Big Mtn. Survival Camp: Security Gate Stories

ALERT: Helpers Needed at Big Mtn. to Keep Dineh Resistance Spirit Alive

2009-12-16T14:15:00.005-07:00

"Winter in Navajoland" by Marjorie Reed, 1982

SheepDog Nation Rocks "wants to inform that besides efforts to hand signed papers to world leaders in Copenhagen which unfortunately corporate warlords won't see, aging Dineh resisters at Big Mtn's frontline to stop global warming are in direr need of physical support on their harsh freezing and remote but sacred lands. Sheepherders and elder care givers NEEDED! Email: blackmesais@gmail.com or phone 928-773-8086"

Big Mountain, Black Mesa December 16, 2009 - Once upon a time they all stood strong to protect the human race as they themselves put it. The Big Mountain Dineh Elders have endured so much since the 1970s and at the same time, they have defended and perserved that human dignity of natural survival, subsistence and religious values. They have resisted the U.S. government's genocide policies to vacate lands that Peabody Coal Company recognized as the Black Mesa coal fields. In the name of America's greedy electricity needs, the Justice Department through the Interior Department's B.I.A. have kept these resisters in isolation and away from all media attention.

Now these once brave elders are unable to endure the freezing temperatures of winter, to walk outside to chopped wood, to cook a warm meal for themselves, and to keep their ancient livelihoods like herding sheep alive.

Where are their children or grandchildren you might asked? That is not the issue because you can just look outside your window and see what America has turned ordinary humans into.

The issue is come out ASAP to give a little of your time, to sacrifice that Americanized (sacred) holidays, and lend lots of helping muscles and bones to comfort and honor these weaken resisters.

Thank you for your time.

-SheepDog, Chief Loner

SheepDog's Report on Caravan 2009 to Big Mtn.

2009-12-02T20:28:00.009-07:00

Photos by Jessica Kettler

Support Caravan to Big Mountain Resistance Communities, November 2009

By NaaBaahii “Kat” Keedinihii
Sheep Dog Nation Media

[Author’s Note: It is very necessary that I must “try” to make another of the hundreds of clarification that I have made in the past about Identity, Loyalty, Allegiance, Sovereignty, Aboriginality, Great (Big) Mountain, and Resistance. This past Caravan of Support has shown me much inspiration and hope that as human communities we are committed to global balance and survival. The other small aspect of disruption and distraction is that of labeling “who is the real resister” and who is where in terms of a government demarcation boundary. Again, the policy makers of the colonial state are being allowed to have control over how we think and how we decide: who is who, who is what, who is how. These small numbers of individuals who have been influenced by the colonial terminology of status have not questioned the human aspect of resistance and survival, or more importantly contribution to the roles of resistance. Thus, Yours Truly, is questioned or is falsely labeled as a non-resister and non-resident, but that is based on the U.S. government’s official words and on a few disgruntle residents that love dwelling on petty issues of dissensions. You readers must now learn more about the role of Yours Truly: review the long list of resume of physical coordination of resistance actions since 1977 and the endless list of the contribution to consultation of sovereign enforcements that were based on the original, traditional Big Mountain elder council’s proclamations. Now look at any resumes, if any exist, of those making the accusations, complaints and loud-mouthing in the midst of a good-spirited action like the Fall 2009 Support Caravan. Always seek the truth especially during a crucial revolutionary movement because much harm and huge setbacks can result from such rumors and accusations. –Kat of SDN Rocks.]

December 2, 2009 – Big Mountain, Black Mesa (northeastern Arizona) Awesome human beings of all ages but mostly young came from Tejas, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Ohio, New Mexico, southern Arizona, and even from a few foreign countries. All 120 plus individuals were able to come to Big Mountain, a regional territory, where the main brunt of the resistance to force relocation and Peabody’s coal mining expansion is taking place. These well equipped and wonderful inspired, non-Native citizens came to honor Dineh resisters by providing assistance like everything from cleaning around one’s residents to hauling and chopping cords of firewood. Some were able to find out what herding sheep and goats was all about like what to feed the sheepdogs, to graze certain vegetation in a designated area, when to water the animals, what time to head back and put them in the corral, and how to secure the corral gate.

Besides the tons of firewood hauling, there were a lot of repair and building work. The U.S. government through its Department of the Interior and the Justice Department has used the B.I.A. to enforce a freeze on any kinds of repair or improvements. However, every human being has universal rights to happiness and welfare, and any humanitarian aid should not be denied from them –especially in the US of A because the U.S. is supposed to be the leader in honoring human rights.

The well-coordinated and distributed volunteer-support, worker groups were pretty aware that these types of humanitarian aid were crucial to the Dineh elder resisters and their families. They all knew that they must, for one week, give up that “great” American privilege like Thanksgiving Holiday. And instead go out to remote and (somewhat) hospitable resistance communities to make many indigenous families’ lives better. Many of these volunteers are actively involved in their communities’ efforts for justice and peace, and they not only brought their skills but to immerse themselves in a new and alternative experience. All the good hopes and intentions of the local Dineh that collaborated with these outside supporters was such an uplifting and empowering event that took place for one whole week. You have seen people march in the streets but perhaps you have never seen support crews covering nearly 450,000 acres to work as hard as they can to accomplish great tasks within seven days. It was just power and much healing.

The power of a united force is a ritual in its own and if geared towards the positive, that momentum can set its own forecast and outcomes. Family members came to the central coordination camp or base camp and they transported or guided the adequate number of crews to their homes. Volunteers took with them their own foods to eat and share, tools to use and leave with the family, and their camping gear to cope with the unpredictable Black Mesa climate.

The late November, high altitude climate gave noticed to who is in charge, nature. Morning pre-dawn temperatures dipped down to 20F degrees, but the daytime temps made it a comfortable, sunny 60F degree. The below freezing early morning temps greeted the crews each day as they kept up with the elders’ early rise. Far from the thermostat-control environments, supporters manage to cook hot meals for breakfast as they fought off the shivering bites of the nippy air. The sun’s warmth brought a relax calm among the work forces as they carried out the physically demanding tasks which involved nothing but manual labor. Many probably never used an axe or a pick as much as they did before, or have never thought of ever stacking that much cut and split firewood before. Others probably have never realized what it took for the Dineh in remote parts of the reservation to acquire drinking water. The long drives to the well or having to pull buckets of water out of a rock-walled tank, and how important it was to conserve or honor that water. The tonnage of dirt dug and moved, of wood hauled and cut, and of the gallons of water transported were certainly immense and immeasurable.

Two days of road repair used at least 20 hard working individuals, and a two and half mile road was attempted to be fixed but only a mile and half was completed. This dirt and unmaintained road is an essential corridor for the communities that are divided by the low-lying but rugged range of the Big Mountain ridge. The BIA patrols know about this deteriorating road but only the patrol routes are maintained. Also when the resistance outpost once known as the Big Mountain Survival Camp (1980 – 1992) existed, this road was manually maintained by the Camp’s supporter and security personnel. Years of weathering have turned this ridge overpass road into a washed out jeep trail. The Support Caravan 2009 and Black Mesa Indigenous Support finally were able to gather the resources to initiate this road repair project. The crew learned about natural methods of erosion control by using local scrubs and dead tree limbs and by moving large heavy rocks to build a barrier across a large wash. Some large rocks required two to three heavy steel bars and eight pairs of hands to carry it and put in place. Workers instantly learned to coordinate between positioning bars, placing rock spacers and when to have the hands in order to lift or push. All work had some level of learning and experience but most of all, there was a sense of satisfaction.

The struggles within a community or society do however has its down-side as well as its upside. We are only humans no matter if we come from some great indigenous society and more so today because of the fast moving pace of acculturation and assimilation. That American mentality does still take away our normal humanness and there will be those out for personal desire or a quick fix that is unrelated to the potentials for victory of a struggle. There has to be always be this kind of learning and awareness in order to cope and be on alert. A struggle or cause can unfortunately pose the unexpected of individuals that should be recognized for a struggle or cause. These should not let us down if we are smart, alert and wise, and if we are true patriot and fighters for the peoples and nature. We must continue to share the positive and purposeful intentions of winning over the corporate and institutional aggression.

Black Mesa Indigenous Support wishes to collaborate more efficiently with all regional networks that includes the Clan Dyken support caravan. The victories across the resistance territories have been inscribed with stacks of wood fuel, renovated shelters for people and animals, repaired vehicles and water wells, and a main road brought back to life. Imagine if the Caravan 2010 was to be bigger and better.

One week after the Caravan arrived there was the closing circle. Many resisting families and their neighbors came to the huge circle to bid farewell and say thanks to the volunteer crews. As the good voices were said, nature brought clouds and some sprinkles of rain and small soft hail. It was a blessing. Mother earth and father sky must have been content and they also must be bidding a farewell and thanks, too.

