I listened to elders and medicine people from over a
dozen tribes give testimony to Forest Service Supervisor Nora
Rasure, explaining to her why snowmaking with treated wastewater
was blasphemy (HCN, 9/17/07). I
watched middle-aged men bow their heads as tears streaked their
faces. None of that seemed to move Ms. Rasure. She told the
Indigenous Peoples’ summit meeting that she needed to protect the
rights of recreationists.
Later I offered – twice – to
talk with her about what I had learned about intercultural
communication with indigenous peoples. She never took me up on it;
and, a few months later, told an interviewer that she couldn’t
remember the name of the Florida tribe she had worked with two
years earlier in her former Forest Service position. It is a gift
that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has a deeper understanding of
respect than Ms. Rasure does.
Mary
Sojourner
Flagstaff, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
