and for hundreds to enter high school; efforts that have brought about a road-building program, improvements in your facilities and techniques for conservation of resources. These have resulted in increased work opportunities for many Navajos.

But this has only been the beginning. The baby has started to crawl; now it must prepare to walk. Greater economic independence, the ability to find and hold stable jobs, improved housing and health facilities, better schooling and recreational opportunities for your children and young people, a lower infant mortality rate—these things will constitute walking, and these are what we want to help you achieve.

In speaking of the goals of the Great Society, President Johnson has said that poverty has many roots, "but the taproot is ignorance."

Much of the economic opportunity program, therefore, is devoted to tackling ignorance and to providing the chance for people to become not only literate but knowledgeable and skilled.

Here are some of the provisions of this program that offer education and training:

The Job Corps, for young people from 16 to 21, who will live in rural camps or city centers and further their education, learn basic job skills and get part-time job experience. A basic living allowance is paid to members of the Corps, and they may send part of this allowance to their families, with the Federal government providing a matching sum of money. Some Indian tribes may develop Job Corps camps on their own reservations, but if they do not, their young people will nonetheless be eligible to volunteer for the Corps and go to camps and centers elsewhere. Many camps will be located in national parks and other public lands, as were the Civilian Conservation Corps camps to which many Navajo youths went in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Work Training Programs, or Neighborhood Youth Corps, for high school students who might be forced to give up school because they must help support their families. Part-time jobs will be found for these students, jobs which will give them practical training for future employment; and school programs will be adjusted so that these students may complete high school.

Work-Study Programs for college and university students who need additional funds to continue their education. This program offers a source of help which may make the difference between an opportunity for higher education or none, and it should make possible increased college enrollment by Indian youths.

Adult Basic Education for communities wishing to set up programs of instruction for adults whose inability to read and write English hurts their chances for getting and holding jobs.

Work Experience Programs for people who need job training in order to be able to support themselves and their families.

The Community Action Program, which I represent, is intended to help communities mobilize their own resources to combat poverty. Many projects being developed under the Community Action Program are, again, aimed at offering basic education and training in job skills. Here are some examples:

In a moment I want to come back to the Community Action section of the Economic Opportunity Act and to comment a little more specifically on your own proposal for a community action project on the Navajo reservation.

But let me just outline other provisions of the economic opportunity program which may also be helpful to you:

Special Programs to Combat Poverty in Rural Areas, which will provide loans for new equipment and land improvement to operators of family-size farms and to local cooperative associations serving low income rural families; and aid to state and local agencies to help migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families. Loans will be made at low interest rates to individuals or groups to whom other sources of credit are not available but who appear to be reasonably good credit risks.

Employment and Investment Incentives in the form of loans to strengthen small businesses and improve managerial skills. These will be available in communities where the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity has concluded that they are consistent with the goals of the local community action program.

And finally, VISTA, the program which is known as "the domestic Peace Corps." VISTA, or Volunteers in Service to America, can be a two-way street for Indians: It can bring people to the reservation to add their skills and know-how to yours in helping you develop and strengthen your programs; and it can provide a chance for some of you to work in the war on poverty in other areas and communities, using skills in which you have special ability and competence. VISTA volunteers, like members of the Job Corps, will get a monthly living allowance, and their living and travel expenses will be paid.

Let me now speak about your community action proposal. Like all such proposals, it has a number of sections. As currently suggested, it has such features as these:

I cannot say at this moment whether all the features of this proposal will be approved or which may be modified or recast through our discussions and negotiations with you. But I can say that what impresses me most about your proposal is your recognition not only of your physical needs and the importance of raising the income and living standards of your people, but of your understanding that education, creative leadership, tribal cooperation and self-help are the most vital aspects of what must be undertaken. The development and sharpening of these tools for improvement will make all else possible and will help The People to raise their horizon of hope and aspiration.

I speak, I am sure, not only for the Office of Economic Opportunity but for all of those Federal agencies—the Departments of Interior, Labor, Agriculture and Health, Education and Welfare-which are mobilized to fight the war on poverty, when I say that no group of Americans more deserves our efforts than the Indians. Not only were you the original inhabitants and developers of this land, but you have much to teach us about which life goals are most important.