A.
Inclusiveness of All Faiths
Peacemaking, life value engagements, and
áłchíní báNdazhnit’á
(Diné
family group conferencing) are broadly inclusive of the varied
faiths, oodlą’, that
make up modern Navajo accepted beliefs, while always emphasizing
the connection of the Navajo people to the roots of their Diné
cultural identity.
This involves the teaching principles and values that have been
passed down through centuries through our Journey Narratives,
and which are embodied in our language, our elders, and our
manner of resolving disputes and journeying from chaos to
harmony.
Christianity,
Azee’ bee Nahaghá
of Diné Nation (ABNDN), and other faiths held by individuals who
choose peacemaking means that peacemaking is necessarily
expansive to bring in all tools to promote healing
self-actualization.
Peacemakers who provide services through the
Peacemaking Programs are provided support and training
in traditional, multi-cultural, western and faith-based
approaches.
B.
Children & Family
Hózh̨̨ó
In enacting the Álchíní Bi Beehaz’áannii Act
of 2011, the Navajo Nation Council acknowledged that children,
even unborn children, occupy a place in Navajo society that can
best be described as holy or sacred, and that the Nation’s
obligations to its children, especially their need for family to
be preserved, need to be met in an aggressive and culturally
appropriate manner.
Diné traditional culture has eroded steadily throughout
the years. A large
segment of our youth have lost their grasp of Navajo language
and culture, and may lack cultural competence in Diné
culture while having a limited grasp of the culture of the
dominant society.
The Program has a responsibility to do its part in preparing
children to meet the challenging demands of life both on and off
the reservation and ensure family understands its role in
maintaining harmony for the benefit of our children.
The Program will work to ensure that our children and
their families are strongly rooted in their core cultural values
as well as gain confidence in navigating the dominant culture.
The Program is committed to addressing the core cultural
needs of our children as a priority through youth-centered
programming in partnership with Diné Hatathli Association, the
Diné Department of Education, Language and Culture, with
schools, and with Probation & Parole Services.
C.
Status Accorded to Elders
A family’s elders should be included in services,
even though they may not reside with the family that is
experiencing
hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’.
This is because of the critical role of elders in connecting
generations and families through their clan and the land to the
distant past and generational lives fulfilled, and into the
future of life’s possibilities.
Elders convey the specific traditional standards the
people are expected to learn, which establishes generational
roots for children.
This is how elders would nurture our children.
Traditionally, elders pass their knowledge
verbally from generation to generation, making spiritual values
alive and important. However, in the last century, the
youth-centered mainstream culture has taken value away from our
elders, and also threatened the elevated status and familial
power of our elders.
Elders embody the spiritual commitment and history
of the Diné. Age in
itself has the unique grace and ability of nurturing for the
good of the whole.
In Navajo society, our elders occupy a revered position. Their
inclusion in peacemaking provides discipline, compassion,
completion and finality. In peacemaking, elders are
indispensable.
Navajo common law on the family
extends beyond the
nuclear family
to the
child's
grandparents, uncles, aunts,
cousins
and clan
relationships.
Peacemaking is provided as a forum for
issues concerning the care of our elders who need protection.
Elders are especially significant in family issues
concerning children, because the Navajo child belongs to more
than just the parents.
Maternal
aunts are
considered
"mothers," and
both sets of
grandparents
are crucial vehicles for passing on knowledge of
Navajo tradition.
D.
Vulnerable Adults
In March, 2012, the Vulnerable Adult Protection
Act was enacted to protect vulnerable adults ages 18 and older
from physical, verbal, sexual and emotional abuse, and from
neglect or abandonment.
The Act provides
that a
court must discuss the option of peacemaking when a case
involves abuse, neglect or exploitation of elders and other
vulnerable adults when the court deems it necessary to issue an
Adult Protection Order.
If the option of peacemaking is accepted, then the case is
referred to the Program in order to resolve conflicts using
traditional methods.
In enacting the Act, the Council stated, “In
harmony with traditional and/or common law, it is the policy of
the Navajo Nation to respect, revere and protect all
individuals, their communities, and their unique qualities.”
In our Journey Narratives, there is the story of
the stricken twins, one of whom was blind, who carried on his
back his twin brother who was lame.
They went from one place to another, begging, on an
endless journey, and always they were refused help because they
had no means to give an offering.
Then they met Monster
Slayer, who offered help and did not mention a reward.
The stricken twins at one time turned their crying
into a song which described their helplessness and despair and
hopes that they should be restored to health. The Holy Ones
heard the song and resolved never again to turn those away who
had no means of saving themselves.
In Diné society, each person is treated with
respect and dignity.
Neither the person's mental nor physical capacity
represents the whole person.
K’é, our
relationships, tie one person to another in compassion, respect
and dignity. All
our relationships involve respectful giving and sharing within
our life and being.
When disabled persons are involved, there is the challenge to
express needs and to listen and provide help; to comprehend
extraordinary responsibilities and sometimes unbearable personal
sufferings in the context of
k’é.
Protected are individuals who lack the ability to
make responsible decisions for themselves because of mental
illness, cognitive impairment, physical disability or illness,
use of prescription medication or chronic use of alcohol or
drugs. Regardless
of decision-making ability, the Act also protects those who live
with a caregiver, or receive services from a caregiver. The Act
further protects those whose physical or emotional disabling
condition makes it difficult to care for themselves, protect
themselves from neglect or abuse, or are in a situation or
condition of imminent risk of serious harm or threat of danger
or harm to his or her emotional or physical health.
E.
