The Place Where I Belong

By Mellor Willie

(Photo Left-to-Right) Mellor Willie, Government and Political Affairs

Advisor, Navajo Housing Authority (NHA);  Richard Blackhorse, Member, NHA

Board of Commissioners; Shawnevan Dale, Vice-Chairperson, NHA Board of

Commissioners; Wilson Ray Sr., Member, NHA Board of Commissioners; Aneva

J. Yazzie, Chief Executive Officer, NHA; and Earl Tulley, Chief Operating

Officer, NHA.

For the past ten years I have enjoyed living in Washington, DC just a few blocks from the United States Capitol.  I feel very fortunate to have a job here serving as an advisor and representative for my tribe's housing authority. It is convenient for me to live close to Capitol Hill because I spend a lot of time visiting congressional offices as part of my job.

Like any city, everyday life in DC can be stressful. People in this town are loyally committed to schedules controlling their every move throughout the day. Wandering through the city you can almost feel the tension of people consumed with their jobs. From meeting after meeting, to calculated power-lunches and to prescribed gym work-outs—those working and living in DC have a life controlled by a demanding itinerary centered on their career. With all the conveniences of the city, like accessible public transportation, great restaurants and entertainment, it is easy for one to accept the DC culture and be comfortable living here. I am often surprised that for me, a Navajo who was born and raised on the reservation, that I am able to find my life enjoyable. However, no matter how comfortable I feel in DC, I will always have a longing to visit my home on the reservation.

Just along the border of Arizona and New Mexico, on the Navajo reservation is a small town called Fort Defiance, Arizona where I spent the youthful years of my life. This is the place I consider home because for me it is the center of my existence, it is a place where I am drawn and a place where my earliest and closest memories reside.

Fort Defiance is settled in a valley. It is a notable place in Navajo history because it is the location where the federal government gathered thousands of Navajo people in the 1850s before they were force relocated and taken on a treacherous journey, known as the Long Walk, to a place in eastern New Mexico called Fort Sumner. Thousands of Navajo people died in this journey and this dark chapter of Navajo history is still humbly remembered. While in encampment at Fort Sumner, the Navajo leaders were able to negotiate a treaty with the federal government which allowed for them to return home. The federal government opened up Fort Defiance as a central location for Navajo people to go to receive rations and assistance upon their return.

When I was growing up, I would always go to a special spot high above Fort Defiance against the mesa. From this spot I could see the whole valley and on a clear day I could see for miles and miles. The view from here is vibrant and colorful, the purple and pink sandstone buttes, the dark black and brown monoliths of igneous rock, the speckles of olive green juniper and cedar trees standing out against a sea of blue sage brush--everything is beautiful.

Throughout high school I would hike up to this spot as a secluded hang out--sometimes I would read, do my homework or listen to music. Other times I would sit silently and listen to the sounds around me, the wind, the birds, the rustling of little animals. In college, I would come home and always make a special visit to the mesa. For me, this spot is where I felt the most at peace, it was the place I was closest to the earth and to the heavens. Even now when I am far away--especially when I feel stressed--I close my eyes which takes me back to the mesa. When I open my eyes I am renewed and ready to face the world.

It was not until I was much older that I finally understood why I was drawn to this special spot. When a Navajo baby is born, the father takes the child's umbilical cord and places it in the earth under a young tree. According to Navajo beliefs it is said that this location is where you will always belong, it is the center of your existence, where you are together with the earth, your mother, and your father. My mother gave birth to me in the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital and shortly after I was born my father hiked up to the mesa overlooking the valley, he found this special spot and decided for me that this is the place where I will always belong.

Sometimes when I meet people in DC they ask me with inquisitive concern, "How did you like growing up on the reservation?" I find that people who do not understand my background have a limited knowledge of what it is to be Navajo and are very quick to judge what my life was like on the reservation. Having been asked this question often my response is always the same but still very true. While living and growing up on the Navajo reservation had its challenges and difficulties, I have always cherished what is beautiful about my home. I celebrate all that is good about living in a place that is so close to who I am as a Navajo person and most of all, I know that I will always have a place in this big world where I will forever belong.

Mellor C. Willie, 37, is a member of the Navajo Nation, born and raised in Window Rock, Arizona. He is born into the Yei Dine' Tachii'nii clan and born for the Tsenahabilnii clan.

In 1998, he received his bachelor's degree in political science from Southern Utah University. In May 2009, he graduated from The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, being the first American Indian to graduate from the program.

Most notably Willie is recognized for serving as Executive Director for the Native American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC). Willie held this position from 2009 to 2012. Today Willie is an advisor on government, political and public affairs to the Navajo Housing Authority.