Navajos Have a Long Way to go to the Supermarket

[longknife]

This Al Jazeera America is clearly biased but does contain some clear points about the difficulty of Navajos to find enough food. It also omits two other peoples who like in the area, the Zuni and the Hopi. What is difficult for one who knows their history, as that all three of these were agrarians throughout their history. Hunting was just a way of subsidizing what they raised on the gardens and fields. I also note a lack of information about the Apache, another people of the area who must have similar problems.

Finally – I wonder how much this is true of ALL American Indian reservations around the nation?

The full story is @ http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/30/navajo-food.html\

 

[SteadyMercury]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers most of the Navajo Nation a “food desert,” meaning it is a part of the country where there is little access to fresh, healthy food. One of the reasons for the lack of fresh, healthy options is that there is little access to arable land, according to the report.

Hey time to move!

They are US citizens and enjoy the same rights to move wherever they want to follow better opportunity and places with better living conditions.

 

[R.C. Christian]

They average inner city ghetto is also considered a "food dessert". This crap is sort of intentional.

 

[Gracie]

eye roll at the two responses.

 

[Moonglow]

The Cherokee Nation is well fed...

 

[R.C. Christian]

Are they? I wouldn't know.

 

[Abishai100]

Capital Maze

The American supermarket offers consumerism-ornamentation foods such as Lucky Charms cereal which features the colorful Irish folklore Leprechaun avatar as its 'diplomat.'

Consumerism is not necessarily contradictory to magic sentimentality, and America's management of Indian reservation psychology and reservation access to 'mainstream' culture really reveals capitalist commitments to multi-cultural consumerism.




Notre Dame Fighting Irish football - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Old Rocks]

The reservations were put on the worst land in our nation. We 'gave' the native Americans deserts, then called them lazy because they could not raise crops.

 

[tinydancer]

Strange that the OP has the Navajos starving to death in America when just early on in the year the tribal councils felt the need to tax junk food to fight obesity in members.

Shelly vetoed that tax because he didn't want to drive the grocery revenue off the rez.

And getting healthy food into rez stores isn't impossible. Not at all.

But the Nation had been taxing the crap out of healthy food choices. 5 percent tax on fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm pretty sure they finally were convinced to drop that crazy tax recently. Yuppers. Just found the article.

But the best suggestion for anyone who wants to eat healthy is a garden. Grow your own.

I like what the Alliance has been promoting. And I hope Begay keeps pushing hard to sway others to her cause.

And someone should get President Shelley a freaking seed catalog because for a total of 2.5 million raised in taxes you can buy a shit load of seeds.

And you could feed a nation.

"The Dine Community Advocacy Alliance helped draw up and push for the legislation to both tax junk food and to remove taxes from fresh foods.

The junk food tax would have helped fund the food sovereignty programs by levying a 2 percent tax on unhealthy foods and putting the resulting revenues into community gardens and farmers’ markets, said Gloria Ann Begay, a leader of the community alliance.

Shelly vetoed the tax because tribal authorities estimated it would only generate $1.7 million to $2.5 million, to be spread over 110 chapters — leaving just thousands of dollars for each chapter."

Navajo Nation removes sales tax on healthy foods Al Jazeera America

 

[ScienceRocks]

Why not get together and start a super market on tribal land? How hard can it be?

 

[tinydancer]

The reservations were put on the worst land in our nation. We 'gave' the native Americans deserts, then called them lazy because they could not raise crops.

First off Navajos are living on traditional territory. No one just plunked them there. They scored their original lands.

The Navajo were hunter/gatherers/farmers. They could and did raise crops but used their wits to gather other foods.

I grow a huge garden but I spent 3 weeks this summer picking saskatoon berries. We froze over a hundred cups and ate fresh the whole time we were picking.

The food is out there. It's just a matter of taking the time to grow or harvest it from the wild. I wish more time was spent in educating our young on how to be self sufficient.

Here's a great list of what they have access to. Man I'd kill for wild raspberries let alone the pinyon nuts.

"WILD PLANTS
Wild plants which were gathered for food in early times included greens from beeweed; seed from the hedge mustard, pigweed and mountain grass; tubers of wild onions and wild potato; fruit like yucca, prickly pear, grapes; wild berries such as currants, chokecherries, sumac, rose, and raspberries.

