Why The Internet Needs The Navajo | Still Connecting
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ส.ค. 2024
- It's not just that the Navajo need the internet - the internet needs the Navajo.
It's estimated that 7 out of 10 households on rural tribal lands have absolutely no internet connection. Why is this, when you can drive just a few minutes off the reservation and get full access to broadband and cellular connections?
Motherboard visited Navajo Nation and Monument Valley, Utah to see what Darrah Blackwater and Shandiin Herrera - two cousins, lawyers (and soon to be lawyers), and Navajo citizens - are doing to help to solve the digital divide within their community and indigenous communities around the nation, by working on a community, infrastructural, and policy levels.
The Navajo & Hopi Resiliency Fund fund will help to create new community centers around the Navajo Nation that will bring connectivity closer to community members. To learn more, go to bit.ly/NHResiliency
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I’ve stayed with the Navajo nation , amazing people . They’ve done things in our history that would’ve changed America forever without them.
Like what ? If anything , colonizers and western expansionists have nearly eradicated them, they didn't make an impact on the US, which is sad.
Navajo Code Talkers saved the troops in the pacific of WW2 don’t ever question my peoples legacy!
It's a beautiful drive through tourist area.
The remoteness is it's main appeal. If any substantial development took place there would be bigger complaints.
@Open Ranks have you never heard of Navajo Code Talkers?!? They were vital to America’s Pacific theatre efforts in WW2.
@@tauce4882 preach!!
As a Navajo, I get excited about stories about my people on our homeland.
And do you speak Navajo? It is such a beautiful language and I wish it had more presence on the Internet.
Especially since covid alot of schools went to online schooling. Imagine not being able to go to class because you don't have internet or the internet is so slow you can't sign in and complete assignments. It has deeply impacted the education of native youth living on reservations.
Its 2021 everyone should have access to the internet.
My town got it two years ago. Property value jumped, and incomes did not. It's been terrible for locals who might want to buy a home or farm and stay in the community that raised them, but great for zoom commuters who have no country living skills, and mostly have no interest in participating in community life. It's nice having fiber, but probably over all it's bad for our town.
@George Smith Patton Jr. Whos going to pay for it? The same people that pay 800 billion for fake wars.
They should get electricity 1st...
@@elektrofunkzz 800 billion is pretty low
@John Dillermand their still too poor for any of it.
As someone from an even smaller border town between Farmington and the Navajo Nation, I can for sure say that this is a major issue. When I have been in Shiprock, it’s like time stopped there 20 years ago, and I can see how not having reliable internet can hinder a town/community’s path to grown. It makes sense why so many people have been moving away from the reservation to areas that can provide a reliable source of basic needs. Internet access should absolutely be fundamental to people just like water, electricity, and heat. In the world we have grown into, having access to the internet is vital and should be incorporated into communities that need it the most. Driving hours just to get to a WiFi signal is unacceptable.
Thank you! I lived in Albuquerque for 10 or so years. It was magic that I even went to college because I was a high school drop out working as a mason's apprentice. When people say to me that a college education is a waste of time & money, I look to you wonderful people who bring to life our own communities. I travelled around the southwest during those years & connected with the Dine' Their magic runs through me still to this day. Many blessings & luck in your important work! Peace on Mother Earth. Burlington, Vermont
God Bless these woman holding there communitys up, against basic human needs... BEAUTIFUL CULTURE
As a Navajo woman Thank You 🙏
Some real Diné leaders right there! Love to see Vice highlighting their work!
Up north in Canada we say Dene.
Me to
That place would be a really good source of knowledge for outsiders to educate ourselves better directly from Navajo people , natives in general die with so much knowledge and wisdom
maybe but not until they are providing for their own community in every possible way. it’d have to be very clear that is not their job to explain their culture to outsiders. it is our job to willingly learn about their culture as we see things like this, and to help them provide places for their culture to continue and peace study and safe and then maybe they will be stable enough to want to share with the descendants of the people who tried to kill it all
This is not a specific problem with the Navajo Nation. It's called living in the middle of nowhere in the USA. Other parts of rural areas in the U.S. have the same problem. I hope they succeed!
Nabajo jack says in America The Greatest Nation indigenous people are still living in a Third World country conditions and 50years behind basic technology 🤔..
A'hee'ee Vice for highlighting the intelligent, strong & beautiful women who are helping to develop our communities into the modern world which is long overdue
AT&T has 10+ mbps, Verizon and TMobile under 5mbps, and with a home phone wired connection like Frontier offers over 10-20mbps. It’s ight but satellite internet like Starlink from Tesla gonna be changing the game here soon
no it wont
@@friendformationbot ?
