An update from the Navajo Rez situationho

An update from the Navajo Rez situationho

Friday, February 27, 2009
Obama: Stop the Peabody Mine Expansion on Black Mesa


By Bahe Katenay
Image by Black Mesa Indigeous Support
Ladies & Gentlemen, the Old, the Young, the Coming Generation, and Relatives:

As we speak, there exist a state of fear and anxiety in a traditional community at Big Mountain in the heart of Black Mesa. And as we speak, the federally deputized officers of the BIA Hopi Agency Police and Rangers are patrolling this region where a few traditional elders continue to live and also resist federal mandates to relocate. I want to bring your attention to one particular situation that is an example of the wide-spread acts of injustice, human rights violation, religious intolerance, and threats of property destruction.

Dineh resister and elder, Pauline Whitesinger, has stood her ground since 1977 when the BIA tried to build a range unit fence within the lands partitioned to the neighboring tribe, the (modern and progressive) Hopis. Pauline still believes in the old ways by upholding aboriginal rights and treaty rights and because of BIA-Hopi restriction on new contruction and her deteriorating ceremonial hogan, she replaced and rebuilt a new hogan. The BIA Indian police are constantly taken photographs of her residence, her neighbors that come to see her, her non-Indian volunteer helpers, and her grandchildren that come to visit. The police do not attempt to talk to her or answer to her concerns and requests.

This area known as the Hopi Partitioned Lands still has Dineh residents and has been made an isolated area, and this is allowing the federal government to do as they please with these last, traditional peoples. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. has even made numerous comments that the Dineh resistance at Big Mountain "a lost cause and a closed case" meaning that these Dineh are to never be thought of, again. Meaning that these Dineh, who are my Big Mountain relatives, need to be erased from the state of the Navajo Nation and perhaps, Pauline is right when she says, "we are in way of Peabody, profit, revenues, and industrial jobs."

The last few elder resisters and their few supporters (native or non-natives) will continue to provide the much needed humanitarian aide to our surviving history: traditional Dineh living and maintaining on their ancestral and sacred homelands. However, we all need to act in the best means possible and stop the daily Gestapo tactics and the potential demolishment of a sacred hogan or earth lodge. We all need to prevent any harm that may be committed on our elders or their helpers and most of all, prevent this growing hostility from getting out-of-hand.

All legal recourses are no longer an option since this is a challenge against a U.S. Executive Order, and The Peoples are the only option to bring about attention, focus and restoration.

I have attached a petition with addresses of officials and I am making a plead to you all, my relatives, to sign it and either send it directly to the listed officials or send them to the Black Mesa Indigenous Support. This situation is very urgent. These elders are very old now and they truly deserve much honor. They have lived in a way that, we or our future generations may never see humans live in this country. These traditional elders must live their naturally-given, old life in peace and harmony, Hozhon goh. Yaa'at'eeh goh.

I apologize for the long list of officials, but it has become long because of so many years of ignorance and because certain, minor sectors of society believed that these Elders would have been defeated already.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely & In the Spirit of Chief Barboncito,
Bahe Y. Katenay (Naabaahii Keediniihii)
Dineh of Big Mountain

"A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky."
The words of Crazy Horse (As remembered by Ohiyesa, Charles A. Eastman).

STOP THE PEABODY COAL MINE EXPANSION ON BLACK MESA IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE DINEH (NAVAJO) & HOPIS IN ARIZONA, U.S.A.
The Sovereign Nation of the Big Mountain Dineh
VIA Black Mesa, Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, U.S.A.
March 2009

Dear Mr. President Barrack Obama, and
Madame Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
Copies to:
Mrs. Katherine Smith & Mrs. Pauline Whitesinger, Big Mountain Sovereign Dineh,
Selected Kimongwis of the Independent Pueblo of Hotevilla,
Mr. William Means & Ms. Andrea Carmen, International Indian Treaty Council,
President Joe Shirley, Jr., The Navajo Nation,
Mr. Roman Bitsuie, The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission,
Office of the Hopi Tribe’s Office of Hopi Lands,
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Phoenix Area Agency
Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining

REPEAL “THE NAVAJO-HOPI LAND SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1974” (P.L. 93-531): IT ENFORCES THE METHODS OF GENOCIDE BY POPULATION REMOVAL AND COAL MINING EXPANSIONS
The Sovereign Nation of the Big Mountain Dineh is located in northeastern Arizona on Black Mesa and is part of ancient indigenous shared-territories. Members of this nation were affected by the 1974 legislation to relocate from certain partitioned areas, but have rather chose to resist this policy and try to: maintain their ancestral and treaty lands, keep cultural practices, value universal-granted freedom, conduct their ancient rights to ritual ceremonies, and preserve their sacred sites. The proclamation of these Dineh in 1979 states that through divine creation they were, “provided with the Ni’tliz’ (sacred stones) as offerings and the Dzil leezh (sacred mountain soil Bundle) representing the universe. With prayers and songs we offer the Ni’tliz to the trees, to the hills, to the wind, and the thunder beings in the sacred rain. The Dzil Leezh is our power to live close to our mother the Earth and father Sky. These are our sacred ways to survive in this universe and to communicate with the unseen forces in the Natural life.”
As you may be aware that, the relocation of thousands of Dineh (Navajos) and Hopis has been in process since 1977 after 1.8 million acres was partitioned and that, the Dineh elder leaders at Big Mountain began their resistance to U.S. government court orders to vacant areas partitioned to the official and federally-recognized, Hopi tribe. These traditional Dineh communities still
continue to resist the harsh relocation policies and coal mining encroachment to this day. Despite a few elders are now left, they continue to reaffirm their ancestral land rights which are contrary to all court decisions related to the fore mentioned communities from 1974 to 1998.
U.S. Judicial System has had a vital role in this land rights issue ever since energy companies of the southwestern United States became interested in exploring the coal reserves of Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona. In 1962, there was a well-orchestrated rush to establish an Indian Land Claims on the behalf of the Hopi tribe and which was guided by a Peabody Coal Company attorney, and this allowed Peabody to acquire mining leases. The U.S. courts and corporate attorneys eventually, thereafter, help created the relocation and land-partitioning policies which only made way for coal exploration. None of these court rulings were based on proving that an actual “land dispute” did exist between the Dineh and Hopis.
Big Mountain on Black Mesa is the only place in the United States where two Indian nations can still define cultural coexistence and shared territories, and now have become endangered aboriginal peoples. The U.S. courts have ordered continued pressure on the remaining traditional Dineh and keep the areas sealed and isolated. The United States is allowing this tragedy and genocide to be sustained under the guise that relocation are on voluntary basis and that Indian police are being used rather than state authorities to carry out enforcements. These traditional resisters hold great knowledge and wisdom of ancient information and natural existence that are irreplaceable, and it is the world society’s responsibility to stop the United States and its largest coal-producer, Peabody Energy, from executing this human and mega-environmental destruction.
Additional documentations (www.blackmesais.org) of human rights violation and religious intolerance are as follows:
 Limitation or complete denial of: crop cultivation and livestock husbandry, community and religious activities, access to or maintenance of water wells, and elder residents’ safety needs to attain wood fuels for heating and cooking,
 Forced relocation to foreign settings that does not support or replace loss culture and religions,
 Deliberate breaking up of family and clan structures,
 Controlled national media that portray the Big Mountain story as a result of legitimate and humane court decisions,
 Peabody mines create: daily detonation that causes micro-quakes, depletion of pristine aquifers that causes subsidence and fissure zones, and massive emissions of coal dust and engine exhaust.
We the undersigned hereof state our demand that the United States cease all forcible relocation enforcements on the Dineh, and reverse the decisions made for Peabody Coal Company’s Life of the Mine Permit on Black Mesa.
It will be furthered recommended that:
 Indigenous peoples’ inherent rights to their homelands be recognized and respected,
 Traditional tribal communities be allowed to reinstate and restore the inexorable ties to fundamental existence and spiritual practices,
 There must be serious reviews about the conclusion that Black Mesa coal is the primary source for energy, and that being reviewed in the context of global concerns for greenhouse gas emissions,
 Acknowledge that indigenous being has sustained all human cultures’ moral obligations throughout the ages, and it is much more crucial in this technological era that the demands and rights of indigenous peoples be received with greater human understanding.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
SIGNATURE
PRINT NAME
DATE
OCCUPATION
COUNTRY

OFFICIAL CONTACT INFO:
U.S. President Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Phone Numbers:
Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 U.S. Secretary of State Clinton Public Communication Division: PA/PL, Rm. 2206 U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20520 202-647-6575 Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 Office of Surface Mining Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 PHOENIX AREA OFFICE: Bureau of Indian Affairs P.O. Box 10 Phoenix, AZ 85001 P: 602/379-6600 F: 602/379-4413 Hopi Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs P.O. Box 158 Keams Canyon, AZ 86034 P: 520/738-2228 F: 520/738-5522
Navajo Nation Office of the President Joe Shirley, Jr. Communications Director George Hardeen
georgehardeen@opvp.org Phone: (928) 871-7917 Cell: (928) 309-8532 Staff Assistant Gloria Bowman gbowman@opvp.org Phone: (928) 871-7915 Fax: (928) 871-7005 Administrative Assistant Desiree Etsitty Phone: (928) 871-7916 Fax: (928) 871-7807
Hard Rock Chapter P.O. Box 20 Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039 Phone: (928) 725-3730/3732 Fax: (928) 725-3731 E-mail: hardrock@navajochapters.org
Forest Lake Chapter P.O. Box 441 Pinon, AZ 86510 Phone: (928) 677-3252/3347 Fax: (928) 677-3320 E-mail: forestlake@navajochapters.org
Black Mesa Chapter P.O. Box 189 Pinon, AZ 86510 Phone: (928) 309-7056 E-mail: blackmesa@navajochapters.org (To traditional Dineh or Hopi Kimongwis, or other Communiqué to Sovereign Dineh.) ATTN: TRADITIONAL ELDERS
Black Mesa Indigenous Support P.O. Box 23501
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002 Email: blackmesais@riseup.net
Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com at 5:51 PM

