Bob Ketelson a volunteer at the Saint Mary’s Mission in Tohatchi N.M. recalls on June 26, 1963 that President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that electrified an adoring crowd gathered in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. As he paid tribute to the spirit of Berliners and to their quest for freedom, the crowd roared with approval upon hearing the President's dramatic pronouncement, "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner). Bob said “ I thought of this historic event after the recent tragedies of September 11 and I felt that the children here on the reservation wanted to do something to express their sympathies for the victims and admiration for those who assisted in helping them. I made up a poster that said, “Sh' New Yorker nish'- ti' ” in the Navajo language and “I am a New Yorker” in English. Then I took my camera out and took pictures of some of the local children holding the poster. All of the children were very enthusiastic about getting their picture taken with the poster and several of the children said, “ we are all brothers”. What amazed me was how proud they looked holding the poster and the flags. The whole motivation behind this is to let the people in New York know that all of us on the Navajo Reservation share in their tragedy.

Navajo World
PO Box 39
Laguna, NM 87206