We the undersigned represent over 45 resisting communities consisting of 2,000 - 3,000 people. We were never told by the Navajo Nation about S. 1973 "The Navajo - Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996" and were never afforded the opportunity to a public hearing to voice our concerns although we are directly affected, We were never told about a hearing is the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs September 25 concerning Closure of the Relocation program although we are directly affected The US, government has spent over 300 billion dollars in an attempt to get us to relocate. We do not want the relocation money.

What we want is to be free to live on our aboriginal home land.

We who are directly affected by this legislation are in total opposition to it. At Rocky Ridge School, June, 1994 a vote against the Agreement-In-Principle, predecessor of the proposed Accommodation Agreement rejected it by a vote of 250 against and 1 for May 29, 1996, Cameron Chaptei of the Navajo Nation passed a Resolution supporting the resisters 33-0. Our organization has signatures from over 250 people on various petitions opposing the lease agreement and S. 1973. We are all united in our opposition.

GREGAIOUS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ON
HOPI PARTITIONED LAND IN SENATE BILL S. 1973, AND IN THE
PROCEDURES USED TO DEVELOP & PROMOTE S.1973
VIOLATIONS WITHIN S. 1973

The proposed Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act of 1996 violates fundamental constitutional rights guaranteed to all United States citizens:

We the Navajo families are subject to the jurisdiction of a government the

Hopi Tribal Council, in which we are denied representation or participation.

We will be living under Hopi jurisdiction, subject to all present and future laws issued by the Hopi Tribal Council, and will be given no opportunity to be represented on the Hopi Tribal Council or to participate n the election of any of its members.

We will be subject to the legal jurisdiction of Hopi Tribal Courts, in which we do not have the right to participate except as defendants. The Bill of Rights guarantees criminal defendants the right to a trial by a jury of our peers.

The Hopi Tribe is to receive over $25 million if it obtains our signatures on lease agreements from 85% of the families. Instead of allowing us a means of expression in which we would be protected, such as a closed ballot referendum, the bill places the families under the legal jurisdiction of an institution which stands to profit almost $120,000 from each signature it can obtain. This situation invites harassment, intimidation, coercion, and the most extreme violation of our legal and human rights.

The bill places us into dependency upon the Hopi Tribe as our landlord, range manager, and sole legal authority. At the same time, the Hopi Tribe also derives the majority of its income from mining operations, which conflicts with our environmental rights. This creates another set of conflicts which could result in the violations of our human and legal rights.

We are denied the right to vote or in my way express our opinion on this bill. The supporters of this bill assure the Senate that many families support this bill. This is a blatant lie. All we ask the US Senate is an opportunity to vote on this issue: to express our opinion in a ballot in the manner provided to other United States citizens on legislation of such huge importance to their community. This Is all sovereign Dineh Nation and the people ask: the fundamental right to vote on a bill which affects our homes, religion, community and survival. To deny us who are so dramatically affected by a bill any opportunity to express our opinion or to participate in any way in the process is a violation of the most sacred responsibility entrusted by the citizens of the United States to their government.

The bill denies us our means of survival. Under the lease agreement endorsed by the bill, a total of 2,800 sheep-units-year-long are to be split among the 2,000-3,000 affected by the agreement. This is a fraction of the current and traditional herdsizes and far below the minimum necessary to support us as traditional subsistence sheepherders. The agreement is clearly not intended to provide a mechanism to allow us to remain on our land. And while the Mediation has been going on the Hopi Bureau of Affairs has been conducting an aggressive campaign, illegally confiscating our livestock and abusing them as noted in the attached documents the confiscation's are often tied to pressure to relocate.

The legally established governments in both the Hopi and Navajo Tribe never approved this bill. in both

cases, the bill is being advocated by the executives of these governments, but the authority in such matters rests. With the Tribal Councils under their own constitution. The Navajo Tribal Council, as shown in the attached document, went on record officially and strongly opposing the Agreement endorsed by the legislation as shown in the attached documents. A small sub committee, the Intergovemmental Relations voted i-4 afterward to endorse a possible settlement but as noted in the attached letter from their chief legislative counsel, that weak support was conditional upon a number of issues which were completely violated in the final version of the bill.

Under the 3 branch Government of the Navajo constitution this bill requires but has not received support of the full council. Likewise, as pointed out by Hopi Council member Calib Johnson, the Hopi Tribal Council has never officially acted on this bill or been allowed to participate in the drafting of the legislation. Councilor Johnson published a letter in the Hopi Tutuveni newspaper requesting that not only the Tribal Council, but all Hopi be allowed to vote on this issue. And states that the majority of the Hopi people do not approve of this Agreement and were never consulted about its legislation. They had no knowledge about S 1973..

Officials within the US Department of Justice are lobbying Congress on behalf of this legislation and are deliberately preventing Congress and other government officials from learning the truth about our situation in this region. Senators and their aides, including the offices of Senators Domenici, Inouye, and others have

received phone calls from Department of Justice officials exerting great pressure on them to support the legislation claiming they have approval of the Accommodation by the majority of people.