I would love to see vice start putting the links they share in the video into the description. A small but crucial way to expand accessibility for viewers
I know what would the internet do without those 12 Navajo people...
It shouldn't surprise me that the Natives are being denied even to this day, but it always does. It hurts all of us when any one of us is denied. The Natives deserve everything and more. Donated.
@Open Ranks what excuses are they making?? 🤔
It's called not being profitable to put wires in rural areas. It has to be subsidized to be implemented. No one denying them other than basic market forces.
Stop wasting my time with crap responses. Either donate or shut up.
@@skyhappy So that makes it ok? Internet connectivity is now considered a basic human right, so to limit it's accessibility due to profit concerns is nothing short of evil.
Paula, the very least you can do is say "white people deny.." because when you say "they are being denied" girl by whom. don't be scared of white people. call them out even though you look like them.
No, we really don't
Too late
Indigenous tribes in my island were offered internet & electricity and other modern conveniences .they rejected it for it is a distraction and vanity, and could ruin their natural way of life & culture.
I bet she lived better than most of us Navajo did
HP is an evil company. I say that as a former employee.
And Your Surprised Why You Were Let Off?
My respects to the navajo people here from brazil, im brazilian with bolivian decendence, im from aymarah nation,n i believe that we native people must be joined to preserve our culture n good traditions.
Also by owning the spectrum we would have first hand experience of where exactly we need internet the most. Instead of a third party placing it where they deem fit or where they can profit the most from it.
There doesn't seem to be a really good argument here showing how the "internet NEEDS the Navajo". That being said the internet is an amazing tool, it's a game changer. I really wish they would have talked more about why the carriers aren't providing internet to this area. Has the nation pushed for internet services? Have they provided any incentive to have a carrier cover this area?
They definitely should get online. But I don't really think anyone would notice if they didn't, simply because the internet is so massive.
You might be taking the statement, “the internet needs the Navajo” too literal. She went on to explain that internet would allow the Navajo community would be able to see outside, and allow others to see inside their community and culture. It would be a shame if their stories, knowledge and contributions were lost.
I think this interview is part of the effort to persuade a carrier to provide coverage to this area, don’t you?
@@chrisdraughn5941 Maybe. I am of the opinion that language matters, especially in media. It is the best way to clearly articulate your point. If they would have titled the article "The Navajo need access to the internet", I would have taken no issue with it.
It could be part of an effort to persuade but I don't think that was the original intention. I don't think Darrah Blackwater or the Navajo people contacted VICE. I don't see any evidence of that. I think they would have highlighted the "The Navajo & Hopi Resiliency Fund fund" more if that was the case.
@@iloveyouamberappel - I get where you are coming from with that outlook, and I’m not looking for a snippy argument. I agree that language is important, it’s also nuanced and a two way street between sender and receiver. Many times a point is lost or misunderstood between sender and receiver. In general a sender should be clear a concise with their message. The receiver also needs to figure certain things out too, the purpose and intent of what they are reading or listening to.
‘The internet needs the Navajo, or else people will miss out on some great Navajo art, culture and wisdom.” I think that was the intent of the title, but it was lost by an effort to be concise. You figured that out though.
Plenty things annoy me too, this isn’t one of them. Have a nice day!
@@chrisdraughn5941 Why would a carrier risk the $ to setup infrastructure for them to have internet, just to have the nation as she said near the end, just tell the carrier, this is our natural resource and you cant charge us for it! And they take it from the carrier and pay the company nothing because after all its on their land, i agree they should have internet access, however the other featured woman’s philosophy of just declaring the recource theirs is Bullshit, nothing is free, the Navaho nation can pay for internet just like the rest of us.
Because we were kept that way. Rural American communities got waterlines, powerlines, and asphalt roads while the Rez was completely neglected by the Federal Government. We're still playing catch up with the rest of the country in terms of infrastructure development. The largest projects you saw on the Navajo Nation were for fossil fuel extraction we've just been treated as resource colony for the past century.
cool story, but internet isn't a natural resource...everyone should have fast internet tho, fully agree there
So is water but we make people pay for it
so i dont get it. LOL how does the internet NEED Navajo? this was just... how can the Navajo get internet in their community
It's a stupid video title ngl but I've been on the Navajo reservation and most of them did had internet access so don't take it seriously
@@redacted_vombat5742 people that lived in town did but not everyone lives in town
@@crazzygirl1115 it depends on what you mean by town, do you mean like window rock or kayenta or bordertown like Flagstaff or bluff?
