The Long Walk

Year Published: 1970

Creator: KQED

Description: Presented by KQED, "The Long Walk" (1970) provides a poignant overview of the Navajo experience, blending mythology, history, and personal narratives to explore themes of cultural loss, resilience, and the ongoing impact of colonial policies on Native American life. 00:00: The narrator speaks of a prophecy from their grandmother about the end of the world when Navajo children learn the white man’s ways, lose the old Navajo lifestyle, and face destruction by natural forces like wind, water, and fire. This prophecy seems to be coming true as children are taken away, livestock is lost, and wars involve Navajo sons. 1:25: The narrative continues with the impact of the white man's inventions like airplanes, suggesting that while these are products of education, the Navajo have not created similar modern inventions, and their traditional way of life is rapidly changing. 2:06: The narrator reflects on the prophecy becoming reality as children learn the white man’s ways, leading to the end of the traditional Navajo life. 2:31: The location shifts to Window Rock, Arizona, near the tribal cemetery, describing the "Navajo Inn" and Gallup, New Mexico, highlighting how these places mark the boundaries of the remaining Native American civilizations. 3:25: A list of various Native American tribes is provided, emphasizing the diversity and historical presence of these groups before the arrival of white settlers. 4:42: The script delves into Navajo cosmology, mentioning the sun, moon, stars, earth, living things, and Navajo ceremonies like the Beauty Way and Enemy Way, which are central to their culture and spiritual life. 6:52: The narrative describes the Enemy Way ceremony, its purpose, and how it promotes unity and healing within the community. 8:56: The script invokes Navajo mythology, particularly the story of Monster Slayer, emphasizing themes of protection, renewal, and restoration to harmony and beauty. 9:53: A legend is recounted about "the winner," a figure from whom the white man was supposed to come, foretelling subjugation and revenge by this figure, linking to the current state of Navajo society. 10:51: The script details the historical event known as the "Long Walk" where Navajos were forcibly relocated to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in 1864, leading to significant loss and hardship, including death and the destruction of their traditional way of life. 13:52: Post-Civil War, the Navajo are allowed to return home but under new government oversight, with promises of guidance that would prevent poverty, highlighting the paternalistic approach of the U.S. government towards Native Americans. 15:35: The narrative touches on the broader impact of U.S. policy on Native Americans, including the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the breaking of treaties, and the cultural assimilation efforts through education and religion. 17:05: Discussion on the relocation program in the 1940s, aimed at assimilating Indians into urban areas, with personal stories reflecting the hardships and cultural disorientation experienced by those relocated. 20:24 : The film criticizes the educational system for causing cultural and identity conflicts among Navajo children, with historical references to reports on the failure of Indian education. 22:10: The narrative describes the daily life and cultural conflicts at Inter Mountain School, highlighting the struggle between maintaining Navajo culture and adopting Western values. 24:31: Personal stories from students at boarding schools illustrate the harsh treatment, runaways, and the attempt to forcibly assimilate Navajo children, causing significant emotional and cultural distress. 27:55: The film concludes with reflections on the generational and cultural disconnection between parents and children due to these educational and assimilation policies, signaling the fulfillment of the prophecy about the end of the traditional Navajo world.