'Spiritual vampires' desecrate sweatlodge way of life: Sedona retreat deaths

2009-12-01T09:08:00.003-07:00

Floyd Hand: 'Spiritual vampires' desecrate sweatlodge way of life

By Natalie Hand

Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

BLACK HILLS SIOUX NATION TREATY COUNCILMEMBER RESERVATIONS: Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Fort Peck, Lower Brule, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Yankton

On November 2, 2009, Floyd Hand, Jr., (Oglala Lakota Sioux) Oglala Delegate to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, along with Ivan H. Lewis (Pima/Maricopa/Yavapai), filed a lawsuit (Case No.: CV-09-8196-PCT-FJM) in the U.S. District Court in Arizona against James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.In the petition, Hand and Lewis assert that Ray caused the desecration of the sacred Lakota ceremony, “Inikaga,” commonly referred to as sweat lodge, by causing the deaths of three participants. The suit contends that Angel Valley Retreat Center is culpable for allowing individuals like Ray to rent their property which offers a sweat lodge for paying participants. Furthermore, Ray and Angel Valley Retreat Center committed fraud by impersonating Native Americans and must be held responsible for causing the deaths of the victims and serious injuries to the survivors.In the immediate aftermath of the deaths, Ray fled the scene and Angel Valley Retreat Center staff dismantled the sweat lodge, thus tampering with a crime scene.Hand contends that the “Inikaga” and other ancient Lakota rituals is a way of life, not a religion.“Ray is a spiritual vampire who will use whatever means necessary to turn a profit. He and others like him that profit from our culture must be held accountable for their continual fraud and desecration. This ceremony comes from the Lakota. We maintain our cultural identity today and people like Ray are trying to mock it as a means to acquire material possessions. They cannot hide behind the Religious Freedom Act. This is NOT a religion," stated Hand.The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation is a legal binding agreement that is the “supreme law of the land."Article 1 of the Treaty states that “… if bad men among the whites or other people subject to the authority of the United States shall commit any wrong upon the person or the property of the Indians, the United States will … proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained …”For Ivan Lewis, this lawsuit is a long overdue. “I joined with my Lakota brothers to stop the desecration. These new-agers have been selling our native ceremonies for years here on our homeland. The non-natives are taking everything from us. Ray and the Angel Valley folks are a dime a dozen in Yavapai territory. My hope is that this lawsuit will put light on our treaties with the U.S. and will show the people of Arizona that we have sovereign rights," stated Lewis.Importantly, Hand and Lewis want to emphasize that they are not affiliated with a group calling themselves the “Council of Indigenous Traditional Healers."“This group claims that they will authenticate and qualify individuals, including non-Indians, to conduct our ceremonies. Our people know who is a real healer and who isn't. Yes, everyone is entitled to pray, but our ceremonies belong with us in our native tongue," noted Lewis.To date, the plaintiffs have received notification that a judge has been assigned to the case. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office's homicide investigation continues and hopes to submit evidence to the County Attorney's Office in December.

Comments:

Alex White Plume, Lakota - "Thank you for this. The elders in a meeting at Billy Nills Hall discussed this. They said, we never say no, now they are getting out of hand with our ways. The Lakota make wopila, not to charge for personal gain. A society leader was acknowledged. This society is created to stop people from this type of outright capitalization of ceremonies. They are young, sober, and strong Lakota. We know they will defend our way. This society is sovereign, and can act any where they see our ceremonies being violated. I think the concept will grow across our country."

Thanks & Giving-Back to Dineh Elder Resisters at Big Mtn.

2009-11-24T09:10:00.004-07:00

Top photo: 1986 Big Mtn. Spring Survival Gathering at the Survival Camp, and a mobilization to support the traditional Dineh resistance.

Bottom photo: A crew at a family homesite during the 2006 Spring Support Caravan to Big Mtn. resistance communities.

One Hundred and Twenty wonderful individuals from across the country have made a huge. sunrise circle at Harry & Bessie Begay's homesite on Saturday, Nov. 21st. These beautiful people most of them young are on the Big Mountain territories to give thanks to elders and their families for resisting genocide and coal mine expansions. They are there to stand in solidarity with the few traditional Dineh elders left and to show the U.S. government and its corporate giant, Peabody, that the Dineh will continue to uphold their ancient lifeways. This powerful and healing support gathering are currently providing help in many ways to many families, and the Fall 2009 Caravan will conclude on Nov. 28th with a celebratory feast at Harry Begay's place. --Stay tune. [SDNrocks,09]

Celebrate Sovereign Dineh Victories: 30-Something Yrs. Ago

2009-11-04T15:11:00.009-07:00

Nov. 4, 2009 Big Mountain, Black Mesa - As the lands become more drier, like bone-dry brittle, and while non-Rez and civilized folks shower daily, the traditional Dineh resisters at Big Mountain continue their ancient cultural and ritual ways. The "world's most powerful" colonial government, the U.S., is still maintaining intentions on forcibly removing these Dineh resisters. The handful of resisters are still there, and Thanks to the thousands of global citizens that continue to pray for these Dineh elders and their families. And thanks to those thousands that have lived and stood with these resisters to the defy the U.S. corporate aggressions of coal mining and federal policing. COME TO BIG MTN. THIS NOVEMBER AND HONOR THEM BY CELEBRATING THEIR VICTORIES. Here are some images about their stories. [Note: Images are low quality because certain individuals on cyberspace intend to seek only gain and recognition by stealing Big Mtn. historical resources.~SDNrocks, NbyKat09]

Give Thanks this November to the Dineh Resisters’ Victories since 1977

2009-10-20T09:02:00.003-07:00

“I am told that I am of no account because I will not pay rent to Washington (U.S. Government)…. But I have been paying my ‘rent’ all along. I pay my ‘rent’ to the Holy Beings every morning with my Sacred Corn Pollen offerings, and that is all the ‘rent’ that I need to pay…”
--Pauline Whitesinger, Dineh resister and Matriarch, June 2009 (Photo by Demitra Tsioulos)

Join the Caravan to Big Mountain, Black Mesa: November 21 – 28, 2009
By A BMIS On-Land Volunteer

Dineh (Navajos) on Black Mesa have been fighting to keep their land and lifeways in opposition to the law mandating that they ‘relocate’ for 30 years. Minor concessions by government and coal interests in recent years have not rectified the situation. These families have (spiritual and aboriginal) rights to remain on Black Mesa as they have for generations and be free of the threat of eviction or other excessive burdens exacted in order to run them off, in order to exploit their lands. And yet, the Office of Surface Mining has granted an extension in December 2008 for Peabody Coal’s strip mine on Black Mesa to expand and continue through 2026.

Supporters from around the globe will be convening on Black Mesa around the Thanksgiving Holiday for work parties and to establish new connections with this community that has suffered the very worst of U.S. economic gluttony and yet, exemplifies a valiant resistance to it. Consider this educational opportunity and come prepared to listen –not to preach. If you are coming, bring something to offer like: labor help, goods, winter supplies, foods, skills. Expect to leave enriched and to return.

Please contact the Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) for more details on coordination and do visit and get familiarized with the BMIS website: http://www.blackmesais.org/, also check out some Big Mountain Dineh writings at http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/ Please note that, Elders in Resistance are requesting long-term volunteers to herd sheep and assist with daily manual chores. So, consider setting aside a long stretch of time if possible. Are you willing to organize a crew from your community? If so, and/or have any other inquiries about supporting the Big Mountain resistance to coal mining and cultural extermination contact: BMIS at 928-773-8086 or email: blackmesais@gmail.com

Environmentalist Banned from the Hopi-Navajo Rez

2009-10-09T16:53:00.005-07:00

(Above) Local Dineh and Hopi traditional, environmental activist stand next to one of the many, 300 feet deep cuts at Peabody's Black Mesa Project mines. Photo from Navajo-Hopi Observer

Environmentalist Banned from the Hopi-Navajo Rez:
How will that take place? Will the Rez councils be scapegoat for law-suits so Peabody Coal Company can do its thing?

Sheep Dog Nation Media, October 9, 2009
By Bahe (Kat) Keediniihii (Katenay)

Big Mountain Territories, Black Mesa (northeastern Arizona) – In the drought stricken dusty high desert of Black Mesa, capitalistic domination and the resurgent of repression is the only thing starting to take root and bloom. All other natural life forms and natural ways of cultivation are barely getting by with thirst and breathing plenty of wind-blown sand and smoke-hazed air.

There are several fronts by special interest groups, including Dineh residents of Big Mountain, who are fighting to stop Peabody’s rape of Mother Earth. All these fronts are composed of traditional elder communities, several small reclusive groups, and the well-funded organizations like Black Mesa Water Coalition, Black Mesa Trust, and the Grand Canyon region Sierra Club. Sadly, these fronts are within their own reclusiveness as well all because of the great American illusions of “civil rights,” Native American “Freedom” of Religion Act, “constitutional ‘guaranteed’ rights,” and the situation of desperate lawyer-clients scenarios.

Now, all these organizations except for the residing family residents of the area will soon be banned from the Hopi reservation as the Navajo Nation government joined up with Hopi. (One piece of note is that the families in resistance’s invited non-Indian supporters are already banned but are still active out there.) The environmentalists will now be policed and perhaps be prohibited from holding meetings, having headquarters and be stopped just because of their ‘green’ bumper stickers. The tribes’ justification is that these orgs are taking away tribal economic jobs and revenues by opposing Peabody and Desert Rock’s expansion. Certainly, there are more information and news on this entire new political shift in Indian country in regards to “protecting the sacred” versus “protecting the (capitalist) economy.” Here is a couple of links if you wish to read about it.

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/masayesva-attorney-crosses-line.html
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/klee-benally-democracy-unwelcome-on.html

The characterization that SDN Media draws from all these environmentalists’ freak-out is stated rhetorically here by yours truly, Chief Loner:

“I cannot believe this stuff. These stories are so amazingly saturated with the undertones of diversionary, political facts that seem so self-intentional by 'environmental' groups to refresh their stagnant avenues of legalities. Puppet tribal governments are of course designed to facilitate "pro" rape of mother earth and exterminate ancient indigenous thought. If It’s so bad, join the traditional Hopi and Dineh elders at Big Mtn. and at the Independent Hotevilla Pueblo. What is happening now, the U.S. imperialistic oppression, is nothing new, come on!”

Environmentalism is cool but it can also mean a government agency who promotes mining or toxic waste exposure for giant corporations. However, they all seem to rub elbows in formal hearings while trying to interpret ideas of privileged legal rights. This corporate ban on environmentalist activities in Hopi should not come as a surprise for the regional green organizations because of 9-1-1 and the Patriot Act. It should all be clear that “Freedom” is only for that small segment of American society that are capitalist parasites living off the poor and the under-privileged. The saddest part of environmentalism is when they refer to themselves as grassroots movement and they end up leaving out the real grassroots peoples. Like for example at Big Mountain and Black Mesa, the local groups do not mention “traditional elder resisters of Big Mountain” but instead the closest they get to mentioning them is saying, “the relocation that is going on up there…”

We knew eventually that we might all be thrown in together into that corporate pee-pot and be shoved back under bed that is shared among tribal councils, the BIA, and utility companies. However “freedom” does not have to be just an idea but it can be something physical that can be held high and with pride. Our ancestors have done that since 1492. So, ladies and gentlemen of the government-policy-dependent environmentalist, what options is on the table for you now? Put your grant monies towards law suits against the local puppet tribes? Do it and you will see how messed up tribal/federal jurisdiction and BIA laws are. Or if you all have the guts to be real renegades and hostiles, join the Big Mountain and Hotevilla Liberation movements.

