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First Place
Barbara Davidson
Los Angeles Times

"Frozen Land - Forgotten People"


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First Place
Barbara Davidson
Los Angeles Times


"Frozen Land - Forgotten People"

Thomasina Nez, 35, gives Bobbi, 4, a bath in a small tin basin next to the wood stove in their dilapidated trailer on a Navajo Reservation in Cameron, Arizona, on a wintry day. Thomasina, who lives in the now former "Bennett Freeze" area, has no running water and is forced to bathe her children with water hauled from 30 miles away and warmed up by the families' wood stove. She bathes the smallest one, who uses the least amount of water, first, then adds a bit more water to bathe the next in line, and does so until the basin is filled to bathe the 6 year-old. It's too expensive, at 2$ per shower, at the local RV station, to shower her family there. So they go without. Because of a 43 year land dispute between the Hopi and the Navajo know as the "Bennett Freeze", a decree meant to prevent either tribe from taking advantage of the other while they settled the dispute. It made it illegal for the 8,000 or so Navajos scattered across the region to erect or repair homes, build roads, or connect to basic services like electricity and running water. Because of the neglect, we see a level of poverty rarely seen in America, today.

 

 

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