Complete Record: Presented by KQED, "The Long Walk" (1970) provides a poignant overview of the Navajo experience, blending mythology, history, and personal narratives to explore themes of cultural loss, resilience, and the ongoing impact of colonial policies on Native American life. 00:00: The narrator speaks of a prophecy from their grandmother about the end of the world when Navajo children learn the white man’s ways, lose the old Navajo lifestyle, and face destruction by natural forces like wind, water, and fire. This prophecy seems to be coming true as children are taken away, livestock is lost, and wars involve Navajo sons. 1:25: The narrative continues with the impact of the white man's inventions like airplanes, suggesting that while these are products of education, the Navajo have not created similar modern inventions, and their traditional way of life is rapidly changing. 2:06: The narrator reflects on the prophecy becoming reality as children learn the white man’s ways, leading to the end of the traditional Navajo life. 2:31: The location shifts to Window Rock, Arizona, near the tribal cemetery, describing the "Navajo Inn" and Gallup, New Mexico, highlighting how these places mark the boundaries of the remaining Native American civilizations. 3:25: A list of various Native American tribes is provided, emphasizing the diversity and historical presence of these groups before the arrival of white settlers. 4:42: The script delves into Navajo cosmology, mentioning the sun, moon, stars, earth, living things, and Navajo ceremonies like the Beauty Way and Enemy Way, which are central to their culture and spiritual life. 6:52: The narrative describes the Enemy Way ceremony, its purpose, and how it promotes unity and healing within the community. 8:56: The script invokes Navajo mythology, particularly the story of Monster Slayer, emphasizing themes of protection, renewal, and restoration to harmony and beauty. 9:53: A legend is recounted about "the winner," a figure from whom the white man was supposed to come, foretelling subjugation and revenge by this figure, linking to the current state of Navajo society. 10:51: The script details the historical event known as the "Long Walk" where Navajos were forcibly relocated to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in 1864, leading to significant loss and hardship, including death and the destruction of their traditional way of life. 13:52: Post-Civil War, the Navajo are allowed to return home but under new government oversight, with promises of guidance that would prevent poverty, highlighting the paternalistic approach of the U.S. government towards Native Americans. 15:35: The narrative touches on the broader impact of U.S. policy on Native Americans, including the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the breaking of treaties, and the cultural assimilation efforts through education and religion. 17:05: Discussion on the relocation program in the 1940s, aimed at assimilating Indians into urban areas, with personal stories reflecting the hardships and cultural disorientation experienced by those relocated. 20:24 : The film criticizes the educational system for causing cultural and identity conflicts among Navajo children, with historical references to reports on the failure of Indian education. 22:10: The narrative describes the daily life and cultural conflicts at Inter Mountain School, highlighting the struggle between maintaining Navajo culture and adopting Western values. 24:31: Personal stories from students at boarding schools illustrate the harsh treatment, runaways, and the attempt to forcibly assimilate Navajo children, causing significant emotional and cultural distress. 27:55: The film concludes with reflections on the generational and cultural disconnection between parents and children due to these educational and assimilation policies, signaling the fulfillment of the prophecy about the end of the traditional Navajo world.