© SheepNationRocks, 2009

John Redhouse, Author & Warrior: Pueblo-Dineh Revolt Needed

2009-10-09T15:39:00.012-07:00

1980 Dalton Pass Anti-Nuclear Gathering: Katherine Smith speaks and at foreground is Lisa Chavez (AIEC) and translator-secretary, B. Katenay, from Big Mountain

January 1981 Big Mtn.-Pinon Walk in Support of Katherine Smith's trial: Walkers are midway in White Valley southeast of Big Mtn.

Spring 1981 Chaco Cyn.-Shiprock Walk: To support the resistance to Burhman (now Desert Rock local) coal mines. That summer 12 warriors were arrested for occupying the mine headquarters. L-R: Harry "Tots" Bates (acquitted) survived a mystery car crash later, Harry "Bossman" Yazzie (acquitted), Oklahoma brother (acquitted), Larry Anderson with fist up (AIM Adviser), Marvin Deschiinii (acquitted) died in a mystery house fire, Michael A. Brown (non-Indian sidekick), and B. Katenay of Big Mtn. (non-Violent resister -hahaha).

April 1981 First Big Mtn. Survival Campsite with Peyote Tipi in back, juniper-bow council arbor, and kitchen firewood: The new full BIA jurisdiction was to prohibit 'new construction by Dineh residents' and in protest, the Camp was set up on the partitioned boundary-line.

Fall 1981 Big Mtn. Camp - Window Rock Fair Walk to bring message to the Dineh (Navajos) about the injustices, relocation, and Peabody on Black Mesa: (Identifiable individuals) L-R George Crittenten, Tom Matsuda (drumming), Asabida-shoni (Monk chanting), Emerson Hasgood, the late Jefferson Joe of Big Mtn., and from Salish territories, Kelly White.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

John Redhouse: Hate crimes against Natives in Grants, New Mexico

Longtime Navajo activist John Redhouse shares his writing, an interview and background, on hate crimes in New Mexico, uranium mining and protecting sacred places. Native Americans in New Mexico are preparing for the Indigenous Uranium Forum at Sky City in Acoma Pueblo, N.M., Oct. 22--24, 2009.

Recent hate crime spree in Grants probably connected to backlash to recent designation of Mount Taylor as traditional cultural property

By John Redhouse, Navajo

via Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

I went to a meeting in Gallup last Friday and on the way, picked up issues of the Cibola County Beacon and Gallup Independent which carried articles on the recent hate crimes by non-Indians against homeless Indians in Grants. The recent TCP (Traditional Cultural Property) designation of Mt. Taylor (which was also featured in the Beacon) was on June 5 and the first (reported) racially motivated beatings began on June 9.As you know, there has been an escalation of anti-Indian sentiment and hate statements (defamation in the form of testimony at recent TCP meetings/hearings, letters to the editor, comments on the street, etc.) that have now likely manifested in the recent rash of Indian-targeted assaults in the Uranium Capital of the World.As an old civil rights activist and veteran of the bordertown wars in Gallup and Farmington in the early 1970s, I don’t think these beatings are an isolated incident. I think they are directly related to a non-Indian backlash against the TCP designation and what it (designation) means in terms of protecting and defending our sacred mountain from more uranium mining and milling, etc.When I was on the New Mexico State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in the late 1970s, we (Gerald Wilkinson, LaDonna Harris, and myself on the advisory committee and John Dulles, II and Ernest Gerlach of the Commission who were also involved in the Window Rock and Farmington CRC investigations, hearings, and reports in the early 70s) made a similar connection with the rise of anti-Indian groups in Grants and northwestern New Mexico and growing Indian resistance (American Indian Environmental Council, First Mount Taylor Gathering, Mt. Taylor Alliance, etc.) in the Grants Mineral Belt. We had two meetings on it (the connection) in Santa Fe and Grants in March and April of 1979 and later met with John Dulles in Grants and Albuquerque.The latter meeting with John was with the American Indian Environmental Council. This led to an area-wide civil rights investigation, public hearings, and a report in the early 1980s. John is still with the Commission (I met him at the Farmington CRC hearings in 1994 and 2004) and James Nez of NIYC (who was also at the Farmington hearings) is now on the state advisory committee (he was also a consultant to the Commission on the Grants project).Now we have Chili Yazzie (another civil rights veteran of the Gallup and Farmington wars) on the new Navajo Human Rights Commission which is now spearheading a multi-state bordertown campaign around the Navajo Nation (Chili also was and may still be a member of the New Mexico Human Rights Commission). Also Navajo Nation Councilman and attorney Leonard Tsosie (who spoke eloquently at the 2004 Farmington hearing) is from Whitehorse Lake (which is in fairly close proximity to Grants) and I’m sure, has an active interest in the recent events.Anyway, this morning’s Albuquerque Journal has a front-page article on the recent Grants beatings and now there is (or should be) state-wide attention on this matter.And now in light of the recent outcomes of the Clint John and San Francisco Peaks cases, I think we need to put these recent anti-Indian developments in context and start a regional intertribal movement to deal with all this shit because it is getting more violent and deadly as we are still fighting the continuing Indian Wars as we have since 1492.

We need another Pueblo Revolt, a Navajo revolt, a general uprising among our people and nations…

July 1, 2009

By John Redhouse

The article “Milan man arrested in beating cases: MOUNTAIN RIGHTS BLAMED FOR SPILLED BLOOD” in the June 29, 2009 issue of the Cibola County Beacon stated that “The fight over Mount Taylor’s designation as Traditional Cultural Property has led to bloodshed and an arrest.” It also stated that “According to reports, an anonymous caller told officers that (Shawn) Longoria was boasting of ‘beating up the men because the Native Americans had got Mount Taylor and now they owned (sic) him.’”The article “Milan man arrested in Native beatings” in the June 30, 2009 issue of the Gallup Independent stated that “Longoria was heard bragging about beating up Native American men because they had now gotten Mount Taylor and they owed him, court records state.”

Interview: John Redhouse on Activism, Uranium, Mount Taylor, and More

By Ana Sazi

In a rare but free-ranging interview, SIUF adviser and consultant John Redhouse speaks candidly of his long activist career, early connection to the uranium issue, and the continuing struggle to protect Mount Taylor.

AS: John, I know you have been around the block a few times, but can you tell us a little bit about yourself? You’re pretty enigmatic, you know.

JR: Yeah, sure. Uh, where to begin. Let’s see. I’m Navajo and Ute from Farmington. Grew up as a bordertown kid so I know all about racism. Farmington was also a boomtown in the 50s and 60s so I know something about boomtowns and attendant energy and environmental issues. Excuse me, let’s back up. It’s been a while since I spoke to somebody other than myself. I’m Navajo and Ute, as I said. My maternal clan is Todachiinii and my paternal clan is Bitahnii. I think everybody knows that I’m Navajo but I’m also a quarter Ute on my mother’s side. Her father was a Ute. Anyway, that’s pretty much who I am—tribally or bitribally and by clan.

AS: When did you become an activist? Or when did you decide to become an activist?

JR: Good question. Or questions. One of the defining moments for me was when I was 15. I had this white friend and we used to hang out together. And one time, we were playing basketball—one on one—and we were playing to 20 and the score was tied 18-18, and then I hit a long-range jumper and won the game. Then he said, “You fucking Navajo.” I was shocked because this was my good friend saying that. We had done all kinds of things together. So I asked him, “What did you call me?” And he said with a smug smile, “You heard me.” I told him to get out since we were playing in my yard. And he said with that same shitty smile, “If that’s the way you want it, goddammit”, and left. I thought about what he said all that night. Then the next day, I was playing basketball at another kid’s place. And then my former friend came over—uninvited—and started playing with us—like nothing had happened. I pushed him and then beat him up. And then he ran home but before he left the other kid’s yard—and from a safe distance—he called me a whore.

AS: A whore?

JR: Well, he was afraid to call me a fucking Navajo again or I would have went after him and he knew it. He probably thought it was the next worse thing he could say to me. Oh, and just for the record, I wasn’t a whore in those days. But that whole incident raised my consciousness considerably and later I politicized all that anger and hatred growing up and fighting racism—even in my backyard. The good thing about all that—besides scoring the winning shot and later kicking his white racist ass—was that I was no longer apolitical or color-blind after that. And I’ve been on the right side of the issue ever since.

AS: So how did you politicize your anger and hatred?

JR: Well, the Red Power Movement saved me. Otherwise, I would have just self-destructed. Would have probably been just another drunk on the streets. In the summer of 1968, I read Stan Steiner’s book The New Indians which was about the emerging Indian power movement. And the National Indian Youth Council. Long before Alcatraz and AIM, there was NIYC. I remember I was particularly struck by the words of Clyde Warrior when he ended one of his famous speeches for a Greater Indian America. His words were in the form of a challenge, “How about it? Let’s raise some hell!” I then joined NIYC and a month after I graduated from high school, in 1969, I went to the Clyde Warrior Memorial Institute in American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder. It was one of three summer institutes run by NIYC. There I met great people. Scholars like Bob Thomas who lectured on classic colonialism and internal colonialism. Vine Deloria, Jr., who was going to law school at CU, spoke to us about treaties and treaty rights. That was when his article “Custer Died For Your Sins” came out in Playboy. Actually, it was a chapter from his upcoming book by the same name. Charlie Cambridge, who was director of the Boulder institute, knew Vine and once took Wilbert Tsosie and I to his house for a barbeque and personal conversation. That was a real honor for me, just a kid out of high school. After the institute, NIYC had its annual meeting in Albuquerque. There I met more great people. Gerald Wilkinson, Sam English, Bill Pensoneau, Stanley Snake, and other young warriors and alumni from the 1968 and 1969 institutes. Of course, I knew Richard Nichols and Bernard Second from the 1969 Boulder institute. And David Redhorse from Farmington. I also had a huge crush on Barbara Walkingstick but…well, what can you say, love hurts. Anyway, after the meeting, we had a demonstration at the BIA. With picket signs, a sit-in, and a spirited accountability session with the Area Director. Then a couple months later, we raised hell at the NCAI convention in Albuquerque. And a month after that, we had our own conference at the University of Oklahoma in Norman to evaluate the institute program. There I met Browning Pipestem, Wyndham McKinney, and Ted Grinnell. And OU Indian Club president Dennis Red Elk who was leading the student protest of Little Red—the racist Oklahoma Sooner mascot. And this was all before Alcatraz and before AIM became national. In five months, my life had changed—forever—and NIYC was a big part of that change.

