‘Marsha Monestérsky poses for a portrait at her home in Flagstaff Thursday afternoon. ‘Cayla Nimmoindopendent Marsha Monestersky no stranger to controversy By Katy Helms One Buea rnavajot@ gahupindependent.om WINDOW ROCK —Love her or hate her, but Marsha Mon esters i ard to ignore. ‘Bor on Crstmas Day the Jewish descendent of the Levi ‘Tribe fst visited the Navajo and Hopi reservations in 1974 with her identical mimor image win, Rita Monestsky-Sebastin. In 1002, Monestrsky packed up het computer and pine an tra- cle ros-couniry from New York to focus her energies on Peabody Coal Co, andthe Navajo-Hopi relocation iste. Her politcal activism has won her the dubious honor of being exclude fom the Hopi Reservation for ie and nearly exclude from the Navajo Reservation aswel None ofthat has stopped her Ffom tying to assist elders living on Hopi Parioned Lands or victims ofthe former Bennet Freeze. eetfed paralegal, Mon- {ste is program director forthe grassroots group, Foxpien People Ine! Shes adopted Nakai Dine and To’ sheen (The Water Flows Togthe) ‘Q: Did you help organize the Relocation resisters? ‘When firs ame my entry was actualy through the tad tional Hopis in Hotei [knew David Monongye, te traitonal leader t Hotevilla, and T goto know four generation ofthe ‘Mononaye family: When I eame back n 192 fl ime, there was a Dineh-#opi Alliance that was created and othe traditional Hops in Hetevilla along with Thomas Banyacya of Kykotsmov shad meetings in Hopi. ‘accompanied traditional Hopi, carying a suppor statement from them to the United Nations “Cry ofthe Earth” prophocy ses- sion held on Nov. 22, 1995. Cry of the Earth was when seven nations-eame from the four directions to speak prophecy and ‘wam world leaders of the time we are in with climate change and ‘environmental degradation. Grace Smith Yellowhammer from the Star Mountain-Teesto area was there and she presented the tradi- tional Hopi statement to support the Navajo people. 'Q: You were banned from Hopi, how did that come about? ‘A: Hopi Chairman Ferrell Secakuku had two reasons for want= ing to ban me “for a long as 1 shall live,” and that was for bring {ng the United Nations out and getting the investigation by the UN. of'the US, and for getting hundreds of animals out ofthe [BIA impoundment yard. I went to Hopi Tribal Court and then 1 ‘went to Appellate Cour, charzed with unauthorized practice of Taw: Thad two atfomeys when T went to Hopi Tribal Cour. We told the court that they were not the proper venue for a hearing on. ‘my exclusion, According to the Hopi Constitution, it states that villages that don’t participate in the Hopi Tribal Council are sov- ri vlleges we bye cote! ort vile te ing exclusion. Tn 1996-when John MeCain pushed the ‘Final Solution,’ PL. 104-301 that authorizes the ‘Accommodation Agreement, We ‘decided to goto the United Nations.‘When Special Rapporteur "Abdel Amor came to Gen- ‘na Begay’s hogan on HPL in 1958 forthe only onsite Visit in the United States to indigenous people's lands, the Hop Tribe ‘ras upset at me about it The ta- ditional Hopis left their kivas dur- ‘ing ceremonial me an came sapport HPL. They brought their ‘sleeping bags. The Hopis that had ome were Dan Evehema (Lite ‘Dan) of Hotevilla, Martin Gash- vweseoma of Hotevilla and Manucl Hoyimgowa of Kykotsmov. Tey came to show that there was nota dispute, “What we had to do was show prof the United Nations —in ‘rer for them to investigate — that it was not an interal con- flict between the Hopi and the ‘Navajo, but was engincered by the United States government. ‘Tafotnatly, tne people facing relocation were tragically sacr- fond for energy resource exration. “Q; How aid you help get the animals out of the BIA ‘impoundment yard? : : MA: Well, quite offen they were illegal impoundments in viol tion ofthe CERs — the Code of Federal Regulations. Sometimes {hey would come to take a horse that was inside a corral or sheep that were inside a coral, One time early on, there were 100 don- ays that were legally seized. Well, everything that was seized that day was illegally seized because they didn't give five-day rotics of intent to impound. So everything had to be retumed by fhe BIA at its ow expense, and that included the retum of the 100 dnkeys into Cactus Valley. ‘Q: Your activism has crossed alot of paths from Peabody ‘mining to radiation issues to helping communities get water ‘ments. Even as difficult as itis with a multinational corporation {ike Peabody, you sort of have black and white for laws. With the ‘ease of the BIA, they tend to write their own laws, ‘O: How did you get involved with the abandoned uranium water issues? ‘contaminated 5 eh See arts EPA conte ‘Tohame roughly eight years ago: re cence and I had heard that people were drinking contaminated erin Black Falls and when I was presenting, I mentioned it to ‘the EPA folks. They put up some signs about contaminated water ih Box Springs and Black Falls, Ata Forgotten People mesting in Back Falls Rolanda Tohannie came upto me and she sid, 'T five there by the Box Springs wel T said, ‘How many people ate drinking water from that well?” and she wrote alist andthe ist {eet growing. She sai there is canoer in almost every inBox Springs, Black Falls and Grand Falls area. Then she chal- me and said, "What are you going to do to help” Icom ‘Gite myself to the contaminated water issve and we Jobbied and fot the first Declaration of Public Health ‘Bon with uranium in the Navajo Nation’ history. USEPA funded fhe Navajo Nation to get five water hauling trucks The frst load bf safe dfnkina water was delivered to Box Sorings. ‘Q: What about your work in the Bennett Freeze and get- ‘ting houses built for people? "A: When the freeze was fs lifed we thought there were ‘ing tobe a lot of hammers fying inthe ar, alot of houses ‘being bul, and nothing happened. So Forgoten People bull « hhouse for veteran in Tuba City, Jurta Riggs. The VA had given hher materials and she wasn't able todo anything with it and she ‘ame tous and said the VA told her she had to build a house or they were going to take back the materials. The next day we were having Project Pucblo, a consortium of universities throughout Califomia, come out, Over the course of three trips, the house ‘vas built from the ground up. ‘We've had hundreds of students eome out and we've fixed houses, fixed roofs, broken windows, and done home makeovers ‘with the help of faith-based groups lke Mesa Grande Academy in Southem California ‘Aouse as built in Cameron for Thomasing, a single mother ‘with seven children. The octagon was a collaboration between UC Berkley and Mesa Grande Academy. They had 50 kids come cat ffom the high school and over Thanksgiving week, they putin 4 foundation and bul the shel. Then Projet Pueblo came out ‘and putin the insulation and sheetrock and painted the wall, ed th an bey Dep were ges x Bessie Wilson in Bodaway-Gap isthe third house that we helped build, and thats thanks to Operation 29:11. believe i is the best house we've built yet in terms of fixtures, ‘Q: What kindof projects do you see yourself involved in, inthe future?” ‘A: We're working with Engineers Without Borders as thee fist domestic project hee inthe United States for wate filtration sys- tems that will takeout te uranium, arsenic and bectri fom the ‘water So we're working with two different chapters with Engi- ‘cers Without Borders. They're designing ran catchment systems for people's homes that will help, Because most ofthe money they spend is on vehicle repair fom naling water over these roads that are never maintained. And another Engineers Without Borders chapter is designing a hauled-water bathroom with composting ti- Jets i's really state ofthe art. That’ very important