Transcription

[Music] [Music] spe for my grandmother told us things our forefather spoke of long ago that when our children had learned the white man's way and spoke his language and had lost the old Navajo way of living the world would come to an end they would all be destroyed by big winds water and fire I believe now that this may happen many things that were said in the past are coming true our children have been taken away much of our livestock has been taken away now there are Wars and our sons are being taken to fight those the white man has invented the airplane and other great things maybe it's because they are more educated that they can do these things laaj have been unable to create new modern inventions but our old way of life which the Navajo people cling to is changing fast truly as the children go to school and learn the white man's way of living and thinking the old way of life will end this is what my grandmother told me and that day is here now of the United States of America and for stand One Nation this Navajo lies one mile from the tribal Cemetery at Window Rock Arizona on the white man side of the reservation line the bar is called the Navajo Inn 20 M away is the town of Gallup New Mexico near the foothills of Mount Taylor one of the four sacred mountains that Mark the old Navajo World there is a bar like the Navajo in or a town something like Gallup for every Indian tribe in the United States they Mark the edge of what is left of more than 300 civilizations that were here before the white man came the Pueblo the Cherokee the Chickasaw the Chaka the creek the SEO the iror the Onida the sen the Ottawa the pwad the Wyandot the kabo the shauni the Winnebago the Delaware the Peoria the Miami the Mandan the Blackfoot the Cheyenne the kowa the Sue The Nest Pur the UT the banana the kamanchi the Zuni the Apache the Hopi the shason the Washo the Salish the Tio the modok the Pomo the Miwok the clammer the P The Yuma the move the na before there were any white men our forefathers lived and worked according to their own ways there was plenty of grass there and many sun and lots of wi SP we had our own God as many of us still [Music] have the changing woman first man and first woman the Navajo people work very hard and they planted their corn according to their own thoughts NE things that had been put there what things that were put above joh the Sun the Moon Sun the Stars things that were put on Earth the living things on land non set the plant things that were put for the benefit of Navajo the ne Nao ceremony Beauty Way ceremony a enemy way ceremony the enemy way ceremony is performed to heal and protect a Navajo who has become ill because of contact with the ghost of a dead enemy it is a ritual to renew feelings of unity and solidarity among the people as the rattlestick is carried from one Camp to another families and clans reciprocate with food song and prayer and their daughters perform in the squad dance the enemy way is performed many times each summer on the Navajo [Music] reservation na na GH monster Slayer who destroyed the enemies of the Navajo people whose father was the son above who was born for the son to kill all evil things is making his staff for me the staff of the extended bow string the staff of Many Colored beautiful cloth the staff of Many Colored Jewels the staff of long life and happiness he who gazes on my enemy is making it for me he has made it for me he has brought it here for me he has placed it in my hand he has rubbed it with sacred Tallow he has rubbed it with red ochre with my elders he is decorating it for me with men and women of my clan he has decorated it for me with my children and with Chiefs he now carries it away for our people to see once again all has been restored to perfect Beauty once again all on the Earth has been restored to Perfect Harmony according to the inner being of the earth changing woman who is lifegiving who is life sustaining who is life restoring here it is where all life began and all parts of Navajo country rejoicing has returned long life Harmony and Beauty have been [Music] [Music] restored is the still there is the legend of will be he the winner from whom the white man was destined to come when he was defeated by the na god with the help of the Holy people vowed his revenge you will become my slaves again he said and I will have power over your things this is the way the old people spoke when there were yet few white men Among Us now our children are becoming like the white man and our world is coming to an end my grandmother said that these things would come to pass in eight Generations already five generations have passed since the Navajo people were at Fort Su Fort suar New Mexico is an empty field now in 1864 it was the end of a 300M Journey for 6,000 navajos the US Cavalry marched the defeated tribe through the snow along a trail that is now Route 66 the navajos had been starved into Surrender by an army of settlers led by Kit Carson hired to retaliate for Navajo raids on whites the navajos lost their land and were forced to relocate on some of the worst land in the southwest the long walk to Fort suar has never been forgotten by the [Music] navajos the navajos lost their sheep and their corn they were stolen by their enemies the Mexicans the Pueblo the Apaches and the UTS who started making Wars that lasted a long time even their women and children were stolen then the white man came and burned their crops and cut down their Orchards and burned their homes until the nav had nothing left the people had to eat sunflower seeds and wild wheat many St death the starvation continued until a white man came and said the navajos must go to Fort Defiance or they would all be killed they walked there but many people including children died on the way some were put in wagons and the rest started on foot for Fort Su they would change places from time to time but there was never enough room in the wagons many who were tired and sick were shot or left behind many good people died at Fort Su of illnesses that were strange to me my mother was born at Fort Su my grandmother was 14 when she went there seven people in her family died at Fort summer her mother her father her sister brother government leaders told the people to be patient but there was continued unrest and pleased to return to their own country finally a commission of white men came from Washington to the treaty commission from Washington in 1868 the great Navajo headman barbino had said I hope to God you will not ask me to go to any other country except my own the Navajo knew that all Eastern tribes had been removed from their countries and transported or marched West to the Mississippi this resulted from president Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 which created special Indian Territory in the West after the Civil War the reconstruction Congress decided that maintaining the navajos at Fort suner cost more than keeping them on their original home site barino's plea coincided with government economy so on June 18th 1868 the navajos left fort suar in a column 10 Mi long more than a month later the Indians arrived at their Homeland crops Orchards and Hogans had been destroyed in the 5 years since Kit Carson and the settlers invaded more than 3,000 navajos had died the government men told the navajos they were now in the hands of a commissioner from Washington who would tell them what to do the white man said that this would never change now you have a great leader who will do all the thinking for you because his thoughts are far better than the nao's thoughts your thoughts are not so good you are in the hands of a Great lead let him plan for you if you let him plan for you you will not go into poverty [Music] anymore in 1849 Congress transferred the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the war department to the Department of interior Indians were no longer defined as hostile foreign powers but as an internal problem Congress broke hundreds of treaties and agreements and took Indian lands Indian food supply and tribal Authority were destroyed soon after the white man came Among Us it was decided that we should have policemen to help keep the laws policemen and leaders were chosen this was because of government people came from Washington in 1876 the Santa