MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

SRIC Extras
A Tribute to a Peaceful Warrior
Harris Arthur: August 3, 1941 - December 18, 2004

I met Harris Arthur thirty years ago when he traveled to Washington to find help in his battle against Texas gas companies planning to destroy the peace and beauty of the Burnham Chapter on the Navajo Nation. It was a time when corporations saw Navajo land as a great energy plantation, and they were determined to harvest all of its wealth. Harris knew the Dinè and the land would not survive their plans and he was determined to stop them.

It took many trips to Washington, to the Navajo Tribal Council, and to anyone who would listen before he convinced those in power that coal gasification would ruin the land and poison the water and the future of the land and Dinè he loved.

The coal gasification projects were abandoned. Harris took me to the site and we made sure the land would not suffer the insult of the surveyor's stakes another day. We gathered up every marker, piled them together, and burned them. That was a fitting end to his battle against that demon.

Time went by and the Dinè changed. It was a time of great optimism. The new Tribal Chairman offered hope to the People, and Harris was right in the middle of those times. But Harris began to lose sight of the trail. We lost contact with Harris but never forgot him. Months became years without any word from Harris. I know his family suffered greatly but never lost sight of him.

Two years ago Harris came back into my life when he sent a message that he was back in the fight for the land and the Dinè and again wanted help. This time it was a uranium mining company he was after. The company planned to take the uranium using a process that would poison the water beneath the ground. I was so happy that day he talked to me again. He defeated his own demon and was on to battling the next.

Last month (November) I saw Harris crossing Constitution Avenue in Washington with his partner, Alta. He was strutting straight and proud - just as he had thirty years ago. Now, he was plotting and scheming to stop the uranium mining project. He had the same vision as before: go to the Dinè and tell them the truth about the company's plan and how it would hurt their lives. He would convince the Council it was wrong to give up the People's water and land for a few beads and trinkets.

With the encouragement of his friends and daughter Lydelle, he began working with the Southwest Research and Information Center. In a few short months he had the battle plan and was on his way to winning. Then the cruel reality of life stopped Harris before he could say he had conquered that next demon.

Harris has gone on to his ancestors and has left us behind to finish his battle to protect the Dine' and the land. He left behind his dearly loved children, Lydelle, Todd, Chris, and Sonya his companion Alta.

The hard times are a part of Harris's story but they cannot tarnish the bright light of who he was. Harris survived to fight another battle. We should remember him as the peaceful warrior.

It would be a fitting tribute to Harris if the Council would take the uranium mining bill that Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining and Harris worked on to a vote and pass it.

Great people need not be perfect but they must be faithful to the ideals they embrace. That was the Harris Arthur I knew.

— John L. McCormick

---

John McCormick, a 35-year career environmental advocate, joined forces with Harris Arthur in the 1970s to defeat a federal subsidy for coal gasification projects in the Burnham Chapter.