AS: How did you get involved in the uranium issue?

JR: I think I’ve always been involved in this issue. You see, my mother came from Red Rock—now called Red Valley—and there was a lot of uranium mining in the Red Rock-Cove area from the late 40s to the late 60s. And a lot of her relatives—the men—worked in the mines. And then they started dying of cancer in the early 70s. So most of the girls she grew up with became widows by the time they were 50. My father came from Teec Nos Pos—on the other side of the Carrizo Mountains—and there was a lot of uranium mining there too. It was the same thing as Red Rock and Cove. In his case, it was some of his half-brothers—who lived on both sides of the mountain—who worked in the mines and later died of cancer. So the extended families of both of my parents were directly affected by uranium mining. They are my own people, part of my flesh and blood, so I’m already involved. When I was about nine, I remember seeing a little girl at one of my mother’s relative’s place at Oak Springs. She looked like that little Japanese girl in National Geographic who was the victim of industrial mercury poisoning. It was summer and she was lying on a cot in a shade house. She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t move, and they were fanning her to keep her cool. I didn’t make the causal connection then but I knew something terrible was happening out there. And then I used to hear stories from one of my aunts on my father’s side about these big snakes—like 30-feet long—crawling up the Carrizo Mountains. I was still a little kid then but I felt in my heart that something wasn’t right over there either. Well anyway, as an activist, I got involved in the uranium issue in 1973 when Fred Johnson of DNA and I began working against the Exxon uranium lease which included Red Rock. By then, I had made the causal connection between radiation and cancer after I read a series of articles on the plight of Navajo uranium miners in the Albuquerque Tribune. We challenged the Exxon lease until 1977 when the federal courts finally ruled against us. NIYC was part of the EIS challenge suit. But in the end, it was economics—not the law—that won the battle for us.

AS: Economics?

JR: Yeah. You know, the low price of uranium. In 1983. That’s when Exxon pulled out. And when they pulled out, they hadn’t mined one ton or milled one pound of uranium on their lease. But they did drill some 400 exploratory holes in the shadow of Beautiful Mountain where my grandmother and mother used to graze sheep in the summer.

AS: What about Mount Taylor?

JR: I got involved in the Mount Taylor uranium issue in 1974 when Gulf began constructing the Mt. Taylor Mine. I was Associate Director of NIYC then. We campaigned against the mine but we couldn’t stop it. That was before the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and other Native American religious freedom protection and cultural preservation laws. Also involved in the NIYC uranium work at different times from 1975 to 1978 were Al Ortiz, Herb Blatchford, Marley Shebala, Louise Four Horns, Luci Tapahonso, Ron Hudson, Robert Tohe, James Nez, Aldine Ferrier, Esther Keeswood, Geneva Platero, Frank Carillo, Manuel Pino, Al Henderson, Winona “No Nuke” LaDuke, and some of our ace staff attorneys Tom Luebben, John Kelly, and George Harrison. But the organization was also involved in about 200 other issues at the time so our uranium work was at best understaffed and underfunded.

AS: That must have been frustrating.

JR: Very frustrating. And then we couldn’t get a good legal angle to effectively challenge the mine project. The mine was also located on a Spanish Land Grant so NEPA didn’t apply. My god, what right did the King of Spain have to unilaterally claim and grant our sacred mountain to those nakais who are now committing hate crimes against our people—the original owners? Plus there were 37 other mines and five mills operating in the Greater Mount Taylor and Grants Mineral Belt region. And more were being constructed and planned. We were like that little Dutch boy who had all of his fingers in the dike and the North Sea wasn’t waiting for shit.

AS: I hear you.

JR: Well, let’s talk about the First Mount Taylor Gathering in 1979.

AS: OK.

JR: First, we need to go back to August, 1978 when I resigned as NIYC Associate Director. One of the reasons I resigned was to serve as interim director of the organization’s New Mexico Indian Environmental Education Project which had just gotten funded. I recruited Elouise Chicharello and Lisa Chavez to serve as permanent co-directors of the state-wide project. Two women—one Navajo, one Pueblo. But Elouise couldn’t serve because she was going to Antioch Law School in DC on our paralegal program. So Lisa became the project director and hired Eulynda Toledo as assistant director and Maurice Thompson as resource librarian. I resigned as interim NMIEPP director and worked as a project consultant. Later that month, I went to the National No-Nukes Strategy Conference in Louisville, Kentucky where I conducted a series of workshops on Indian uranium and nuclear issues. I also spoke at the conference. Anyway, I met Tom Campbell there. He first turned me on to the Mount Taylor uranium issue in 1974 when he was with the Central Clearing House in Santa Fe, and later hooked me up with fellow Santa Fean Brant Calkin of the Sierra Club who had led a blockade of a uranium exploration road in Water Canyon on Mount Taylor. He had consulted with Al Ortiz on the cultural significance of Mount Taylor before the road blockade. Later the three of us---Tom, Brant, and I—did a radio show in Santa Fe on this and other critical environmental issues. Anyway, I met with Tom and other members of the Natural Guard Fund who were also at the Louisville conference, and together we came up with the idea of an Indian-led anti-uranium protest gathering at Mount Taylor in the spring of 1979 which would be coordinated with other front-end actions around the country. Other nationally-coordinated actions were planned to take place against the middle stage and rear-end of the nuclear fuel cycle in the summer and fall of 1979, and then culminate in a massive citizens march and civil disobedience or direct action in the nation’s capital which would be aimed at shutting down the capital and shutting down the whole nuclear fuel and weapons chain in the spring of 1980. My Natural Guard Fund brother Brett Bursey described the scenario of escalating actions before the final action in DC which would be direct action and mass civil resistance with no compromise and no surrender. He said, John, with your help, we start at Mount Taylor which is at the front-end. We go front, middle, rear---boom, boom, boom. And then we move on Washington. Brett, who was also with the Palmetto Alliance in South Carolina, was a true direct action warrior and had spent time in prison for his beliefs and convictions. He and other members of the Natural Guard Fund believed in and practiced direct action. I was impressed with the national anti-nuclear movement at that time and saw it as a very powerful social change movement like the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement—both of which had a tremendous impact on society. In fact, there were many veterans of those movements in the anti-nuclear movement. Besides Tom, I already knew Harvey “Sluggo” Wasserman of the Clamshell Alliance which was very direct action. So I joined the Natural Guard Fund and at one of our caucuses at an anti-nuclear summit meeting in Stoughton, Massachusetts in December, 1978, we finalized our plans for the Mount Taylor Gathering and related sister actions. A month earlier, I met with Lynda Taylor in Albuquerque. The other Natural Guard Fund board members who she knew had told her about me. Lynda was working on the Karen Silkwood case—Karen Silkwood, incidentally, had called NIYC shortly before her death in 1974 but that is another story—and was also working with Jim Garrison of the Sunflower Alliance in Oklahoma. I also met Jim at the Louisville conference. Anyway, Lynda wanted to move to New Mexico and work on Indian uranium issues, especially as they related to Kerr-McGee. She and Jim had already worked with Frank Thomas, and she knew Franklin Eriacho. When I met with Lynda in November, 1978, she was in town to speak at a Karen Silkwood Memorial march and rally. Vernon Bellecourt was there and we also marched and spoke at the rally. That’s when he said that AIM fights cavities. You know, the holes from all the drilling and mining on Indian land. I had known and worked with Vernon since 1972. Anyway, Lynda later moved out here and began working with Sarah Harvey from Red Valley on Navajo uranium radiation victims issues. I also recruited her to work as a non-Indian liaison for the Mount Taylor Gathering which still did not have a lead Indian organization. In August and September, 1978, there was a big organizational split within NIYC. My resignation as Associate Director was part of that split. But there were a lot of other people who left the organization and some of them—including me—formed the American Indian Environmental Council. Herb Blatchford, Diana Ortiz, Geneva Platero, and I incorporated the new group in October, 1978. Diana was later elected AIEC board president and Herb and I served as advisers. Anyway, I was fired as NMIEPP consultant by NIYC Executive Director Gerald Wilkinson in December, 1978. The firing had nothing to do with my project work. It was part of the continuing fallout from the organizational split and other unresolved internal issues which mostly had to do with the increasing but unchecked authority of non-Indians in the organization and the corrupting influence of increased federal funding on the organization’s original principles and traditional values. As Mimi Lopez put it, we were becoming part of what we were fighting against and that’s when we decided to split. In protest of my unfair firing, Herb and Al Henderson resigned as NIYC board members. Even former NIYC Associate Director Charley John called Gerry and chewed him out. So did former NIYC board member Michael Benson. And, of course, former NIYC Associate Director Sam English was always chewing him out. Sam said that he thought that NIYC was holding me back anyway. Anyway, Herb and I no longer had any ties with NIYC—even though Herb co-founded the organization in 1961 and served as its first executive director and later as board vice president. So, with the split final and nothing hanging between us, I was free to work directly with the American Indian Environmental Council. I then met with Diana and we agreed that AIEC would be the lead Indian organization for the Mount Taylor Gathering which was held in late April, 1979. After the gathering, the multi-cultural Mount Taylor Alliance was formed—thanks to the great coalition building efforts of Lynda Taylor, Lewis Pitts, and a young Japanese man named Hiroshi—I can’t remember his last name. I probably couldn’t pronounce it anyway. But he was also on The Longest Walk I in 1978. Also joining the MTA Mod Squad was Becky Hardee of the Natural Guard Fund. Then there was the Florencia Gathering against WIIP in September, 1979. And then the Dalton Pass Gathering in April, 1980 with sister actions around the country and in Washington, DC. Ultimately, though, we didn’t shut down Washington or slay the nuclear beast. But the Three Mile Island event in March, 1979—which we did not factor into our earlier strategic planning—had the after effect of permanently shutting down much of the nation’s uranium and nuclear industry and thus saved millions of lives from unnecessary radiation exposure. A lot of this historical stuff is in my papers which I donated to the University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research in 2006. And lot of it is still in my working files which I didn’t donate…Your eyes are starting to glaze over, so maybe I better stop now. These old movement war stories, I got a million of them.