Fe railroad pushed through the Navajo reservation sections of land on each side of the tracks were taken whether Indians lived there or not from that time on many turned to the ways of the white man but the older Navajo stayed with the ways and culture in which they were brought up from 1870 on missionaries and Bia officials converged on Indian reservations Indian religion was prohibited and Christianity was introduced as a US government policy our leaders would go to Fort Defiance and there white men from the government would tell them that the nov people must learn the white man's way of life to stay out of poverty by the 1940s the government moved toward achieving the final solution of the Indian Problem by withdrawing its services and initiating an assimilation policy to relocate Indians in urban areas they used to tell us about this uh relocation program over the radio from gallab and they explained to us that uh we'll be getting uh about $300 each at the time and they were going to pay our way so uh my husband thought that it was a pretty good deal I thought it was going to be kind of exciting but it was a disappointing to us the way we came out here and when we arrived here in Oakland they had they still had the train station up there and uh and and they told us that somebody was going to be be there waiting for us to meet us to take us to this place where we were going visting and there was nobody there and from the moment we St off that train we felt sick [Music] [Music] [Music] the window [Music] [Music] we would like each and every one of you join in [Music] one guy in our apartment he had just came out on relocation and uh he was going to welding school and he never drank before he came out here but that's the only thing there was to do because that's where the Indians were all this time uh we've been wanted to go back home but it seems that we never could afford to go back every year we plan to go B but something always comes [Music] up then the government men said now you are are going to put your children in school you are no longer to live according to your own ways they told our people that our way of thinking was not good because we went on raides and stole things and were not educated in 1928 the Mariam report to Congress concluded that Indian education had been a total failure in 1967 a senate subcommittee heard new testimony from Indians its conclusions were spelled out in the title of its published report Indian education a national tragedy a national challenge I went to the Indian schools when I was in the elementary schools and we learned about the wonderful uh government we had in America and how we came and discovered this beautiful land back at home we were he hearing the Bia and the David reing spoke for a group of California Indians on this hand we' learn that you wave the flag over here and we we'd uh learn about all the wonderful treaties we made and we upholder treaties and we go back at home and we hear that there's not one treaty been upheld by our government and pretty soon we have to decide do we believe the teacher or do do we believe our parents see then we have the conflict we start arguing with our parents and then and if the parent convinces us we go back and argue with the teacher and you can this is just an example how these frustrations come about they can come about in religion we go out there they say that uh your religion is all lousy over here but then the Jewish people come over and the Catholics and so on people come over their religions right but ours is all wrong so we have this frustration that developed within ourselves of who is right what is right now the end surely is coming many of our children are in school when they come home to us they speak in a language we can't understand many are even discouraged with the way we live and say why don't you get a house I don't like all right now at the end of Low's the tongue must be between the H Mountain School at Brigham City Utah 350 mi from the Navajo reservation is the largest co-educational boarding school operated by the Bia it is an all Navajo School of more than 2100 students 12 years or older a former Army hospital the school has been in operation since 1950 according to an Inter Mountain press release the school's purpose is to prepare young navajos for an active role in modern society conflicts that this transition causes are described by the principal of Inter Mountain Miss Wilma Victor I think that our students encounter many kinds of conflicts uh in uh making the transition from the Navajo culture to the dominant culture our students are going into a Time time oriented schedule I want you this time I go away I want you to dive into the water the Navajo culture recognizes the passage of time for our day by Morning Noon and evening and when we have a highly organized uh school program that has periods which last from 1123 to 1159 which kind of thing is I was born about 4 miles east of Ruff rock at a place called Yale point from the age of 4 to seven I HED my mother's sheep we used to take them to the top of black Mesa in the summer when I was seven I was sent away to the chinley boarding school he treated us pretty rough there there was severe discipline and bullying the bo Bo by Boys The Importance that our society places upon acquiring private property causes a conflict their car is better than this one their car is better than this one their car is better than this one the Navajo in its primitive cultural pattern was a part of a larger group in property ownership things belong to a family and their families are extended families not the immediate family a after two weeks in school I ran away with some other boys pretty soon a policeman on a horse came to take me back from rough Rock when I had run away six times they decided to send me to the school at Fort Apache 220 miles away under an Inter Mountain description titled student attitude we find the following the general outward appearance of these students is one of quietness and calmness in looking deeper however we find withdrawal and suppression of intense feelings they are in a state of insecurity as to values because of the need to satisfactorily blend the two cultures in their lives they are accustomed to failure as an academic way of life they fail to understand the goals of their educational program and therefore lack motivation to achieve these goals after a year at Fort Apache I ran away from there too with five other boys from rough Rock was home for about a week hurting sheep and horses then one day as I started out I saw the big policeman's Horse Outside The Hogan I started off on foot up a wash that leads to Black Mesa but I heard the hoof beats of the horse behind me so after my 12-day journey I was sent back to Fort Apache I was 9 years old the policeman followed me on a trail back to chinley a truck was there from Fort Apache with other boys in it that night they hobbled our legs together with handcuffs and made us sleep upstairs in the policeman's house so we wouldn't get away next morning the handcuffs on our legs were tight and pinched as we pull each other along tied together they put us in the truck and took us back through Indian Wells and scholo to Fort Apache for punishment the school supervisor put us in girls dresses and made us carry logs around and around the parade ground of the old for to we did this all day for 2 weeks but this little dot of this on your forehead your nose your cheeks and your chin and this is your protector cream so that it's protecting your skin from the makeup it is a shame I think sometimes that we have to uh inform them of the fact that there is an individual obligation uh to oneself uh to achieve uh because they feel much more strongly that uh every individual uh must uh be ready to share everything that he has with someone else uh we don't teach them that this is wrong but but we do try to motivate them to uh personally achieve to their highest capability because of the new way of living and thinking our children are learning the big difference is developing between parents and children often we do not understand each other and cannot communicate our thoughts and ideas these are the things that are happening now this is truly the way it is

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