Our Children and elders are dying, Please help

Our Children and elders are dying, Please help

Our Children Are Dying

Lakota Spiritual Leader and Head Man, David Swallow,

Speaks Out on Reservation Crisis

www.silvrdrach.homestead.com/Schwartz_2008_Jul_08.html
by David Swallow,

Lakota Spiritual Leader and a Headman of the Lakota Nation

Edited and Published by Stephanie M. Schwartz,

Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)

Text and Photo © July 09, 2008 Porcupine, South Dakota
Our children are dying. Our children are killing themselves in record numbers on our Lakota Reservations. They are filled with despair, confusion, and hopelessness and they see suicide as the only answer.
Many studies point to the hopelessness as being a result of generations of genocide committed by the historical policies of the Federal Government against the American Indians. But the policies of today are just as damaging. These policies create a system of “assimilate or die,” just another form of genocide.
David Swallow
I am not racist. This is not about hatred or racism. There are many good non-Lakota. But the damage from the Government and the mainstream culture and its almighty dollar is killing the children of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations. To look for solutions from the mainstream culture will only bring about more confusion, more genocide, and more destruction of our culture and our people.

Yes, our children need help. Then, they also need jobs. They need work. They need to have hope that they can survive. They need to be treated like real citizens, free to be who they are.

The current programs are not working. Our Reservations are dry but 60-70% of our people are still affected by alcoholism and drug addictions. There are a few non-profit organizations that do good work on our reservations. They really do try to help. But there are also many, many groups who only make money in our name. We’re a commodity to them, a way to get more and more money for themselves, while our children are suffering. It’s the same with some of the Tribal Council and Government programs. The money never reaches the people, it never really helps anyone.

Our children are living in a world of confusion and chaos. We need all the help we can get from our own people within our own culture. Gangs and cults and programs that are ignorant of the Lakota culture are not the answer. The Lakota child knows they are Lakota but these other things only work to destroy that identity. They brainwash our children into trying to assimilate rather than respecting and understanding themselves. They contaminate our children with false mainstream ideas and values which then only creates more desperation.
We could cure our own. We need to cure our own.

In my grandfather’s time, suicide was unknown. But today, it is everywhere. Our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews are crying for our help. They are dying without our help.

Traditional spirituality could make the difference. But the civilized world and Christianity have tied our hands. Our medicine men, our medicine women, and our spiritual leaders have no standing. We are not even consulted.

Yet, Traditional spirituality could make the real difference.

Traditional sweatlodge ceremonies could help purify the mind of these children who have been so wounded by society. It can wake up the spirit that is inside the person. It can bring healing of the mind, body, and spirit and it could help heal the entire family. But it needs to be the real thing, led by a legitimate traditional spiritual leader, and not just some sauna with a few nice words.

Learning to prepare foods in the traditional way could help them, too. It is important they understand that food prepared in a good way nourishes the family in a good way. They need to know that food prepared with anger and hatred only brings sickness with it.

There are many of the Traditional Ways which would work to bring about healing and hope for these children. It can restore their identity and become a way of life. It can teach them how to live a good life, in a good way. It can give them direction and understanding.

But we need to stop fighting among ourselves. We need to stop looking to the mainstream society for solutions. We need to stop looking to outsiders for cures. We need to look to the Ways of our ancestors to guide us. We, the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota People need to help our own grandchildren.

I am not asking for money. I am not asking for anything from the Government or the BIA except that we be set free. Set us free. Don’t try to force us to live in the mainstream ways. Don’t try to force us to assimilate. Let us live in our own Ways and heal ourselves and our children and grandchildren.

Ho he’cetu yelo. I have spoken these words.

David Swallow, Wowitan Yuha Mani

Porcupine, South Dakota - The Pine Ridge Reservation
This article may be reprinted, reproduced, and/or re-distributed unedited with proper attribution and sourcing for non-profit, educational, news, or archival purposes.
Stephanie M. Schwartz may be reached at SilvrDrach@Gmail.com

View other publications of Stephanie M. Schwartz at