Hopi/Dineh Grandmothers Cry out for Help!

Grandmothers' Cry Out for Help!

"The story of Navajo-speaking sheepherders being driven from Black Mesa, spiritual homeland to Hopi and Navajo people, is so complicated that it has become mythic. It encompasses many of the political and economic forces of the Southwest --the Navajo and Hopi tribes, coal companies, water interests, utilities, the Arizona delegation and Navajo and Hopi traditional leaders--and reaches into the highest levels in Washington".

Anita Parlow

CRY, SACRED GROUND

This Page is our Response to a Call for Help.. the Sovereign Dineh Nation office and website are inoperational at this time... we have volunteered to help fill the gap. Below you will find Links to information as we get it... and a Discussion board so that you also can Input.. if you have larger files to post please eMail me and I will send you FTP instructions.

Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 10:37:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: BMNATCOM01@aol.com
To: (list deleted)
Subject: Land Update

- MORE PEOPLE ARE NEEDED ON THE LAND!!!!

There are only a handful of supporters on the land. Supporters are needed to herd livestock and assist the elders in their day to day chores so that they are free to resist relocation and continue their struggle.) specific skills - electricians, car mechanics, veterinarians, carpenters etc.
- Laurence's cell phone and Seeds of Peace are the best places to call for groups that don't have contacts on the land.
Laurence Altsisi's cell phone # (520) 699-7219
Seeds of Peace voice mail # (520) 774-3645
NOTE: Former land supporters have consistently agreed that we should be extremely cautious with whom we send to the land and careful that they are aware of what is expected of them and what is not expected nor wanted. A land supporter could unwilling cause more damage then good and this is an extremely volatile situation.

- Land Commissioner Threatens Livestock Reductions will begin in August Livestock of those Dineh still on the HPL, whose heads of households signed the accommodation agreement , will be reduced to 28 animal units per household (one household may contain many families and hogans). Horses and Cows count as five units each.
Sheep and Goats each equal one unit

- Lawrences' Cell Phone is in danger of being cut off.
Laurence Altsisi is this groups' (Minneapolis) main contact on the land (his bill is around $600). Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

Big Mountain update notes:

Compiled by Neriah

October 1996 President Clinton signs new relocation Bill.
February 7, 1997 Navajo Tribal council voted 73-0 against the relocation agreement and against Navajo Tribal participation in the relocation.
March 31, 1997 was the deadline to sign the highly restrictive "Accommodation Agreement" which states:

those who sign may only stay for 75 years

those who sign are under the complete jurisdiction of the Hopi Tribal Council

if they violate any 3 laws of the Hopi Tribal Council they will be evicted

these are trivial laws like wood gathering without a permit, keeping a junker car etc.

only the eldest of the families were considered "head of household" and 75 Dineh elders were forced to sign for 270 families

resistors were given 90 days to voluntarily move or be forcibly relocated (probably by February 1, 2000 but no assurances of this have been made)

relocation will be New Lands, sight of America's largest radioactive spill (94 million gallons of contaminated water - a disaster second only to Chernobyl) and a dump for uranium tailings (25% of the Dineh relocated there in the last 6 years have died)

each "family" who signed the agreement gets only a 3 acre lot with very limited grazing rights and only 28 livestock animals (not nearly enough for the traditional sheep raising they survive on)

descendants of the "signor" do not get to renew the lease

After March 31, 1997 the Federal Office of Navajo Hopi Indian Relocation was authorized to issue eviction notices to resistors.

It is interesting to note that attorney John Boyden, who works for the Hopi Tribal Council also works for Peabody Coal which is owned by the international conglomerate Hanson PLC based out of London.

It is perhaps even more interesting to note that the US government offered the Hopi Tribal Council $50.2 million dollars to drop 30 lawsuits against the US and get 85% of the families to sign.

On a different but relative note:

May 6, 1997 Hopi shrines were bulldozed by a construction company at Woodruf Butte that used mining equipment to destroy the top of the butte, an ancient religious monument for the Hopi and Zuni Indians. Archaeological evidence in the area prove that the Hopi clans have been on the land there for over 2,500 years minimum. Private land owner, Dale McKinnon, owner of Black Rock Construction Company of Holbrook Arizona, entered into contract with FNF Construction of Phoenix who contracted with the State of Arizona department of Transportation to mine aggregate for construction on hiway I-40. In 1991 the Hopi had tried to buy the 207 acres for $30,000 in order to preserve the several Hopi shrines there, some of which had been destroyed in 1990 by aggregate mining.

HOPI LEGAL FUND
For

HOTVELA TRADITIONAL ELDERS

BIG MOUNTAIN DINEH RELOCATION RESISTANCE

A Visit to Big Mountain, Arizona - Part I

Big Mountain John Benally

Sovereign Dineh Nation
BIG Mountain Alert!

Sovereign Hopi Nation
Message to Mankind

Human Rights Violations of Dineh "Indians"...

by Peabody Coal and US Govt.

Shundahai Network Home Page

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