Parties of women went into the mountains each year to gather acorns, pinyon nuts, and walnuts.

In olden times, when a drought ruined crops, the pinyon nuts were the major food of some of the Indians. The nuts are now an important source of income to the mountain people. The gathering begins in the fall after the family has moved to the foothills for the winter, and in March, when the weather is better, the women gather more of the nuts. They do most of the seed gathering in June and July, while the men stay at home to hoe the gardens.

Wild potatoes, no larger than hickory nuts, formerly grew in abundance in certain parts of the Navajo territory, especially around Fort Defiance. Early travelers commented frequently on the broad fields of wild potatoes in the southern part of the reservation. From April till June these tubers served the Navajo as fresh vegetables. The potato has a very bad taste, so clay is used as a seasoning for it.

Yucca or "Spanish bayonet" was important as a relish and for adding variety to a meal. It was dried and baked, ground, roasted, and dried again before being made into cakes and stored away. Before being eaten, the cakes were mixed with water to make a syrup."

Foods (Primitive)

acorns antelope beans (native) cedar berries corn deer elk

grapes juniper berries mescal (agave) mountain sheep piñon nuts potatoes (wild)

prairie-dogs pumpkins rabbits (jack) rabbits (cottontail) rats (wood) squash g yucca fruit http://navajopeople.org/navajo-food.htm[/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[tinydancer]

Why not get together and start a super market on tribal land? How hard can it be?

Go figure. If you can build casinos surely someone could find a way to get a super market.

ETA: I don't want to make light of the health concerns that the Alliance is attempting to address. I think many communities whether inner city, reserves, or those of us who live in the middle of nowhere have to work diligently to maintain healthy diet because of where we live.

"Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise
The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise is a Navajo Nation wholly owned entity created by the Navajo Nation in September 2006. The Enterprise develops and operates Navajo casinos and one resort in accordance with federal and Navajo Nation laws and has both Arizona and New Mexico compacts. Since 2008 when the first Casino was opened in NM, the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise has developed four gaming Casinos near or on Tribal Lands

Twin Arrows Navajo Casino & Resort Opened in 2012 and first Navajo Casino in Arizona and also first Navajo Resort to open located 25 miles east of Flagstaff AZ, plans under way to add shopping center and Gas Station along with housing.

Fire Rock Navajo Casino First Navajo Casino to open in 2008, located 5 miles east of Gallup NM near Church Rock NM

Northern Edge Navajo Casino Third Navajo Casino to open, located in Northern NM near Farmington NM

Flowing Water Navajo Casino Second Navajo Casino to open its one of the smallest Casino the Tribe owns, located near Hog Back NM"

Navajo Nation - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[SteadyMercury]

The reservations were put on the worst land in our nation. We 'gave' the native Americans deserts, then called them lazy because they could not raise crops.

Phoenix, Tuscon, Flagstaff, etc. all thrived in those same deserts.

 

[Iceweasel]

I don't get it. It's somebody else's fault that they can't live in a stone age culture like their ancestors? You know, in most parts of they world, there were no reservations. The conquered people assimilated or were killed. The natives were immigrants too, it isn't like they sprouted out of the ground.

 

[Katzndogz]

It's their reservation. Let a supermarket open. If the Navajo can have a gift shop selling outrangeously priced squash necklaces they can have a supermarket. They can have a farm. Plenty do. The Avi casino is surrounded by farmland and its in the Mojave desert.

Flagstaff isn't in the desert. It's in North Arizona in tall pines country. It's really beautiful up there.

 

[Rozman]

Why not get together and start a super market on tribal land? How hard can it be?

I said the same thing to myself the first time I read this.
I'm sure there is at least one person in this country that would
help guide them in the process of getting a loan or permits to build.

Geez....

 

[Jarlaxle]

That takes effort...it's easier to sit on the sofa and bitch!

 

[Godboy]

The reservations were put on the worst land in our nation. We 'gave' the native Americans deserts, then called them lazy because they could not raise crops.

That is untrue, but I doubt you are concerned about spreading lies, as long as Americans look bad in the process.

 

[blastoff]

Let someone else open a grocery on res. I'm going for the big money in a Beer-Wine-Booze joint.