@@redacted_vombat5742 in the actual towns like kayenta. My family lives in between chilchinbeto and rough rock and we barely get phone service
0:07 "Created in partnership with HP" lol so it's just a long advertisement. I'm out.
I remember going to the Chapter house just to use the internet 🙋♂️🤣🤣🤣
Interesting question the Navajo bring up. Who actually owns the Electromagnetic Spectrum? It’s like asking who owns the air we breathe, and the water we drink. The FCC and equivalent bodies around the world act as if it’s state property to be auctioned to the highest bidder. You might argue we the people have been swindled out of a valuable natural resource. No one doubts it’s use needs to be regulated to prevent the airwaves turning into pandemonium, but we’re we ever consulted over how it would be used, who gets access and on what basis?
We’ll technically the water that runs through our land example San Juan river, we’re not aloud to use. You could say the river is owned since we’re not aloud to use that naturally accruing resource
There is so much to learn from our traditional ways. A natural law of all beings living and non living. It what the worlds needs for mental heath and reconnecting with the national world. Thanks vice and to the people of the Diné.
Wouldn't it be cheaper, easier, faster, and more convenient to just put up a few towers/repeaters/etc. than to build actual buildings and put people in them? 🤨
The issue with every thing is funding tbh.
And besides the land is held in federal trust. We can't just lease to anyone without the governmental red tape in place.
If it were that easy, it would've already been done.
More content about First Nation Peoples, please! Love to see it and never see enough of it. Hope their community center goes to plan. Nice job!
IMPORTANT!! She is confusing the word "Medium" with "Spectrum". Spectrum refers to any subsection of electromagnetic frequency. It is not a "natural resource" the same way a centimeter isn't, or a degree of temperature.
However, the medium on which this spectrum travels (the air, or a cable) is a natural resource and protectable.
Companies do purchase spectrum licenses, but they are really purchasing rights to spread their message without interference from other telecommunication companies.
SO. To get more internet, they would have to do the opposite, as if they tell companies we have rights to these spectrums, there would be no way for the company to provide them internet. Ever. It would be illegal for them to give you internet.
So I've been trying to understand this. Was there ever like a plan to build a network using these spectrums and they couldn't because of licensing?
this makes my heart sad. i can't understand why america continues to treat it's natives with such utter disrespect
what?? kinda at a lose on this video I really dont get it why does the internet need you guys exactly? And i feel like this is a location problem i live on a farm 30 or so miles from the closest city and we have very poor internet and if it is windy or stormy there is none and cell phones only work in the house.. when the wifi is working. i don't see much of an argument here it would be nice if the internet worked everywhere in the whole world but its never gonna be as good as it would be in a city or close to the city. And the internet is not a natural resource
Yes but even when you don’t have access to the internet you still have access to a land line. We don’t.
@@crazzygirl1115 i don't have a landline
I don't understand what she's referring to at 4:10 with "since spectrum is naturally occurring…". Doesn't it refer to bands of wavelengths for EM emissions, in this context? These are just numbers, e.g. the range from frequency A to B is reserved for - pick your use case - LTE, 5G, military, aviation, anything else. What's the naturally occurring part that she mentions?
You know, the naturally occurring radio towers that exist all across the great plains of America.
@@PUPGRLPDX Oh I've seen those. Green, covered in hard spines? With 4 arms for 4G and 5 arms for 5G?
Shout out to the Farmington Public Library! Definitely a great and amazing place in the Four Corners.
Also, you don't have to be a resident to get a library card.
I am wirh the Navajo, but spectrum is not a natural resource. I do not think this is the way to getting what you want.
*need
@@drsteezy8842 You, need... spectrum?
@@PaulChabot you need education which is all being taken to the internet now. So yes people need spectrum. Especially during covid lots of schools went virtual. So if you don't have internet you couldn't attend school. Therefore you fall behind and or drop out
Trying to claim the wireless spectrums seems like a bit of a frivolous pursuit.
sounds like something the wireless companies would say
Who owns the spectrums?
The internet doesent need Navajo, the Navajo need internet
I maybe biased here but I think feeding and sheltering our homeless in the U.S. is more important than the Internet. If you have a hardline for a phone you have the ability to connect to the internet. Maybe all the Tribes that have Casinos should pay for you to have internet.
The Internet is not a basic need. Food, Water, shelter and clothing are. This give me generation is killing me. I didn't grow up with the internet or cable TV, and miss those days. I am not even a boomer, we were poor and other things took precedent. I busted my arse to get out of that life.
