Jill Biden tours the Navajo capital as leaders push for a recovery from the pandemic
Source: Arizona Republic
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation welcomed first lady Jill Biden on a two-day visit to the tribal capital with hand-drawn signs, handcrafted jewelry and a Pendleton blanket.
She returned the favors with praise for the way Navajo leaders and responded to the last year's health crisis, singling out their efforts as examples to follow. She also offered words of encouragement.
"As the world changes around us and chaos disrupts, we must have a path forward, a way to rediscover and recreate the harmony we need," she said on Thursday.
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She packed in a number of stops on Thursday and Friday, meeting with women who lead the way in a variety of roles, delivering a speech at the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial in Window Rock, visiting with students at a boarding school, and observing a vaccination event. She headed back to Washington Friday afternoon.
Read more: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2021/04/23/jill-biden-visits-navajo-nation-covid-19-recovery/4296066001/
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The COVID stimulus bill that Biden and the Dems passed allocated $31 billion to serve the indigenous communities and includes $20 billion that goes directly to tribal governments, $6 billion to bolster health systems, and more than $1 billion for housing.
Nick Tilsen, the founder and CEO of NDN Collective and an activist for tribal rights over lands, appeared on PBS Newshour, and said:
And so we're happy about the big investments going directly to tribes. We're happy about the investments to save the — to save Native languages. We're happy about the $1 billion investment into broadband and into some of, really, not just Native communities, but some of the most underinvested communities in the whole country.
You take, like, this opportunity of $1 billion being invested into Navajo, but you also have 65,000 people at Navajo who don't have power.
That some indigenous communities have no running water or electricity
in one of the richest countries on the planet (not to mention some Appalachian communities), is just shameful. Proud that the Dems are addressing it.
