Indian lecturer tells students about straddling two worlds

Fitting in: For many, neither reservation nor outside world is home

By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune

Harry James Sr. never fit in growing up in Arizona, New Mexico or Utah.

James, a Navajo, helped his single mother herd sheep on the Navajo reservation and attended a Catholic school, where students taunted him and beat him up. He later went to a New Mexico boarding school where he was forced to speak only English. In middle and high school, James moved to Utah as part of a program in which he lived with different Mormon families - at one house, he was told to stay with his own kind.

Still, he clung to his love for his community, language and culture - even when some Navajos rejected him for living off the reservation.

"Regardless of where we fit in, we need to be proud of our people," said James, a 63-year-old retiree who lives in West Valley City. "It's a wonderful life to be among the native people from here to the reservation."

James shared his life story during a lunch-hour lecture Thursday in a theater at the University of Utah Student Union Building.

The event was one of several scheduled this week in celebration of the 33rd annual American Indian Awareness Week. Of the university's roughly 30,500 students, less than 1 percent - about 200 - are American Indian, according to Utah System of Higher Education records.

James said each Navajo makes the decision as to whether he or she will live on the reservation. Regardless of the decision, he said he hopes Navajos continue their traditions.

But James said it saddens him to hear of Navajos who want nothing to do with their community and never visit the reservation. "If we do that, we're just half a person," he told a crowd of about 60 people, mostly high school and college students. "We need to be proud of who we are and where we come from."

Melissa Cohoe, a 16-year-old Highland High junior, said hearing James reminded her a lot of what her grandmother and other Navajo elders tell kids her age. She said she has never lived on the reservation and never plans to, but she will always visit to maintain her family ties.

Cohoe said she was "inspired" by James' lecture.

Shirlee Silversmith, director of the state Department of Education's American Indian office, agreed and called James a "good role model." She said his story was a good reflection of issues and challenges facing Navajos.

"Regardless of his challenges, he saw the hope of living in both worlds," she said after the event. "He never let go of that regardless of the dominant language and culture and traditions."

James, wearing a Southwestern-style vest and a turquoise rock necklace, said he also struggled to get a good education and job. He lived in his car for a semester while he was a Brigham Young University student until he got a Navajo scholarship. He has been drafted into the U.S. Army, and worked as a dishwasher and in construction. James, who is married with three grown kids, eventually retired from the state's Department of Workforce Services.

He credits much of his success to his uncle Nathaniel Nez, who passed away last week. James was a young boy when Nez encouraged him to do well in school.

"I really don't know where I would have been if he didn't save me," he said, holding his breath to keep from crying. "We all have a guiding light of some kind who will save us."