Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Photo: Peter MacDonald, one of two surviving Navajo Code Talkers. (Courtesy Navajo Nation Council)
Navajo officials are demanding an explanation and apology from the Trump administration for the removal of online articles about the Navajo Code Talkers.
These were the estimated 400 Navajo Marines who used their unwritten language to thwart Japanese Imperialist forces during World War II.
The Japanese were never able to decipher the Code Talker’s radio transmissions, which were used to communicate the movements of American forces across the Pacific Theater.
The Navajos deployed during the fierce battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 are credited with helping the Marines take the island stronghold.
Crystalyne Curley is the Speaker of the 25th Navajo Nation Council.
She says the White House’s Executive Orders removing all references to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is behind the deletion of Code Talker articles from U.S. military websites.
“Our Navajo Code Talkers are seen as heroes, and community leaders, healers, protectors. So when we heard that the Navajo Code Talkers’ contributions, their legacy, their history, was deemed erased, the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘This can’t be true.’”
Curley says the omission was shocking to her and other delegates of the Navajo Council, given the sacrifices made by the Code Talkers.
“Now many of our Navajo veterans, Navajo Code Talker families, and communities are very frustrated. As of right now, many of our Navajo people don’t feel that reassurance or confidence that we are appreciated or even recognized.”
Of the 400 Navajo Code Talkers, only two are alive today.
Curley says she’s heard second-hand that the articles recognizing their contributions to the Allied war effort will be restored, but she’s not yet heard that directly from any official with the White House or Department of Defense.
“I’ve just seen it on press releases, other media, outlets that say that it was a mistake. And that they will be rescinded and restored. However, the council has not received any official apology or any type of form of communication on why it happened or if it will be fully 100% restored.”
Curley says the Navajo Council is working on a resolution to affirm the Navajo Nation’s government-to-government relationship with the United States, and that their contributions to national defense isn’t a DEI matter.
Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have all bestowed accolades upon the Navajo Code Talkers, including the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In 2017, President Donald Trump honored three visiting Code Talkers at the White House Office, but the occasion was marred when he took the opportunity to refer to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) with the nickname “Pocahontas,” which many Native Americans consider a slur. Additionally, President Trump displayed a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office.
Jackson deemed himself an “Indian fighter” whose actions against Native people included the 1830 Indian Removal Act, which led to the infamous Trail of Tears.
Air Force training courses with footage of Women Airforce Service Pilots and the Tuskegee Airmen, Black pilots who flew fighter escorts during American bombing raids against Nazi Germany, also disappeared following President Trump’s recent calls to eliminate DEI policies.
In this June 21, 2023 photo, a Siletz tribal member and friends dig for camas bulbs outside of Eugene. Only until this past week are Siletz people able to harvest, hunt, and fish on their traditional lands since their tribe entered into a consent decree in 1980. In exchange for having a reservation created, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians had to relinquish subsistence rights. Many officials have since agreed this arrangement was biased and restrictive. (Photo: Brian Bull / KLCC)
Nearly half a century after losing their right to hunt, fish, and gather on their ancestral lands, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have just regained it.
In 1980, the Siletz and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed to create a reservation for the tribe. In exchange, the Siletz gave up their subsistence rights.
“At the time, we were told by the state, ‘this is meant to be permanent, forever.’”
Siletz Tribal Chair Delores Pigsley says decades later, state, federal, and tribal officials agree this consent decree was a biased product of the times.
State Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) each introduced legislation to modify the decree, which President Joe Biden signed in December 2023.
Last week, the Fish and Wildlife Commission rescinded the original 1980 agreement – the last step in restoring the Siletz’ hunting and fishing rights.
Pigsley says tribal members are already planning their next steps.
“We’ll have a celebration. We’re happy, and we’re going to exercise our right. People have been applying for tags, now they’re able to actually feed their families.”
Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.