AS: I believe it…yawn.

JR: Well, I was just getting started but…

AS: I have to go now. I have a headache. I think you should just go back to being a reclusive relic.

JR: But don’t you want to hear about me and Bonnie Raitt when we both first served on the MUSE Foundation board? Well, it was in mid-April, 1979 and we were meeting at a HoJos in Saugerties near Woodstock in upstate New York when…

AS: Oh god. This interview is over. I am so out of here.

JR: What about lunch? You promised me lunch.

AS: Buy your own lunch.

JR: Sigh...I tell you, I get no respect.

[Interviewer’s postscript] Mr. Redhouse, 58, is writing a book on the history of Indian activism from 1969 to 1980. The University of New Mexico Press (for whatever bizarre reason) has expressed interest in publishing it. I just hope they don’t ask me to review it.

Episode 3: Adventure of Another Big Mtn. Elder with a Supporter

2009-09-10T14:58:00.010-07:00

Okay, finally another Episode of the Supporter series. This one is in the spirit of the upcoming Fall 09 Caravan to Big Mountain resistance communities which will take place in November during the "Genocide-Coverup Day"(*) or more popularly known as the Thankgiving holiday. We hope many of you will join or support this unique endeavor.

The Dineh elders in resistance do really appreciate and love the efforts of non-native supporters that come to stay with them. The Indian have been so acculturated like that they believe that there will be a "good leader" in the U.S. politics, or a small bit of this society may believe Wal-Mart is the greatest thing ever, or that "warriors" means American military service personnel. However, the actually Elders themselves still honor the earth, sky and universe. Then supporters may still be totally naive and one example might be when they try to help with or suggest healing.' I hope the image is self-explanatory. Also this reminds me of when I stayed among the Tohono O'odham during the Treaty Conference of 1980-something, and white supporters were giving out herbal tea to those elders. The tea was said to be for dehydration and was specifically provided only to those Sonoran desert aborigines, ancient desert peoples! Should the non-natives and non-Tohono O'odhams have needed this tea? I coulda shore used sum....

(*)This very appropriate title for this particular American holiday was coined by or first heard it from Pirate Jodi of Portland, OR

Leonard Peltier Parole Denied

2009-08-21T16:32:00.004-07:00

[Comment on behalf of Big Mountain Dineh for Leonard: Ch'i'dii'tah'goh shii'n da'do'lee', Washiindon!! Ni'do'h, Haastin Obama! The right (English) words are hard to find and say about how this 'free' country, the U.S., makes itself free to buy into racism and demoralizing the red nations. Our warrior brother, Leonard Peltier, has been denied freedom again because the red peoples have always spoken the truth about being human on this Earth. They have spoken the truth about our sovereignty --not the sovereignty that corporate America hands out to PUPPET tribal governments and to the APPLE Indians!! Maybe it is our last stand in the 21st Century, but at Big Mountain we will continue to defy corporate America and pray for Leonard's immediate freedom. To All My Relations.]

FROM: http://aimwest.info/ August 22, 2009:

PELTIER ATTORNEY RESPONSE TO PAROLE DENIAL

The Bush Administration holdovers on the U.S. Parole Commission today

adopted the position of the FBI that anyone who may be implicated in the

killings of its agents should never be paroled and should be left to die in

prison. Despite judicial determinations that the unrepentant FBI fabricated

evidence and presented perjured testimony in Leonard Peltier's prosecution;

despite a jury's acquittal on grounds of self-defense of two co-defendants

who were found to have engaged in the same conduct of which Mr. Peltier was

convicted; despite Mr. Peltier's exemplary record during his incarceration

for more than 33 years and his clearly demonstrated eligibility for parole;

despite letters and petitions calling for his release submitted by millions

of people in this country and around the world including one of the judges

who ruled on his earlier appeals; and despite his advanced age and

deteriorating health, the Parole Commission today informed Mr. Peltier that

his "release on parole would depreciate the seriousness of your offenses and

would promote disrespect for the law," and set a reconsideration hearing in

July 2024. This is the extreme action of the same law enforcement community

that brought us the indefinite imprisonment of suspected teenage terrorists,

tortures, and killings in CIA prisons around the world and promoted

widespread disrespect for the democratic concepts of justice upon which this

country supposedly was founded. These are the same institutions that have

never treated indigenous peoples with dignity or respect or accepted any

responsibility for centuries of intolerence and abuse. At his parole hearing

on July 28th, Leonard Peltier expressed regret and accepted responsibility

for his role in the incident in which the two FBI agents and one Native

American activist died as the result of a shootout on the Pine Ridge

Reservation. Mr. Peltier emphasized that the shootout occurred in

circumstances where there literally was a war going on between corrupt

tribal leaders, supported by the government, on the one hand, and Native

American traditionalists and young activists on the other. He again denied

-- as he has always denied -- that he intended the deaths of anyone or that

he fired the fatal shots that killed the two agents, and he reminded the

hearing officer that one of his former co-defendants recently admitted to

having fired the fatal shots, himself. Accordingly, it is not true that

Leonard Peltier participated in "the execution style murders of two FBI

agents," as the Parole Commission asserts, and there never has been credible

evidence of Mr. Peltier's responsibility for the fatal shots as the FBI

continues to allege. Moreover, given the corrupt practices of the FBI,

itself, it is entirely untrue that Leonard Peltier's parole at this juncture

will in any way "depreciate the seriousness" of his conduct and/or "promote

disrespect for the law." We will continue to seek parole and clemency for

Mr. Peltier and to eventually bring this prolonged injustice to a prompt and

fair resolution.

American Indian activist denied parole

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley says imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has once again been denied parole.

Wrigley says the next scheduled hearing for Peltier is 2024, when Peltier would be 79 years old.

Peltier is serving two life sentences for the execution-style deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a June 26, 1975, standoff on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

He was convicted in Fargo, N.D., in 1977. He has claimed the FBI framed him, which the agency denies, and unsuccessfully appealed his conviction numerous times.

Peltier had a full parole hearing for the first time in 15 years last month at the Lewisburg, Pa., federal prison where he is being held.

Defense attorney Eric Seitz declined comment on the U.S. Parole Commission decision Friday, saying the Justice Department had not informed him.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.

The Big Mtn. Struggle Impacts You Daily: Support the Dineh

2009-08-20T15:17:00.009-07:00

[Top] Peabody and BTU (white) draglines eating up acres of Mother Earth

[Above] 250 to 300 feet (100 M) deep cut made by the BTU dragline

THE MOST CRUCIAL CAUSE: AN EMPHASIS ON CULTURAL DEFIANCE AT BIG MOUNTAIN ON BLACK MESA TO BE PRIORITIZED

Big Mountain, Black Mesa August 2009 – On the dusty and dry plateau lands of Big Mountain where the monsoon is absent almost as a prophetic gesture, there exist a calmness even though BIA Indian Police and Rangers continue their low-key surveillances of scattered pockets of traditional Dineh families. They are the left-over families from the hundreds of other families who have been (forcibly) relocated in the last 40 years under another harsh U.S. government Indian policy. Also, they are families still left to resist BIA Indian policing and the encroachment of Peabody Energy’s coal mines. This traditional-led resistance is widely known to many but its importance and how it impacts our daily lives are not understood.

Among all the peace-loving, environmentally sensible and green minded societies, there is a broader awareness about the US’s treaty violations through its corporate and military occupation of foreign lands. It seems that folks in ‘the states’ cannot comprehend that the low-scale militarism at Big Mountain, sponsored by the U.S. Justice Department and British TU’s Peabody Energy, does affect all of us more than the Afghanistan or the Iraq occupation. This federal, subversive form of occupation is happening, here, in northern Arizona, and it is happening to the last aboriginal tribal community on Turtle Island (North America).

How does it impact you, us?

This is a repeat: At Big Mountain, the 34 traditional Dineh elders that are still refusing to leave their ancestral lands are actually putting a stop to the Peabody mining expansions and the construction of a half dozen more coal-fired power plants in the western United States.

While the well-financially-fed, special interest groups like the Sierra Club of Grand Canyon and the Black Mesa Water Coalition are attempting to adjust government languages about the environment, the traditional Hopi and Dineh elders of Black Mesa have merely prayed with their corn meals and pollen. They have, for over forty years now, prayed in this way to asked the Deities of the earth and sky to preserve the homelands and that mother earth continue to nurture us despite the butchering of her body. Things are more crucial now. We as the newer generation failed to learn these ways of spiritual communication, and we fail to make the sacred white corn meals or gather the sacred pollen.

The ancient ways of these types of ritual prayers encompassed more than individuality. It encompassed reverence for community, foods, health, prosperity, clan unity, eco-system, and the future generations.

It is crucial also in that we are all part of this atmosphere of environmental and cultural devastation. So, only a few Dineh elders at Big Mountain have kept earth’s atmosphere clean so far, and you can imagine what it would have been like if half of the Black Mesa coal fields was being mined, today, and if more power plants were emitting extra tons of pollutants. Before it becomes an emergency with loss of the human connection to nature and to the spiritual realm, give a prayer of forgiveness and thanks, and start supporting the Big Mountain resistance.

Up-coming Big Mountain support agendas for Fall and Winter 2009 & 2010:

The elders still need help to maintain their cultural lifestyles of sheepherding, processing the vegetable harvests, improvements of area remote roads and most important, wood fuel gathering and hauling. These projects can only be initiated through good and humble spirited volunteering and commitments. Also this requires not only raising awareness but by providing the resources to make all this happen. Currently, the Black Mesa Indigenous Support’s volunteer collective are organizing activities and logistics to make these projects happen for November 09. We hope you will be interested, bring physical support and be inspired by resiliency of these traditional indigenous elders.

Visit http://www.blackmesais.org/ or leave a detail voice message at 928-773-8086.

Thank you for your time.

