On August 18, 2020, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez delivered a keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in support of VP Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) who if successful, will defeat President Donald Trump in November’s general election. President Nez co-chairs the Arizona Democratic Party.

About this special honor, President Nez told Cronkite News, “I am glad (to) represent not just the Navajo Nation and not just the tribes throughout the country, but all of us throughout the United States of America who embrace diversity.” President Nez hopes his participation in this highest of political platforms will amplify indigenous voices.

“This Administration has pushed tribes aside,” Nez said at the same time admonishing the Democrats to not take the tribal vote for granted.  "Most of the tribes throughout the country—yes, they do vote Democrat—but I mentioned to the DNC (Democratic National Committee) leadership that they still need to reach out to Tribal leaders and communities.”

President Nez’ overarching message to the National Democratic Convention was more about good citizenship than partisanship.  “This is a very important election and we need you to get your vote into the ballot box or into the mail to make change for this country for a better tomorrow.”

Lezmond Charles Mitchell, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and the only Native American on death row, faces execution on August 26, 2020 for crimes committed on the Navajo Nation in 2001. If the execution proceeds, it would be the first time in more than a half-century that the Federal government has executed a Native American for an offense committed on tribal lands against other members of his tribe.

Mitchell and an accomplice highjacked a car and murdered a 63-year-old grandmother and her 9-year-old granddaughter.  While the crime was indeed brutal, consistent with Navajo tradition and spirituality, the family of the victims has expressed that they do not want Mr. Mitchell to be put to death.  His accomplice did not receive the death penalty.

On July 31, 2020, President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer sent a letter to President Trump asking for an Executive Commutation of the death sentence and the imposition of a life sentence instead. “This request honors our religious and traditional beliefs, the Navajo Nation’s long-standing position on the death penalty for Native Americans, and our respect for the decision of the victim’s family,” they said.

During the Federal prosecution process, the United States Attorney for Arizona asked the Navajo Nation for its position on the death penalty. The Federal Death Penalty Act affords the Navajo Nation the ability to opt-in to capital punishment and thereby permit the government to seek the death penalty for Federal crimes that take place on the Navajo Nation.  But the Navajo Nation opted out.

The United States’ decision to seek the death penalty against Mr. Mitchell ignored the intent of the Tribal opt-in provisions of the Federal Death Penalty Act. To ensure that Mr. Mitchell would face a death sentence, the United States charged Mr. Mitchell with, among other crimes, carjacking resulting in death, which is a non-Major Crimes Act crime that carries the death penalty. 

The Navajo Nation is joined by Native legal scholars, organizations and tribes in asserting that no Native American can be subjected to the death penalty for a crime committed against another Native American on Tribal land without the tribe’s consent.

On August 18, 2020, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) sent a letter to President Trump requesting clemency.  NCAI President Fawn Sharp wrote, “The U. S. government’s decision to pursue a death sentence in Mr. Mitchell’s case contravenes both the Navajo Nation’s sovereign prerogatives, as recognized by Congress, and the Federal policy of tribal self-determination in general.”

Since August 11, 2020, thirteen tribes and 214 American Indians have similarly sent letters to President Trump urging him to grant Mr. Michell executive clemency.

Congress is interrupting its summer recess to hold emergency hearings about the damage U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has inflicted upon our daily lives and democracy by ordering the closure of post offices, destruction of mail-sorting machines, removal of public collection boxes, cancellation of post office services, reduction in post office hours, and denial of overtime pay.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs will hold a virtual hearing August 21, 2020 at 9 am EST and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing August 24, 2020 at 10 am EST. Both hearings are viewable online. In an August 12, 2020 letter to Mr. DeJoy,  194 House Democrats wrote:

“[T]he United States Postal Service provides critical services for the American people: delivering medicine to seniors, paychecks to workers, tax refunds to millions, and absentee ballots to voters… During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service’s smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American democracy.”

On August 18, Mr. DeJoy announced that he would suspend his restrictions upon the United States Postal Service (USPS) until after the November election.  He did not offer to restore USPS systems and equipment he has already removed. The House will vote Saturday on H.R. 8015, Delivering for America Act, that seeks to repeal Mr. DeJoy’s operational changes and authorize $25 billion in emergency spending for the USPS.

While Congress, the media, and other stakeholders examine Mr. DeJoy’s alleged financial and political conflicts of interest, it would seem a good time to examine not only how important the USPS is on the Navajo Nation, but also to point out the disparities between how the USPS service operates on the Navajo Nation as opposed to similar land bases and population numbers.

There are four United States Post Offices (USPO’s) and some independently operated postal facilities called Contract Postal Units (CPU’s) on the Navajo Nation, a land base the size of West Virginia. There are 655 USPO’s and CPU’s in West Virginia. The only other territory under U.S. jurisdiction that has only 4 post offices is Micronesia, which is 7,175 miles away from the United States and has a population of 112,640--one third the size of the Navajo Nation.

Post offices on the Navajo Nation are packed to capacity with families picking up their Social Security, VA, and TANF checks at the beginning of every month. For them, the post office is a lifeline, delivering both monthly income and medications. Before COVID-19, Tuba City Hospital’s mail order pharmacy sent on average 14,768 medications per month. Today it is mailing 13% more.

One Navajo CPU operator reports that before COVID she sorted 40 packages per day.  Since the onset of the C-19 pandemic, she’s shorting 300 packages per day. The contracted rate that USPS pays her is $20,000 per year to service 1,000 post office boxes and 5,000 area customers. Her annual overhead is $40,000. She subsidizes every Federal dollar she gets with $1 dollar of her own money to keep this essential facility open for her community, which is needed more now than ever.

On August 18, 2020,  Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) sent a letter signed by Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate alledging that the FCC shortchanged Tribes when it recently granted a 30 day extension of the August 3, 2020 Tribal Broadband Application Deadline and urged a 180 day extension instead. Members cited the COVID-19 pandemic challenges that tribes face, and the inconsistencies between FCC policies for Tribal and non-Tribal applicants:

“Denying an extension for Native communities to claim spectrum over their lands during this unprecedented pandemic is unconscionable. Tribes continue to encounter significant regulatory barriers that excluded them, as this order does, from the ability to effectively deploy wireless services. We are deeply troubled with the Commission’s refusal to implement a 180-day Window extension, which lacks consistency with the agency’s recent decisions to delay Auctions 105 and 106 to allow all parties adequate time to prepare and participate during this pandemic.”

Lack of broadband internet infrastructure has created a barrier for tribes to combat the COVID-19 pandemic limiting access to telehealth, virtual learning, and unemployment benefits; and other economic relief. On July 8, 2020, President Jonathan Nez testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the lack of broadband internet infrastructure on the Navajo Nation is a persistent barrier to progress.