Navajo Nation looses former Tribal Chairman, Raymond Nakai

[kiyaanii mom]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 15, 2005


FORMER NAVAJO TRIBAL CHAIRMAN RAYMOND NAKAI
PASSES AWAY SUNDAY, AUG. 14, SERVED FROM 1963-1970


WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Former Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai, who served from 1963 to 1970, passed away Sunday after a lengthy illness.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today issued a proclamation to honor and recognize the long time leader of the country's largest tribe, and to order flags flown at half-staff today through Aug. 21.

Mr. Nakai is remembered as an advocate for tribal sovereignty, individual rights and Native American religious freedom.

More information to follow.

Contact George Hardeen, communications director in the Office of the President and Vice President; office 928-871-7917, cell 928-309-8532.

[kiyaanii mom]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 15, 2005


THE LATE NAVAJO TRIBAL CHAIRMAN RAYMOND NAKAI
REMEMBERED AS FIRST MODERN NAVAJO LEADER


WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The late Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai, 86, who died Sunday of pneumonia, is being remembered here today as the first modern Navajo leader, a champion of Navajo civil and religious rights, and the man
who ushered in the first economic development initiative to the huge, remote Navajo Nation.

“He’s one of the backbones to Navajo economic development,” said David Clark, President of Azeé Bee Nahagha of the Diné Nation and the first president of the Native American Church of Navajoland. “He advocated for the
civil rights of the Navajo. He wanted to have a constitution established. That was his platform during the time he was campaigning.”

Mr. Clark said he first got to know Chairman Nakai as a boy when Mr. Nakai returned from Navy service in the South Pacific and worked at the Navajo Army Depot in Bellemont, Ariz.

“My parents and many others, the elders, worked there,” Mr. Clark said. “He was employed there with the Department of Defense. He was a prominent leader at the time.”

Chairman Nakai was born in Lukachukai, Ariz., on Oct. 12, 1918. He served two terms as chairman of the Navajo Tribe, as it was known then, from 1964 until 1971. He went on to be a councilman on the Navajo Tribal Council from Lukachukai after leaving office as chairman.

“He had great skills in communication both in English and in Navajo because he worked for radio station KCLS in Flagstaff,” said Peter Iverson, Arizona State University history professor and author of “The Navajo Nation. “He had an appreciation for media. He served at a time of great transition and a time when important issues were being confronted.”

Among those issues were education, Native American religious freedom and civil rights. In 1968, Chairman Nakai played a vital role in the establishment of Navajo Community College – today Diné College – the first tribally-controlled college in the U.S.

In 1967, Chairman Nakai met with Bureau of Indian Affairs officials to explain his goals to create the college. The officials expressed disbelief that the Navajo people planned to operate their own college. Chairman Nakai is remembered for having said, “We’re not asking for your permission. We’re
just telling you what we’re going to do.”

Chairman Nakai also presided over the Centennial of the Navajo Treaty of 1868, which freed 8,000 Navajos from captivity at Fort Sumner, N.M., known as the Navajo holocaust, and established a Navajo reservation.

One year later, in 1969, the Navajo Tribal Council passed a resolution to refer to the Navajo Tribe as the Navajo Nation. This was to remind Navajos and non-Navajo alike that, as a people, Navajos were distinct, Professor Iverson said.

“Nakai said that it was asserting that we are both a part of the United States and we are apart from the United States,” Professor Iverson said. “In the long run, Chairman Nakai is somebody, I think, who will be seen as a more significant leader. He was an important person, and important to recognize and remember.”

Chairman Nakai is also known for firing the first general counsel for the Navajo Tribe, Norman Littel, who had tremendous influence in the working of the Navajo Tribal Council in the 1960s.

“Littel did not go gently into the night,” Professor Iverson said. “They had a tremendous confrontation about that. And, in the end, Nakai’s stance held.”

Chairman Nakai is also remembered for having asserted the right of Navajo people to use the sacrament peyote, known in the Navajo language as azeé, or medicine. In the 1960s, members of the Native American Church were being
persecuted for their religious use of azeé.

On Oct. 11, 1967, the use of peyote in religious ceremonies by Native American Church members was approved by the Navajo Tribal Council by a margin of three votes.

Chairman Nakai is survived by his wife Ella M. Nakai, their children musician Raymond Carlos Nakai of Tucson, Ursula Nakai of Albuquerque, Michael Nakai of Window Rock, Richard Nakai of Lukachukai, and Laurinda of Flagstaff. In addition, he leaves three sisters, Mae Bekis, Lillian N. Uentillie, and Eva N. Lee, all of Lukachukai, 10 grandchildren and numerous
great-grandchildren.

Chairman Nakai was preceded in death by his parents John and Bilthnedesbah, his sisters Mary C. Tso and Nellie Nakai, and his brothers Frank and Paul Nakai.

Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at St. Isabel Catholic Church in Lukachukai, Ariz. Burial will be at the Lukachukai Community Cemetery. Rollie Mortuary of Gallup is in charge of arrangements. A family viewing will be from 1-to-6 p.m. on Wednesday at Rollie Mortuary, 401 E. Nizhoni Blvd., Gallup.

CONTACT
George Hardeen, Communications Director
Office of the President and Vice President
The Navajo Nation
928-871-7917 928-309-8532
[email protected]