In the spirit Chief Barboncito,

Kat-the-Bahe

Corporate Racism: Radioactive Policies for Indian Country

2009-07-29T12:38:00.012-07:00

[Photo: Priscilla Bomb, Nevada Test Site. Inset Image: Dineh uranium miners near Cameron, AZ]

Our Out-of-Control Reliance on Electrical Energy Pose a Rapid Demise of the Human Era

By Naabaahii (Kat Bahe) Keediniihii, Sheep Dog Nation Media

The U.S. economy maybe down but Americans will never stop or limit their consumer spending on electrical energy, gadgets, appliance, and recreational toys and vehicles that are powered by electricity generated by fossil and nuclear fuels. At what cost do American consumers able to acquire such conveniences?

The first thing that comes to mind for people of conscience is air-water pollution and other toxic contamination. A very few conscience peoples will think about indigenous humans, plants and animals. Let me try to take you further and ask, what do think one feels when this cost of devastation is taken place in their backyard, to their peoples, and it has greatly impacted his or her spiritual state of existence?

It is a feeling of much, much sickness and suffering. Complete loneliness because you are not normal. You cannot party, have a “good time,” relax, talk about popular happy subjects, and others consider you weird and out-of-place. You feel rejected by both the “normal thinking” society and by federal states. (I) can only dig very hard to find that old ancient spirit of natural happiness, and try to “find peace in (my) endeavors and projects,” as a friend wrote to me recently.

Territories of indigenous peoples of the U.S. (so-called Native Americans) become the price for electrical power’s beginnings. These territories hold much of the natural resources and which were once considered as mother earth and that it was sacred to these aborigines. How these issues are confronted and how they are resolved are forums where free America fails. Environmental policies are finalized by the consent of powerful energy and utility companies who influence governments at every level. We only hear about environmentalist and certain Indian groups that try to collaborate “legally” to intervene or make appeals.

We, however, never hear about the real victims that are paying the price. On Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona, small land-based and traditional families at Big Mountain are holding off Peabody coal mining by resisting federal relocation policies. This has been possible only through “illegal” means by continuing the natural and ancient habitation of ancestral lands. Though this handful of resisters are not mentioned in any updates by native activists and environmentalists, they have had a great impact in keeping Peabody Energy at bay and keeping the air you breathe, today, a little cleaner. Also, the U.S. federal government has spent several billions of tax-payer dollars since 1955 to: undermine tribalism of the Dineh and Hopis, partition Black Mesa and Big Mountain for mining claims, relocate and displace thousands of indigenous people, maintain a state of fear through the U.S. Justice Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs policing.

Uranium and the Nuclear-Cycle:

Along with the black poison of extracted fossil fuels, the extraction of radioactive uranium has reemerged in northern Arizona and the four corners region. Other regions across Dineh (Navajo) country remain as “hot spots” or the presence of heavy radiation exposure. One thing governments and environmental actions collaborate on together is leaving the real radiation victims out of their agendas. Case in point is the communities of Cameron, Arizona which is next door to the Grand Canyon. The Navajo Nation has kept the citizens of Cameron, Black Falls and Shadow Mountain in silence while hundreds have died from radiation poisoning and surviving victims are forbidden to drink from local water supplies.

"We only use it for washing but our animals have to drink it, too,” the residents have stated. They only use local water to wash their dishes which they eat and drink from, and wash the clothes they wear on their bodies. Drinking water has to be hauled in from Flagstaff (50 miles) or Tuba City (30 miles). The livestock have to drink from local contaminated wells and they very often become the meat that is eaten or sold to the beef industry.

In 2001, I visited Alice Horse who lived right under a 300 Kv power lines that comes from the Four Corners and San Juan power plants, and she also lives next to three mine pits that were recently covered with extracted waste tailings. Clay Big Man at World War II artilleryman and veteran claims he is suffering from an “incurable disease” according to his doctor. His face and limited physical mobility tells of his constant suffering. Alice lives less than two miles from Clay and she briefly mentions people that have died from cancer, and she points across the river to some distance houses where she knows of a very young girl who has cancer. Alice, a traditional elder, looks strong in her old age and has a slight cheerful demeanor, but she shows much sadness as she looks at the ground to talk about the destruction that the uranium job opportunities brought.

“My husband worked the mines, and we were all happy because he can just ride his horse to work and we had money to live better. Money also brought alcohol and cancer to the men of the local area. Maybe the poison from this green dirt (lee’t’so’h) would have killed him but the alcohol took his life instead.”

Black Falls is not too far from the Wupaki National Monument, about a two hour donkey ride, and that community has made complaints to the Navajo Nation government for lack of concern for clean water and the alarming water test results. Wells were tested for radiation levels by the sole efforts of local resident, Milton Yazzie. He has tried to make it his mission to have more studies and to get the Navajo Nation to supply clean water, and to let the world know that nuclear ‘holocaust’ is not yet over in Dineh country.

The Potential Demise of Culture, Ecology and the Humans:

Along with earth’s Arctic melt down, we may melt into history with our daily ingestion of radioactive heavy metals that come from automobile exhaust, coal fired power plants and nuclear power. Certainly, I don’t want that for my grandchildren or their children, and I truly think that if everyone knew more they would now viciously and desperately, try to do the right thing to stop our fossil and nuclear fuel addictions.

But this addiction is a runaway train: computers and their servers suck up energy 24/7, the digital age increases these addiction, there is no push or mentioning of alternative green energies unless a politician feels obligated to say it, and our minds are confined to everything from the Worldwide Web to the tiny cell phone LCDs. We are only bothered if we got rained on, got too cold or got too hot, and that our little capsule world was intruded by issues of the environment, “American Indians,” freaks in the streets, and more “Native American” whining.

Meantime, let us begin the Beauty Way Ceremonies which is about helping others and as the Big Mountain medicine woman said, work together to save the ecology, the culture and wisdoms that go with them. This can only be achieved by sustaining communities that embrace unity and kinship and by not embracing corporate grants that manipulate potential, reliable organizations. The sacred ways and circles await us at Big Mountain and at other forgotten indigenous resistance territories. We’ll see you there.

© Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2009

Two links that has articles on the current status of “the nuclear madness” in the southwest USA:

30 years ago, the Church Rock Uranium Spill, http://www.navajotimes.com/news/index.php

Uranium at Grand Canyon, Red Butte,
http://grandcanyonnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=8207

Constant Harassment Comments aimed at Sheep Dog's Blog:

2009-07-28T09:53:00.003-07:00

If you happen to frequently visit this Blog which is dedicated to the Big Mountain Dineh Struggle and to bring some traditional/aboriginal-based updates, you might not care to comment or view the comments. Lately, there has been someone who must be from another planet or another country and does not know how to spell has been making comments for the purpose of harassing or degrading Sheep Dog's purpose for this Blog.

So, I ask the rest of you viewers and readers to either make good-intended comments in order to show this "nut case" that others are friends with this Blog site or just appreciate this Blog space.

More comments please.

Thnx.
-Sheep Dog Nation Rocks

Words from A Big Mtn. Medicine Woman

2009-07-20T14:53:00.011-07:00

©Photo by Dan Budnik, 1978, Elders at the Partition Fence

Big Mountain Elder: “State of the Dineh and the Big Mountain Resistance”

July 19, 2009, Big Mountain, Black Mesa – A sign just outside of Flagstaff says, “Beat the Heat!” as it tries to lure people into a get together of grown-up adults that ‘play’ with model airplanes. This gathering seemed mostly of non-Indians scheming to make some money and sell more membership. 120 miles away on the reservation at Big Mountain some families still do not have electricity and the day time temperature has reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit. There are no icy refrigerators to provide a 40 ounce glass of lemonade with ice or a chilled, 32 ounce of sugar called Coca Cola. It felt like the “Heat has Beaten Us” at Big Mountain, but the U.S. Relocation Policies in the name of Peabody Energy has not beaten the Dineh, yet.

As we sip on a cup of shade or room temperature water, the traditional elder resister takes the opportunity with my visit to talk about the struggle to resist relocation. She is a medicine woman as well as being a sheep rancher in her late sixty. I wish not to disclose her name because of her status as a healer and spiritual leader.

“The Dineh, overall, have transformed their ways of doing the rituals. We here at Big Mountain, those of us resisting the harsh policies aimed at us, have tried to set examples through speaking out about strengthening our languages and our ceremonial ways. We even had hopes through the sacred, Lakota Sun Dance. The Dineh across the reservation try to conduct the great healing ways like the Great Gathering Ritual and Dance (a.k.a. “Squaw Dance”) and the Yei Bi Chei Dances. Now, these have become nothing but social gatherings where people come for the feasts and the giveaways. Once all foods and gifts have been acquired, the ceremonial grounds are suddenly deserted. The Clans of the Staff-Receivers are all gone except for lone Receiver of the Staff. The Initiator Clans of the Gathering Ritual are all gone, too, except the Patients. No one is around to sing and hold the final and very sacred dance. This great ritual of the Dineh has become a very silent conclusion ceremony which was once full of celebratory and jubilant singing and dancing.

“All this (American) greed and mannerism has taken away the ancient, traditional thoughts of the old time Dineh. ‘Taken away’ just like relocation. It has been moved away or it has been separated from us. Traditional parents and their children were separated and many elderly parents die of heart break caused by this. Every sibling within one family unit that I know of have accepted the relocation benefits, the matriarch became sick and she died, her brother tried to resist but he also died of heart break, and now, only the elder patriarch remains. He is so alone. I have never seen such a lonely person. He is surrounded by several houses and hogans but there is no one else to be expected, to come out of any of those dwellings. This elder man only has his late wife and brother in-law’s sheep and horses to look after. Why did his children decided to leave the land? This is hard for me to comprehend.

“My children have never accepted the relocation benefits. None of them accepted that and I consider them all to still be residents, here, though their attempts to build homes were stopped by the B.I.A. Police. So, how can children just leave their land and parents behind?

“Our history told us about the ‘Long Walk’ when the U.S. Army forced thousands of our peoples to march to Ft. Sumner. Many had their heads bashed-in and died on the way to the four year internment camp. So, I would understand about being forced-relocated if we were to have received the same kind of brutality. But we did not.