I drove through the Navajo Nation... Feels like Fallout New Vegas... Wasteland of abandoned buildings and shitty roadways. They have larger issues than internet access.
No doubt they go skinwalkers
Internet access will give access to education, education will give birth to engineers and architects. Once they acquire that level of education they can use that to repair roads and building of their home town. No internet means no advanced education. Since now adays everything is on the internet now.
I remember my grandmother talking about her and grandpa going on a missions in the 60s I think it was to the Navajo nation because they had no electricity they couldn’t improve their homes all because of the law some senator passed in Arizona Because they would not sign over their rights to mind uranium I think it was
Wifi and internet for everyone
Joselito, especialmente for the first americans.
Few videos bring this kind of beauty.
They realize that when the FTC auction it off somebody has already paid for the spectrum
Sad to think that I more about people who migrated to the Americas than the Americans who are native to that land .I would be disgruntled as South African native to the land if I experienced the same thing .
So glade to see this happening. As a kid raised in the country the spirit of native Americans was everywhere. Its hard not to identify with it. In the wind you hear it, in the grass, the trees, and animals it talks to you, but the noise made by the invaders drowns it out. So if the natives sleep it will die. Your art awakens the spirit and the footsteps of you ancestors whispers the direction our thoughts should take. So please come back to life and let your sprit speak again. Let your songs and drums dictate the beat of this land. Put down the poison that seduced your people and walk again with your great ones.
Awesome! Thank you for giving our people a voice✊🏽💗💯
********STARLINK*********STARLINK**********STARLINK*************
Good luck! I think our generation is very important to the longstanding strength and vitality for Native Americans.Hopefully Natives can overcome the terrible situation we have put them in, its shameful what we continue to do to these groups that goes rather unchecked.
Reminds me of the Equitable Internet Initiative in Detroit. Very cool.
Starlink?
Much of the social infrastructure places outside of reservations take for granted are a direct result of said locations relationship with the federal government. Being a sovereign native nation has its benefits, but also its drawbacks.
That being said I think letting capitalism solve this issue. Starlink is going to the internet to a lot of places that might not even have electricity.
I nearly had a aneurysm watching half of that.
Hearing people that have no clue about tech talking about tech is genuinely painful and I'm not even a proper nerd
Bad ass that these women are paving the way to help start the litigation process for a small convenience..But I guess the Navajo Nation Government should take the hint, help their Tribal members out and get into the 21st Century.
Start burying a fiber cable to your nearest town with internet access otherwise I doubt the government will come do it.
The tribal utility already hanging fiber (government funded RUS borrower)
They should ask Elon Musk to make the internet available to all 1st Nations People for free, with his Starlink. I'd certainly have a tad more respect for him.
Yeah instead of investing in a Tesla .. although, gasoline fuels will b wiped out in the future as charging green stations r prepared to take over but agree ‼️
This is propaganda by HP, to live without the internet is to be truly free
I've been there!
This is SO important!!!!!
The internet can change so much aspects of life in indigenous communities.
can they not lease their land to communications companies who will put cell towers up giving them internet access/phone access and make money leasing to the companies they get their service from?
Land held in federal trust by the Government stops a lot of that.
There is a young guy from a Canadian reservation doing a similar thing, but house to house, in a similar way as the comunity is doing in NYC. There are other countries that need this, I would like to see an International Native Peoples Telecommunications Infrastucture Initiative, to help spread ideas and practical solutions, that any community can provide there own internet access infrastructure and support. I hope to be able to do something similar to these projects one day for the Maori communtiy at the very northern tip of the NZ North Island, using RPi's (RaspberryPi SBC).
wow, the whitest priviledged girl voice i have ever heard
Most do not have running water. From a video I watched from pbs
We owe the Native Americans so much more than internet access!
The Navajo took the Monument Valley from the Hopi in the late 70" s. I lived there. What the Navajo did to the valley is horrible. Hopi kept it pristine. Navajos brought in over 200 mobile homes. They lined the road going to the monuments with plywood kiosks back to back with a guy with a bullhorn screaming at tourist cars to "go go go"!. I was horrified when. I went to visit in the 1990's. Navajos have lived near but this has been Hopi land " since time immemorial". Thanks. Lvya all much. Shalom. D
Merica
@@hai8400 thanks. Could you expand your reply a bit? Would appreciate much. Lvya. D
@@davidlancaster6941 the Diné Americanized up Monument Valley from what you’re stating.