Extreme Family Discord
The Navajo Nation Domestic Abuse Protection Act asks that
courts provide victims with the peacemaking option, and further
provides for domestic violence remedies to be addressed by
“peacemakers who have received specialized training in their
primary language on the causes, symptoms and dynamics of
domestic violence.” 9 N.N.C. § 1652(C).
Domestic violence is an extreme example of family discord
in which peacemaking should be used to address urgent
situations. When family
members become monsters to each other, the teachings that they
will need to change are seldom within the ability of the courts.
Domestic violence is a
naayéé’ that may be
rooted deep within the family’s history.
Individuals have strayed from
nizhoni, the Beauty
Way and need guidance to re-attain that path.
The emotions in such situations are so conflicted and
intense that it is often beyond the ability of an impartial
court system to encounter the emotions and permanently assist a
family and individuals, while in peacemaking, the emotions of
hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’
are the primary focus.
The peacemaker is sufficiently anchored and protected by
traditional teachings and the
yeel, or fee, to step
into the emotions without also being consumed by them.
Diné peacemaking is not mere mediation.
In the domestic violence area, peacemaking is an intense
engagement requiring courage, an ability to teach, and the
willingness and discipline to receive knowledge.
The Anglo style of mediation in no way approximates the
educational and emotional depth of the peacemaking process that
is necessary to grapple with domestic violence and other
highly-charged naayéé’.
Peacemaking persists in Native American societies, always
in a form where community involvement, teachings, and discipline
are key. Even
though some elements are different, the essence of peacemaking
across tribes are similar.
From our observation, the various peacemaking practices
work best in the most hazardous and emotionally fraught
situations such as domestic violence, which is considered
“epidemic” on our various reservations.
In May, 2012, the Peacemaking Program observed two
domestic violence peacemakings convened by elders of the
Confederated Tribes.
While such meetings are confidential, an exception was
made for Program staff to attend as observers in these two
highly charged instances.
In the Confederated Tribes peacemakings, the judge was
present but sat outside the circle.
The abuser sat in the circle with members of the family
and several peacemakers.
The entire family was deeply involved, and therefore, no
sole victim or victims were left by themselves to face down the
abuser, nor were they asked to forgive the abuser, nor was the
abuser asked to acknowledge guilt or blame.
The focus was on talking.
As the session progressed, the harms caused were
displayed, their causes and effects spoken, and in both
sessions, the abuser and victims were overcome with emotion and
set on a path of individual and community awareness.
For many decades, peacemaking on the Navajo Nation has
not been used in situations where safety is a concern.
In the past thirty years, the Navajo Nation court system,
focusing on safety issues first and foremost in legal
interventions, has cautiously advocated coerced separation.
The presumption is that separation increases safety.
However, it is clear that coerced separation may
sometimes result in greater violence, especially when there is
no police presence to enforce the separation.
The issuance of a restraining order, without involvement
and investment of a rural and isolated community, and without
police presence, may escalate violence.
Peacemaking, in essence, serves to involve and invest the
often isolated community.
The sessions gather a family and community tightly around
the abuser and protectively around victims.
In a controlled setting where the peacemaker makes it
clear that the group will work towards education and positive
change, and fingers are not to be pointed, the sessions validate
victims’ suffering as real and undeserved, serve to create a
sense of wider responsibility in the family and community, and
grapple with the problems of the involved individuals through
changing, educating, and re-claiming.
The greatest benefit is embracement by the group.
Peacemaking allows the deepest hurts to be voiced and
heard within the family and community without forcing victims to
take on the role of accuser in front of justice system
strangers.
Oppression is put into community view, handled and
discussed at the pace needed with traditional guidance and
values, with everyone being heard, with the family and community
providing support, and with the peacemaker exerting control and
influence from beginning to end.
Abuse is brought out to the light of day.
Social supports for abusive conduct are addressed and
removed. The
peacemaker provides teachings that lead everyone involved to
create meaningful opportunities for
hózh̨̨ó,
and which enable the family to establish community consequences
for re-abuse.
F.
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice in traditional Diné justice means to
“restore” in conformity with justice principles.
Wrongdoers, those who are harmed, and their affected families
and community are engaged in search of solutions that promote
repair and rebuilding. A high level of accountability is
required by our community of an offender. This is coupled
with a great burden on all components of our justice system to
rehabilitate and bring the offender back into the community
according to traditional principles.
The Peacemaking Program will work to assist the courts
and agencies in determining
nályééh,
recommending alternative sentencings, and in helping to ensure
full accountability, community participation, and the necessary
resources to bring an offender back to their families and
community. Diné justice throws no one away.
Ná bináhaazláo
means coming to a comprehensive solution. In our justice
system, this means there is a circle of responsibilities.
Diné justice requires all agencies and community members
necessary fulfill these responsibilities are part of our justice
system. Justice components integrate and coordinate with
mental health, social service, behavioral health professionals
and traditional counselors where necessary.
Given the very high rate of alcohol and substance abuse
disorders implicated in Indian Country crime, the Navajo Nation
has emphasized that integration is needed in almost all
instances.
CO-38-11 (October 26, 2011)
Davis v. Means,
7 Nav. R. 100, 103 (Nav. Sup. Ct.
1994) (“The importance of his relatives to the
Nava[j]o can scarcely be exaggerated.”)
In the Matter of
A.M.K., No. SC-CV-38-10, slip op. at 11 (Nav. Sup.
Ct. Oct 8, 2010)
citing In re Interest of J J S ,
4 Nav. R.
192 (W.R. Dist. Ct. 1983).
In the Matter of
A.M.K., slip op. at 11.
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