"What is left of our past resistance at Big Mountain is nothing but a ‘war of words on paper.’ Papers are served to our front doors and most of our Dineh take that as a threat and run. The whiteman’s paper is considered more sacred. These papers supposedly interpret the American laws. Our ancient sacred ways are no longer held with high reverence and the modern Dineh can violate those ancient ways as they wish. The Dineh have all truly become greedy and selfish and to only seek hand outs.

“Even the idea of love and freedom is used by the Americans as ‘sugar-coated’ mentality and behavioral acceptability. Love is many things but to us at Big Mountain, love was what we bestowed for our country, the land. Freedom was that same thing. We resisted and fought, physically and with papers. A couple of our local Dineh have volunteered nearly their whole life to maintain this love and freedom for us, those of us who are now very old and some who are alone. Love and freedom is the willingness to visit the elders, to learn more about our sacred places, to visit those sacred places, to communicate with non-Indians and other tribal communities that believe in harmony and sustainability, and to teach the youth about who they are and where they really belong.

“It is time, while in our last desperate attempt to save our identity, to do the Beauty Way Ceremonies. Yes, we can call it ‘a fight’ but it is that (real) love and freedom that involves helping people to withhold the sacred and support their existence on their ancestral lands despite the threats and harassment. The indigenous peoples must resort to these rituals ways immediately instead of wasting energy on designing more words on paper to send to the oppressors.”

* * *Elders and their extended families at Big Mountain traditional communities still need your support and prayers. The crop fields need tending to, the wooly sheep and goats need to be herded, and if you cannot get away, contact your local indigenous support groups and see how you can help in the coming fall or winter.

[**Learn more and contact: Black Mesa Indigenous Support at http://www.blackmesais.org/ or call BMIS Voice Mail: 928-773-8086. The BMIS Fall 2009 Caravan is tentatively being planned and continued, long-term (2 wks to two months + ) on-land stays are needed.]

Free Leonard Peltier and Free All Political Prisoners!

And remember nature always beats you and if you endure that, lessons of many blessings will come. (The foregoing statement was translated by Yours Truly, Chief Loner.) –sdnRocks, 2009

ALERT! Letters & Support Needed for Leonard Peltier's July 27th Parole Hearing

2009-07-14T10:56:00.006-07:00

The U.S., "land of the free," may have more political prisoners than any other country and this includes prisoners from other foreign nations. Leonard Peltier has been the only aboriginal and indigenous prisoner of war imprisoned since the incarceration of great, ancestor chiefs and warriors of the past. Today, humanity and the environment need freedom from wars and pollution, the very same thing that freedom-fighter Leonard stood for. We need your help now and find out more by listening to this KPFA radio show: http://kpfa.org/archive/id/52308

Aah'eh'eeh! sdnRocks,2009

Documentary Video "By Big Mtn. Elders" Continues But Feels Dat Zero-Budget Effect

2009-07-09T09:13:00.009-07:00

Big Mtn. Elder resisters' stories are amazing. So amazing that 'yours truly' is fascinated about sites like hidden survival niches from during the U.S. Army's round up of the Dineh in the 1860s. The fascination is too great that in order to locate sites elders have to try to remember locations and they even try to draw maps of the terrain. Then hikes are made in attempts to find the sites despite the summer midday heat and the tiny, ferocious-bitting knats.
The Big Mtn. Elders' Stories Project may have no funds but we have some very unique and awesome volunteers that have helped on location, some playing characters or like these 'totally kool' Europeans, here at "the Little Girl in the Tree" scene, assisting with the much needed Technical AV help in remote locations.
Dineh volunteer and non-experienced actor that plays a villian leaps over the camera during a foot chase scene.
Eight year old, "Lil' Sir William," stands next to dad as he has become an excellent photographer and who has been designated as the Project Photographer.
As the biting knats are held back by the occasional breeze in the midday heat, a well-choreographed fight scene requires several takes and several close up shots. The volunteer crew were amazing with everything from enduring the elements, acting, tech-support, repairing props, makeup, to keeping the snacks and drinks happening.

© Sheep Dog Nation Media & Monoan Agapi Films, 2009

Food Not Bombs & Allies: "Change We Knead Now: Bread for Peace"

2009-07-08T17:25:00.006-07:00

[Moderator's note: Many have come to this Bread 4 Change 4 Peace Vigil asking about Peltier and as Peltier's "Sun Dance" is discussed the issue of the 'Big Mountain Struggle' comes up. Aho! Nizhoni do'h Yaa'at'eeh! -sdn2009]

Sit with us and bake bread for WORLD PEACE starting July 4, 2009 in Lafayette Park outside the White House in Washington D.C.

Everyone is invited to join us outside the White House in support of the changes Americans voted for in the historic election of Obama. We spent trillions to bail out America's corporations now it s time to bail out the American people. On July 4, 2009 we started baking bread with the sun outside the White House and we are asking people to sign this petition:
PETITION - THE CHANGE WE KNEAD NOW - BAKE BREAD FOR WORLD PEACE

-Implement universal government-paid (Single-Payer) healthcare for all
-Free federal prisoner Leonard Peltier by executive order today
-Solar energy collectors available for every house
-Passenger trains connecting every city
-Organic gardening classes in every school
-Call for a global ceasefire

Sit with us outside the White House to inspire Obama to implement the proposals of this petition within a year. America voted for change, but so far corporate America has high-jacked our dreams. This is the moment when Obama's supporters can push his administration to fulfill the mandate of his victory. Obama has the power to begin implementing these six priorities by July 4, 2010, so consider joining us outside the White House. (You don't need to bake bread to participate)

Imagine thousands of people sitting peacefully outside the White House day after day, encouraging President Obama to implement the changes he promised to the people who elected him to office. Help us bake bread in solar ovens to share with the hungry in the nation's capital, as well as providing bread for the people sitting in support of making a better future for all. Baking bread will be a visible example of the power and strength of the sun, and a united people.

Imagine Obama positively responding to this petition and enacting these changes by July 4, 2010.

Following the examples of Mohandas Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. please join

our nonviolent sit-in for a positive future while we have a chance. We start baking the bread at around 11:00 AM and open the solar oven at about 6:00 PM each eveing to share the fresh hot bread outside the White House. Please join us. http://thechangewekneadnow.net/

ACTION ALERT: July 28th Parole Hearing for Leonard Peltier

2009-07-01T16:35:00.006-07:00

Freedom fighter and indigenous brother, Leonard, was wrongfully convicted in 1977, served 30 years in federal prison despite "proof of innocence" & despite proof being convicted on fabricated / suppressed evidence & coerced testimonies. Your prayers & support are needed: 'Free all Political Prisoners!' and demand that Leonard be granted a fair hearing and be given freedom. So, please visit: http://www.freepeltiernow.org/welcome.htm Thank you.

Dineh Warrior/Brother of the Big Mtn. Survival Camp Passes into the Spirit World

2009-06-29T16:04:00.010-07:00

To All Our Relations, my Brother/Fellow-Warrior. Your footpaths and prayers on the LW2 will always be remembered.

My favorite image of the Bro which reminds me so much of the busy and intense times at the Survival Camp.

"Brothers at the 'Camp' were like the Last of the Dineh, Dog Soldiers.." -One of Willie's last comment:

Willie joined the resistance outpost at Big Mountain in the early 1980s when he came out from the Bay Area with some non-Indian supporters. He got along with all the brothers and sisters of any nations and nationality. He always enjoyed leading the songs when we gathered around the drum. He never talked bad about anyone EVEN if 'we' talked negatively (in front of him) about someone else. He never delayed himself for a detail that needed to be carried out and was always willing to be up front at the frontline. "It is hard to be an Indian!" back in the 80s and it is still that way, today. Willie was the bodyguard for all the traditional elders at Big Mountain and he was loved as a Son by them as well. Willie was Willie, but he brought about that nice, calm atmosphere to the Camp kitchen and to the bunkers. We will miss many things besides your warrior spirit like the best fried bread that you use to make.

Now, you are with the brothers who left us also and who have served as warriors for the Sovereign Dineh Nation. Most of all, you are now with your two uncles that you often talked about and whom you most admired, but were suddenly and tragically Killed in Action in Vietnam during the American invasions. We will do our best to continue our fights for Dineh Liberation. --Haa'goh'ne'h, Sh'k'si' (Chief Loner on behalf of SDN Patrol)

On the Longest Walk 2 of 2008, Willie was an inspiration to everyone on the walk especially to the young ones. He was there for the young ones that came to this spiritual walk and who were somewhat new to their own Indian World, and Willie gave guidance to them about 'what it means to be an Indian.' Beside being a Sun Dancer, he was Keeper of the Drum and he taught these young people how to sing the songs. He was so happy and energic during the Longest Walk 2, and he looked forward to returning to help the indigenous nations, Sun Dance again, and return to Big Mountain where he most felt the elders needed his help. --Mitakiye Oyasin, (Patty)

***Hear Willie during the Longest Walk 2 of 2008: http://www.earthcycles.net/journal/index.php?14

(Recorded by www.earthcycles.net on the Longest Walk in Miwok's Shingle Springs, Calif.)

Big Mtn. Productions: Documentary-Video Shoots Continue Despite Zero-Budget

2009-06-24T17:24:00.012-07:00

Third weekend of documentary-reinactment shoots at Big Mtn:
"Attempting 'wild west,' roughrider style takes with two cameras." SDN Media & BM Productions director was inspired by the vanishing stories told by Big Mtn. elders and as sad and tragic the stories are, director Chief Loner hopes these reactments will help reinforce the stories of elders in resistance.
"The young warrior who escaped was cornered but he had to make his stand even though he was outnumbered by U.S. government-supported, tribal mercenaries...""A much greater fear was instituted by the American Army epecially during Colonel Kit Carson's 'sorce the earth' campaign against the Dineh. Evidence of survival and hiding places are still preserved throughout the Big Mtn. areas...."

© Sheep Dog Nation Media & Minoan Agapi Films, 2009

Defeat! at San Francisco Peaks, No Celebration...

