Klee Benally, a Navajo man who advocated for indigenous people and the environment, has died
PHOENIX — Klee Benally, a Navajo man who advocated for indigenous people and the environment, has died, his sister said. He was 48 years old.
Benally died Saturday at a Phoenix hospital, Jeneda Benally said. His cause of death was not disclosed.
Klee Benally was one of the most vocal opponents of snowmaking at the Arizona Snowbowl ski area in Flagstaff. At least thirteen tribes consider the mountain sacred on public land.
He has protested police brutality and racial profiling and was among activists who gathered outside metro Phoenix's NFL stadium in 2014 to denounce the offensive team name previously used by the Washington, D.C.-based franchise.
Benally advocated for the cleanup of abandoned mines, where uranium ore was mined from the Navajo Nation for decades to support U.S. nuclear activities during the Cold War.
He also spoke out against an ordinance that, in an effort to address the problem of homelessness, would have banned camping on public land in Flagstaff.
“There is no compassionate way to enforce the anti-camping ordinance,” Benally said in 2018 when officials refused to change the 2005 ordinance. “Life is hard enough for our unprotected relatives on the streets.”
Benally was also a guitarist and played with his sister and brother in the Native American punk rock band Blackfire.