Reverberations of a loss and dismay echoed across northern Arizona last week after Klee Benally, Navajo activists, musician and Indigenous and environmental advocate died in a Phoenix hospital Dec. 30.
He protested against a pumice mine on peaks sacred to Indigenous tribes and against uranium mining and transport in northern Arizona. He campaigned for the rights and care of Indigenous homeless people and against racial profiling.
A celebration of life for beloved Diné activist Klee Benally is being held at 2 pm on January 6 at the Orpheum Theatre in Kinłání, Occupied Territories (Flagstaff, Ariz.). Benally advocated for the cleanup of abandoned mines, where uranium ore was extracted from the Navajo Nation over decades to support U.S. nuclear activities during the Cold War. Benally grew up being taught traditional Navajo culture by his father, Jones Benally, a well-known hataałii (medicine man).