Stories

Zahn McClarnon loves Navajo mutton stew and has traveled all over Navajo

Editor’s note: This interview was completed before the July 14th actor’s strike. Download our 2023 travel guide at https://navajoguide.com/travel-guides/

By George Joe

All Photo Credit: Michael Moriatis/AMC

NAVAJO RESERVATION — Lakota actor Zahn McClarnon plays the central character in the television adaptation of Tony Hillerman’s crime drama novels set on the Navajo reservation in the 1970s.

In Dark Winds, Season 2, McClarnon is the protagonist  Lt. Joe Leaphorn. There are 23 Navajos who play supporting roles, such as, Deanna Allison (Emma Leaphorn), Natalie Benally (Natalie Bluehorse), Anderson Kee (Harold Bigman), plus three Navajo writers, and seven others who work in various capacities such as camera, props set up (i.e. corn pollen bag, Navajo food), and administrative.

The first of six episodes for the second season of the show will air starting Sunday July 30 on American Movie Channel (AMC).

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In the 3rd week of July, our tribal president Dr. Buu Nygren penned an Op Ed for Time magazine, a once influential national magazine.  President Nygren argued that the Oppenheimer movie did not mention the sacrifice the Navajo people made towards the building of the atomic bomb.  “The Navajo people cannot afford to be, yet again, erased from history. Hollywood has a lot of work to do, and they can start by standing with the Navajo people and urging Congress to provide just compensation for victims of radiation exposure,” President Nygren wrote in his op-ed.

“The Navajo Nation has borne the brunt of America’s nuclear program, the cost of which can be measured in human lives, environmental devastation, and communities that are still suffering,” President Nygren said. “We will not stand by and allow this legacy to be forgotten or dismissed. We will fight for justice, for recognition, and for the support our people so rightfully deserve.”

The tribe has a program under the Navajo Department of Health that deals with health affects caused by uranium mining.

It is very often that a Navajo leader, strategically and effectively, adds their voice to a national topic. The national magazine is available in print and online.

Stateline, Tonalea (Ariz.) Chapter, July 29, 9 pm – 1:30 am
Drums of Summer, Greasewood Community School, July 27, 4:30-8:30, (928) 654-3331 for more information
Storytelling with Miss Navajo Nation at the Navajo Nation Museum & Library in Window Rock, Aug. 2, 2023, 12-1 pm MDT
Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial, Aug. 4-14. Read our story in the current issue of the Guide about the Gallup Ceremonial.

Drums of Summer, Shiprock SASI campus, Aug. 4, 2023, 11am -10 pm  (505) 368-2100 for more information

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in late June that Uncle Sam (U.S. government) was not obligated to help the tribe get water from the Colorado River for use by tribal members. Lawyers for the tribe, argued that various treaties and agreements with the federal government, assured them that the government also had a duty to make sure Navajos had necessary water. This news was devastating to many tribal members who took to Facebook and sounded off.

July is Monsoon season across the Reservation and travelers are being reminded to look out for flash floods on roads and canyons.

Forty years ago, in June 1983, it will have been six months into the first administration of the late Navajo leader Peterson Zah.  In January of 1983, he defeated Peter MacDonald for the chairman’s office.

Several July rodeo events happening across the Navajo reservation to celebrate July 4^th activities. Then July 8-9, there is a big bull riding event in Gallup, NM.