@@hai8400 Yes. The Hopi unfairly lost the lawsuit to keep their land. The Navajo came in and turned into a 3rd world ghetto. Taking a place deeply loved and spiritually revered by Hopi and loved by non indigenous folks through film and basically giving the finger to the world by turning Monument into a cheesy "Indian Disney Land". Like "how do you like your beloved landscapes turned to crap?". Cutting their noses off to spite their face, is very appropriate here. Sorry, it just makes me sick what they did So now the rest of knows how the indigenous feel? I already felt this. Hopi and Navajo have been enemies since time immemorial but the coup the Navajo wrought here benefited no one and is to the detriment of all. Thanks for your time and input. Appreciate much. Lvya much. D
@@davidlancaster6941 well I’m half Diné and half Mexican from Southern California, so from an outside inside perspective, I’d have to say the Navajo nation is trying to build revenue. We have the biggest reservation to govern, and the most people. There’s no opportunity on the rez from what I’ve seen, so you make with what you got. Sorry you have such Dissent for my people, but history’s history.
Avoid the big legacy carriers and use SpaceX Starlink. It works great!
Not sure why people would trust Elon to maintain free speech when he's already banning those who disagree with him.
Natives were all usually chill and pretty cool until they started drinking…
Being Diné it's hard to balance the traditional life and the life of what we need to survive, self employed and responsibility to the love stocks is what we can do.
Just keep in mind that our ancestors were willing to sacrifice our language and culture to let us survive after Hwéeldi
Navajos, Lakotas, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles, Apaches, Comanches, Crees, Denes, Mohawks, And Yaquis some of the most known yeah yeah
Hunter gatherers don't need internet. Only bison.
An amazing video!!! Thank you so much for all you do!
Long live Navajo freedom
Holy vocal fry
Native’s are so beautiful
I must go home its been so so long......
Vivan the navajos!!
Pls.pray the rosary & devine mercy prayer to free all countries from war, diseases, calamities, hunger, corruption, drugs, prostitution, abortion,homosexuality, divorce, vices and all evils.pls pray for peace and joy in all families and home.. ......... ....
Starlink comes to rescue!
This is what I was thinkning. What if we started a mutual fund to get these communities starlink hubs?
You guys should look into starlink! And please! Teach your young people not to use fry voice!
❤
uhh the government should give you anything you need at any time for free.. I mean anything
nothing can repay what happened
Did you hear that?
More Indigenous content please 🙏👏
Why can’t the Federal Govt setup a few towers for the native peoples? We waste money all over the world but we can’t invest in ourselves?
No, we waste money on weapons and the entire army industrial complex. we are plundering the planet.
@@PHlophe Like the 89,000,000,000 worth that Biden left in Afghanistan for the Taliban?
Focus on your young women because not all of them are made of what these are. Those who come from broken families are the ones who end up lost and on drugs making children they end up abandoning.
Elon's starlink & Heliums lorawan 3g network could have em covered
Build a casino, make the white people pay for the internet connection.
I bet is becasuee oof the Peyote i guess we all need it even internet xD
Soo if you guys need internet data then why not have a cell tower built on the land so that it’s a nonissue??🤷🏻♂️
Doing a great job shandiin 👍 Nizhonì
Loved this!
Can't wait to meet this people on Facebook.
This woman is fucking awesome! What a gem! ❤️❤️
As a Native
I get her point but legally there are less far fetched arguments she could effectively use in court.
As the lessons of the Diné, the teaching, lessons and grounding is part of what the United States and the western world needs. Legallly it isn’t in the written Laws in the US nation. But we will get there and have people who are willing to understand this important message. Give it 10 possibly 5 years to today for the technology to reach people. Hope you have a wonderful day.
If u own land
U can rent to cell phone company's
How this is done I don't know but possible
Land held in federal trust...not exactly like we own the land. A lot of red tape to cut through.
I really like this sisters telling
Sanitation and roads? Nah, we need the internet!
It comes down to money. Folks like verizon will not build connections if there is no money for them to do it with. They build based on population. The more people in a specific area, the more money these big internet companies make.
Natives have to increase their population 10 fold & 10 fold again for these big name companies to notice. 500,000 in one city is enough & ideal for any big name company to come in with internet. That's how they all work.
fugeddaboutit otherwise.
-From your local native in new york city
This same argument was made about private companies suppling electric power to large swaths of rural areas in the early 1920s. That was the reason for the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. With passage of this act the US government subsidized the extension of electricity to these regions that private power companies determined were too sparsely populated to make a profit. This is an example of where the government can help people when private enterprise decides not to.