Valentina Blackhorse
Note: Mass incarceration poses a public health threat during a pandemic not just to residents and employees of a prison, but also to employees’ families as they carry the virus home to them. That chain of transmission was the apparent source of the infection that tragically killed a vibrant young leader of the Navajo Nation.
Photograph of Valentina as a jingle-dress dancer at one of her community’s powwows. Laverne Blackhorse, obtained from the New York Times.
Valentina Blackhorse, 28, grew up in Navajo County, AZ. She was devoted to preserving Navajo culture and community. As a high school student, she won the local pageant for her knowledge of Navajo tradition and fluency in Diné, the Navajo language. She was also an accomplished jingle dress dancer. Four years ago, she was named Miss Western Navajo.
In an interview with NPR shortly after Valentina’s death, her sister recalled her many efforts to ensure that the next generation of Navajo hold those traditions dear and celebrate their heritage:
“She would have children write essays on why the Navajo culture is important or Navajo language… She would sit there and read each and every essay. … And she wanted the younger generation to know and learn their language because the older generation -- a majority of them -- speak and understand Navajo. And she was fluent in her language, and she could hold a conversation with the elders.”
You can listen here to her sister talk about Valentina.
Photograph of Valentina as Miss Western Navajo Nation, 2015-2016. Office of the President and Vice President, obtained from Navajo-Hopi Observer.
Alas, in April 2020, Valentina’s partner and father of her one-year daughter, Poet, contracted Covid-19 while working as an officer at the Navajo Department of Corrections. Valentina’s dream of one day leading the Navajo Nation came to an end as she contracted the virus while caring for him and quickly succumbed to it herself on April 23.
Her partner, Robby Jones, sorrowfully recalled, “She was a kind-hearted person. She would put others before herself. If she knew someone needed help she would help them. She loved her elders and she loved her children, especially people who are in need.” (You can listen to Robby here.)
When one of Valentina’s sisters was asked what she would like Valentina’s daughter to know about her mom, Valentina’s sister replied, “That her mom was [a] kind, loving, caring, ambitious, heartwarming person, as well as silly. Her mom had a great sense of humor.”
Photograph of Valentina with a family member, obtained from ABC4.
Another sister added, “She was an awesome sister, wife, daughter, granddaughter, and most importantly a mother to her one-year-old daughter. I never thought I would have to do this for my sibling, and I pray to the creators above to please heal our broken hearts.”
Chipni him inesthin min hiweti.
(Travel well. Creator has already prepared /made good your path.)
This memorial was written by MOL team member Kelsey Kauffman with information from stories from the Navajo-Hopi Observer, Indianaz.com, Democracy Now, NPR’s Lulu-Garcia-Navarro, and Marisa Iati of the Washington Post.
