Peterson Zah, perhaps the greatest Native leader of the 20th-21st centuries, is no longer with us but we would like to take this opportunity to share a bit of information about this giant who worked tirelessly with great skill to benefit Native people.
He was born in the tiny Navajo village of Low Mountain. Non-Natives would be tempted to say “in great poverty.” Natives would not say that, knowing what life in Low Mountain was like and not comparing it to life in any place else.
Zah was fortunate enough to get to Arizona State University in Tempe near Phoenix, where he and like-minded students from many Arizona tribes formed a life-long bond that allowed them to serve as a nucleus for change throughout the state. Twenty years later, many were leaders within their tribes.
Zah became a tireless advocate for Native rights, forming the Navajo Legal Defense Fund. In a world where Native lawyers were extremely rare, he figured out ways to create many dozens of them. Initially, they fought for fair treatment in border towns, but soon were enlisting great non-Native legal minds to successfully wage battles before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pete was a fighter for education, creating Native-managed schools on the Reservation and ever building the pipeline to Arizona State.
A fight with the existing Navajo chairman, Peter McDonald, became inevitable. The incumbent regime was accused of corruption and feelings ran high. People were killed in riots in the capital of Window Rock. Zah won, and was the first to visit McDonald in prison. The people made him President. Pervious leaders were styled as chairman.
Zah always exhibited k’e, a Navajo word that might be partially understood as good karma, or “affective action and solidarity, including such concepts as love, compassion, kindness, friendliness, generosity, and peacefulness.”
Navajos and Hopis were engaged in armed conflict over claims to land on the borders of the two Reservations. Lawyers were involved, and strongly suggested the parties not speak personally. Pete, whose home was near the Hopi Reservation, had grown up with Ivan Sidney, the Hopi chairman. Zah jumped into his battered red pickup truck and went to meet Sidney, without lawyers, to end the conflict.
Pete became a national leader in the push for Native American religious rights.
Having lived a full life, Zah had several acts left. A childhood friend and baseball rival of the future ASU President Lattie Cour, Zah accepted a position as champion of all things Native at the sprawling university. Pete increased Native faculty members to nearly 80 and worked tirelessly to get more Natives into classrooms.
Throughout his life, Zah encouraged Natives to vote, and vote Democratic. He worked actively for the overwhelming Native turnout in 2020 that helped Joe Biden win Arizona’s electoral votes and the presidency.
Zah is survived by his wife Roz, a partner throughout his life who worked on all of his projects since they attended ASU together. Together they were an unstoppable power couple.
Zah died at the age of 85 in March. We are publishing this diary today to coincide with our radio broadcast to the Navajo Nation and White Mountain Apache Tribe on Thursday. If you would like to hear the broadcast, it is available at www.buzzsprout.com/….
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