As children, our playground was the land around our reservation, including the edge of the sacred Tsékooh Hatsoh – what many call the “Grand Canyon.”
We walked the sheep pastures with our fathers, and tossed rocks and swam in the shimmering pools of crystal clear water. It wasn’t until much later that we came to understand the invisible danger that would threaten our health for the rest of our lives.
Some of those pools were close to one of the more than 500 uranium mines near Navajo Nation lands in Northern Arizona and were contaminated with industrial pollution. The water was radioactive; there were no warning signs near many of the pools, and we were exposed...