Gulf War, Navajo Language Banned From Armed Forces Radio
- Artist/Author/Producer: Navajo
- Confronting Bodies: Armed Forces Radio
- Dates of action: 1991
- Location: Persian Gulf
- Description of the Art Work
- Radio broadcast greetings in the Navajo language.
- Description of incident
- "... military censors made one of the strangest additions to their
already strange list of banned communications: the Navajo language. A
small number of Navajos, it seems, wanted to send broadcast greetings in
their native tongue to loved ones stationed overseas, but Armed forces
radio refused to pass the messages along. Once again, the mere
possibility of enemy signals lurking in the noise was too much for the
censors to bear. 'We have a responsibility to control what's on the
radio,' said the lieutenant colonel in charge, 'and if I don't know what
it says I can't control it.'"
- Results of incident
- Bill Richardson, a New Mexico congressman, successfully impressed
upon the Armed Forces Radio the absurdity of the ban. The radio station
lifted the ban allowing the Navajo greetings to reach the soldiers.
Source: Julian Dibbell,"Tales from the Crypto Wars," Village Voice, 8/3/93, Pg. 3