2009-06-11T12:19:00.013-07:00

Ndns & Environmentalists Defeated! - At San Francisco Mtns. Ski Resort, the Snow(toilet)bowl

[Author’s note: I am not going to elaborate so much though would like to very much, but you as readers can determine for yourselves why I present Arizona Daily Sun news excepts along with specific word meanings. I’ll pose a couple of questions: How feasible is it for so-called Native Americans to rely of corporate-based laws to ‘protect’ their ‘limited’ rights? As indigenous peoples of western hemisphere, do we even value Our ancient belief systems as to unite, gather spiritually, and ask the great sacred mountain for forgiveness and allow the sacred to decide rather than some ‘judge’ at the supreme court? Will ‘our’ tribal governments maintain an agency to fulfill and monitor the outlined agreements with the AZ State Historic Preservation of 2004? –SDN2009]

June 9th, 2009: “The religious objections of Indian tribes can't stop the operators of Snowbowl from using recycled sewage to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by default Monday…”

Without comment, the justices left intact a ruling by the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected the claims of several tribes that the use of artificial snow will decrease the "spiritual fulfillment" they get from practicing their religion on the mountain. The tribes argued to the high court that the decision by the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land, to permit snow to be made from treated sewage runs afoul of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act which governs activities on public lands. That 1993 law requires government agencies to use the "least restrictive" means of interfering with any religious practice when considering projects built on federal land.

But the justices, by leaving that 9th Circuit decision undisturbed, adopted the conclusion by that court that putting treated sewage on the mountain does not place a "substantial burden" on anyone's free exercise of religion, the test under that 1993 law to determine whether government plans must be modified. Specifically, the appellate court said nothing about putting the effluent on the mountain stops anyone from practicing his or her religion.

[The American Language]

Religion:
a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

Pagan:
1. One who is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion.
2. One who has no religion.
3. having, being, or relating to religious beliefs, esp. ancient ones, which are not part of any of the world's major religions

Spirituality: preoccupation with what concerns human inner nature (especially ethical or ideological values)

Legality:
1. The state or quality of being legal; lawfulness.
2. lawfulness by virtue of conformity to a legal statute
3. the quality of conforming to law
4. unlawfulness by virtue of violating some legal statute

[Extra news excerpt]But attorneys for multiple tribes are considering further possible legal or other action to block it.They have the option of asking the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, to undo snowmaking approval, of going to Congress to get laws changed, or of appealing another point of the case.

In essence, the tribes and environmental organizations raised multiple arguments in court about why snowmaking should not be allowed at Snowbowl. (Visit Save the Peaks Coalition at http://www.savethepeaks.org/STPrelease_june8.html)

They included assertions that the U.S. Forest Service had not properly met with all the affected tribes, despite meetings held, and that snowmaking could harm the environment.

Environmental arguments were introduced at the 9th Circuit, but were set aside for procedural reasons.

Tribes could also approach Congress or the Obama administrationto ask for a law specifically aimed at protecting Native American beliefs, said Shanker.

Arizona State Historic Preservation, 2004:

-- The Forest Service will protect plants considered important by the tribes.

-- The agency also agreed to: provide periodic inspections by tribal members to examine specials sites on the Peaks, guarantee access to tribal members, ensure special sites are avoided during development, protect these sites as confidential, give tribes reports detailing impact of snowmaking on plants and animals, and give an annual report to tribes on development at Snowbowl.

With no litigation in any court at this time, construction at Arizona Snowbowl could start this year, say Snowbowl executives.

What's proposed for construction:

-- 205 acres of snowmaking

-- 10 million-gallon snowmaking water reservoir near the top terminal of the existing Sunset chairlift, and a pond below the Hart Prairie Lodge

-- 14.8-mile reclaimed water pipeline between Flagstaff and the Snowbowl

-- 3,000 to 4,000-square-foot snowmaking control building in the vicinity of the existing maintenance shop

☼News excerpts from Arizona Daily Sun of Flagstaff

Update: Big Mtn. Productions Video Shoot On-Location

2009-06-09T15:57:00.011-07:00

These scenes being shot are reactments based on a few elders' stories about "historial events at Big Mtn., how they grew up, and the expectancy of Dineh future based on their traditional up-bringing." The documentary production has been in the making for over ten years by a solo project headed by Yours Truly. The highlighted accounts of these stories will be told in the context of the current struggle for survival where there is resistance against the federal government and Peabody's relocation policies.
"Ancestors of today's Big Mtn. resisters have experienced atrocity prior to the Long Walk.." Image shows Yours Truly directing a Comanche scout who leads Pueblo Indians to attack families who were merely picking pinons during the mid-1800s. Zhonnie Aatsaa is the character playing the matriarch of family groups facing a day that turned horrible.
"Several clans came together and traveled for two days to seek pinons on Big Mtn..." Zhonnie and her little ones before bedding down for the night."The matriarch tried to escape but was eventually run-down and had to face the attackers..."

©Sheep Dog Nation Media & Minoan Agapi Films, 2009

ELDER & YOUTH CIRCLE begins June 8th, and A BIG MTN. SPRINGTIME

2009-06-02T16:52:00.007-07:00

The Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth

JUNE 8TH – 13TH, 2009 AT SWEET WATER, BIG MOUNTAIN: PAULINE WHITESINGER’S LAND

The Traditional Circle of Indian Elders and Youth is a spiritual circle open to all Indian people. It constitutes the continuation of an ancient practice of joint council among the most respected leaders of Indian nations. Its purpose is to nurture a grassroots renewal of traditional values and worldviews among Indian peoples, to ensure the continuity of Native wisdom, and to bring that wisdom to bear on important issues facing all peoples of the earth.

Projects and annual gatherings of the Traditional Circle reinforce and strengthen traditional values within participating delegations and extend them to Indian communities as well as across cultures.

The Circle is organized in the traditional Indian way. There are no signatures, no hierarchy of officers, and no membership restrictions or limitations. Those who come to Circle gatherings on a regular basis represent grassroots communities and are empowered by consensus to speak on behalf of their people. They have the respect, trust, and support of those whom they represent. Their guiding principles are moral, not legal in origin.

The Circle gathers for six days each year at an encampment hosted by an Indian Nation. Every Circle gathering includes:

• Elders who, because of their experience and commitment, speak on behalf of their people from the perspective of a traditional, spiritual worldview;

• "Runners" who have not yet achieved "Elder" status but whose commitment to the Circle is unquestioned, and who do "leg work" for the Elders;

• Young people who may sit with the Elders in the councils as observers, and who also help maintain the camps. Youth also meet separately during the gathering to discuss common issues. They are invited to present their perspectives to the Elders' Circle where they are respectfully considered.

• Family members and children of all ages who participate to the extent of their capacities and interests. Inclusiveness is an ancient Indian tradition that insures the cultural and spiritual continuum of Indian people.

NOTE: The last Circle Gathering held on Black Mesa was near Mesquito Springs which is just southwest of Rocky Ridge General Store: in August 1982 at Dan R. Yazzie’s Ranch near Dove Springs, Black Mesa.

→ ABSOLUTELY NO ALCOHOL, DRUGS OR WEAPONS ALLOWED

→ FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: blackmesais@riseup.net and in Subject-line state, ATTN “TCE&Y CONFERENCE,” or CALL B.M.I.S. VOICE MAIL AT: 928-773-8086

REMOVED HUMAN POPULATION, NATURE ABOUNDS WITH FLOWERING & INCREASED PREDATORS:

The lands of Big Mountain has perhaps returned to its "once upon a time" natural state. Dineh pastoral lifestyles have been depleted and wide areas are now teaming with coyotes, foxes, wolves, deer, elk, and cougars. The diverse vegetation of this high-desert, woodlands are now free from sheep and cattle grazing --"thanks" to the U.S. government's inhumane energy policy of 1974. The lands seem very peaceful in many aspects while you immerse yourself in that month of May's time of flowering, if the winter climate was near normal.

Elder matriarch of Sweet Water Stronghold has just returned with her grandson from checking on the few cattle she still owns. She is dressed for work but not your usual ranch lady as she wears a well dirt-stained apron, scarf, sweat shirt, the traditional skirt, and good walking shoes.

"We covered a big area to see where all the cattle were," she says in the Dineh language. "One cow had a newborn calf but she is without it today so, we drove around more and only found tracks of her and her calf from days ago. My grandson said he noticed fresh cougar tracks. Maybe the mama-cow eventually lead her newborn into the 'mouth of that pedator...'

Some of the few hardcore, elder resisters to the relocation policies have lost their livestock to the these predators particularly the cougar, a skilled and daring hunter. The transformation in the last 15 years is all too real and if Big Mountain people had access to all the monies and revenues that were all stolen by Mr. Peabody, the Dineh would hire ecologist and anthropologists that can explain with much merit the effects of human removal and how nature reclaims the ecosystems. Then this being all temporary because it will all be stripped for the coal and aquifer reserves to meet America's energy needs.

It does feel that this is only temporary even though you behold the beauty of tall green grasses, the white stacks of yucca flowers, and the intense-coloured flowers shooting out of thorny cactuses. Maybe only prayers and more deep searches for understanding by current conscience individuals will help save and restore the endangered ancient lifeways at Big Mountain.

Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2009

Adventure of Another Black Mesa Supporter: Episode 4

2009-05-27T14:09:00.004-07:00

Okay, Folks. Have you, Americans er White Folks, ever thought about staying amongst Indians such as the remote inhabitants, the Dineh of Big Mountain? Yours truly, Chief Loner, has lived among the whites for a good, fifteen-civilized years, and I am still trying to learn. I am still not well-established on how to be "social," catch dem white jokes er 'get' those catchy termonologies, dance European or African style, and most white folks do not get my 'weird' Innden sense of humor... So, imagine another white supporter that might be volunteering in the wild Indian country of Big Mountain. There are the challenges of trying to understand animals like the sheep and goats, and their sidekicks like the sheep dogs. You have probably heard the expression that 'goats will almost eat anything.' It is a true expression. --2009, Sheep Dog Comics

Ready R Not: Herez Episode 5, Adventures of the Supporters

2009-05-19T11:55:00.003-07:00

It is unimageable what supporting an Indian resisting the federal policy to relocate may mean. The surrounding is pristine, the weather rules and most of all the animals make the daily schedules. Sometime a non-Native 'supporter' may have to 'hold down the fort' while the elder resident needs to go away to take care of business, and a new 'supporter' will need to follow the animals' schedule. They just need to remember that (they) are animals --with a mind of their own. -SheepDog Comics 2009