-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Dave Hartley http://www.asheville-computer.com/dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 2:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: McCain forcing Native Americans to move to contaminated lands Please email your congressperson & senator and ask them what they are doing to repeal Public Laws 93-531 (the initial call for relocation) & 104-301 (set the final relocation date as Feb. 1, 2000). For your Senator's email address see <A HREF="http://www.senate.gov/">U.S. Senate</A> and for Congress <A HREF="http://www.house.gov/">United States House of Representatives - 106th ...</A> Forwarded Message: Subj: Fwd: McCain Letters~ Date: 01/22/2000 2:04:48 PM Eastern Standard Time From: <A HREF="mailto:Ebihuutsuu">Ebihuutsuu</A> To: <A HREF="mailto:Sotekwa">Sotekwa</A> I got the McCain letters from Erica (she's in LA)-email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Also the complete facts of the situation from the creation of the reservation in 1882 to the final blow of 1996 Public Law 104-301 (the "Accomodation Agreement") sponsored by McCain which will force Dineh families from their homes and relocate them to dangerously contaminated lands. Please pass this on to everyone you know who will help. Again thanks! Dohiya, Tooni~ _____________________________________________________________________ Hi! I am happy to send you the McCain letters, they are listed below (along with a few additional letters to others who can have an influence over this issue). Please be sure to rephrase them and add your own comments so it doesn't look like he's just receiving form letters. Also, one thing that I forgot to mention in the letters is the fact that if he does something about the Dineh relocation now, he could come out a hero (he seems to love that image). Thank you for your interest. peace, erica here are the letters, pass them on: US Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 FAX. (202) 228-2862 Dear Senator McCain: I respect you very highly as the US Senator for the Great State of Arizona. I am proud to call you my fellow Veteran of the United States Military. I feel that you would be a great President of this great nation, but, I am saddened by what I have received concerning the support that you are giving to Public Law 104-301 of 1996. You are not any different from that of Governor George Bush. I am a Comanche Native American and a Veteran of the Viet Nam war. I pray that you will make it right what you are doing, by relocating the Navajo families starting Feb. 1, 2000. Theses families did not sign the leases with the Hopi Nation, this is absolutely unfair. Is this the way that you are going to treat Indigenous people when you are the President of the United States of America? If so, the votes of our peoples will go to the Democratic Party with the Blacks and Hispanics. I pray that you undo the wrong that you are causing upon the Native Americans in your State and Help the others from other states that are being wronged. Remember, this land was ours before anyone else was here and we have tried with all of our strength to hold to our word in the treaties that we have made with the United States Government. I do hope that you will not start the year 2000 out with a continuing injustice to the Indigenous people within the United States of America. After all, how can this great nation be a representative of the Human Rights throughout the world, when you and the others are treating Native American people in the same manner as the rest of the world is to their peoples. I thank you for your time and concern to doing what is right, concerning this grave matter. Sincerely, Sotekwa Williams Natl. Pres. Concerned American Veterans 8229B 2nd Ave South Birmingham, AL 35206 ----------------- Saturday, January 8, 2000 U.S. Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Fax (202)228-2862 Dear Senator McCain: I am deeply concerned about what I am discovering about your record regarding Native Americans. Public Law 104-301, which you sponsored in 1996, authorizes the forcible relocation as of February 1, 2000, of Navajo families who did not sign unfair leases with the Hopi Tribe. A number of families have refused to sign these leases. Do you feel that the forcible relocation of native people who are living on their traditional land is a good way for the US government to open the new millennium? Does this reflect the way that you believe the US government should treat its Indigenous peoples? Furthermore, Public Law 104-30 ratifies a settlement agreement under which the Navajo families who sign leases are not allowed to vote or participate in the government which rules them. Do you feel that Native Americans are not entitled to vote or to have civil rights? If you do, I am afraid that I cannot even consider voting for you in the upcoming election. If these are not your feelings and you are attempting to right the wrongs, please let me know what you are doing to rectify the situation. Sincerely, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, January 10, 2000 U.S. Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Fax (202)228-2862 Dear Senator McCain: I am a Republican registered voter from California and I have just been informed of your sponsorship of Public Law 104-301. Among other things, PL 104-301 authorized $25 million for the Hopi Tribe if they could obtain the signatures of 85% of the 112 Navajo families on leases that would deny them their basic rights. Did you anticipate that placing a $260,000 bounty on each signature would lead to abuses in the process through which these signatures were obtained? Are you familiar with reports from the Navajo families that signatures were obtained under the threat of jail or immediate eviction? Do you feel that signatures obtained under these circumstances constitute an endorsement of your policy? If not, please repeal PL 104-301 and do something to stop this from continuing. I also understand that the people who still resist signing these unfair leases will be forcibly relocated on February 1, 2000. I cannot believe that this is going on inside the borders of the United States and that tax payers are footing the bill for it to boot! Please let me know what you are doing to rectify the situation. Sincerely, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, January 10, 2000 U.S. Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Fax (202)228-2862 Dear Senator McCain: I am a registered Democrat, but I was seriously considering voting for you. I have read about your beliefs in campaign finance reform and you sounded like the most sincere, moral and logical candidate. However, it has recently come to my attention that you have been a party to the relocation of the Dineh (Navajo) people in your home state of Arizona. Public Law 104-301, which you sponsored in 1996, completes the settlement of a land title dispute between the Hopi and Navajo Tribal governments. The key figure in the history of the land dispute was an attorney named John Boyden, who formed the current Hopi government and obtained BIA recognition for it in 1953, and who was the architect of the original relocation legislation back in the 1970's. Boyden was also working for the Peabody Coal Company. Do you believe that it is appropriate for Congress to continue policies that are based on land title established by a coal company? This seems to go against the idea of getting corporate influence out of government. Will this legacy be continued if you become President or are you willing to consider legislation that revises the land title to reflect the traditional occupancy and use? Please let me know what actions you will take, not once President but now, as I am beginning to seriously doubt your sincerity. Regards, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- additional letters: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 Fred Chavez Bureau of Indian Affairs - Hopi Agency P O Box 158, Keams Canyon, AZ. 86034 Fax: 202-501-1516 Dear Mr. Chavez: I am writing to express my concern about the Dineh people. It has been brought to my attention that they are being forced to sign unfair leases or face relocation to Uranium contaminated land. I am also aware that the final deadline for relocation is February 1, 2000 and come that date, these people (mostly elders) will be forced out of their homes. This horrifies me! In the BIA's mission statement, you proclaim: "The Bureau of Indian Affairs' mission is to enhance the quality of life, to promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. We will accomplish this through the delivery of quality services, maintaining government-to-government relationships within the spirit of Indian self-determination." The BIA further states that: "We manage for excellence, fostering cooperation and coordination in consultation with Indian Tribes while supporting self-determination and tribal sovereignty." It seems to me that the mission statement of the BIA and the treatment of the Sovereign Dineh Nation are incongruous at best. I seriously doubt that being taken off the land of their ancestors and put onto contaminated land is going to enhance the quality of their lives. Stripping them of their rights by forcing them to sign unfair leases doesn't seem to be respecting the spirit of Indian self-determination. And enforcing unethical and horribly injurious laws influenced by coal interests and passed with no consultation of the very people they effect is definitely not fostering cooperation and coordination in consultation with Indian Tribes while supporting self-determination and tribal sovereignty. Please let me know what you and the BIA are doing to rectify this egregious violation of the mission of the BIA and the civil and human rights of the Dineh People. Sincerely, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, January 11, 2000 Roman Bitsuie Executive Director of the Navajo Hopi Land Commission The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission FAX # (520) 871-7297 Dear Mr. Bitsuie: I am writing to express my concern regarding the Dineh people. It has been brought to my attention that they are being forced to sign unfair leases or face relocation to Uranium contaminated land. I am also aware that the final deadline for relocation is February 1, 2000, and come that date, these people (mostly elders) will be forced out of their homes. You have it in your power to stop this from happening, please do all you can to stop yet another atrocity from happening to native people and their culture. Sincerely, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLACK MESA/BIG MOUNTAIN TIME LINE 1882 Hopi Reservation Created By the time Columbus reached the Americas, the Hopi and Dineh had already settled the lands they continue to occupy today. The Hopi lived in villages on the tops of the buttes at the southern end of Black Mesa and farmed the adjacent land. The Dineh lived in isolated settlements scattered through the vast lands surrounding the Hopi settlements. The tribes were free from colonial rule until the US acquired jurisdiction over the area in 1848. The US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) set up offices near the Hopi villages, both to be near a population center and to be further away from the Navajo, who were more militant in their resistance to colonial occupation. In 1882, President Chester Arthur issued an Executive Order establishing a reservation centered around these offices. While the Hopi and Navajo had coexisted in the area for centuries without the use of borders, the BIA enforced the partition of the 1882 reservation into separate Hopi/Navajo areas in 1892. For the next 70 years, these arbitrary borders had little effect on the people, as both Hopi and Dineh continued their traditional way of life. 1951 The Coal Rush Begins The richest known deposit of coal in the US was discovered on the northern part of the 1882 reservation. The Hopi did not have a government that could sign lo the coal deposits: Norman Littell's Navajo government, because the land had always been inhabited by Dineh, or John Boyden's Hopi government, because the land was within the 1882 Reservation. The lawyers filed a suit asking the courts to clarify the land title. The resulting decision in 1963 said the governments could lease the land and split the revenues 50/50. The Hopi were given exclusive surface rights to the area they traditionally inhabited near the mesas. The Dineh land became a Joint-Use area shared by both tribes. 1967 Peabody Coal Lease After the leasing authority was established, a lease was quickly signed with Peabody Coal giving them the right to mine the area. The royalty rates to the tribes were far below standard commercial rates, as John Boyden, who negotiated the leases for the Hopi, also worked for Peabody Coal. The traditional Hopi leaders filed a lawsuit opposing the lease, as the Black Mesa area is sacred to both the Hopi and Dineh religions and strip mining violated their traditional religion. While the Hopi demonstrated that Boyden's government acted in violation of its own BIA-approved constitution, the US courts rejected the suit because Boyden's government was recognized as a sovereign power immune to lawsuit in US courts. 1974 Relocation Act Boyden requested Congress to partition the Joint-Use area into separate Dineh and Hopi areas, so that the he could obtain better access to the coal rich land traditionally inhabited by the Dineh. With little opportunity for input from tribal people, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act and created the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR), dividing the Joint Use Area into Navajo Partition Land (NPL), on which lived 100 Hopi, and Hopi Partition Land (HPL), on which lived 13,000 Navajo. Those on the wrong side of the line were required to relocate. The 1974 Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act was pushed through Congress by a group representing the coal-fired power industry, which believed their industry would benefit by having the US government finance the eviction of the all people living in an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. In their rush to promote national energy self-sufficiency, Congress never considered where the people would go or how relocation would affect their lives. In 1980, the US purchased a uranium-contaminated site near Chambers, AZ as the "New Lands" for the evicted Dineh. 1996 The Final Solution In 1996, Public Law 104-301 (aka the Accommodation Agreement), sponsored by Arizona Senator John McCain, required all Dineh remaining on the land in defiance of the 1974 law either to sign time limited leases with the Hopi government ceding all of their property and civil rights, or to be forcibly evicted by February 1, 2000. Congress offered the Hopi government $25 million if it could get 95 families to sign these unfair leases, unleashing a campaign of coercion, fraud, and forgery. Meanwhile, the ONHIR enforces a strict prohibition against repairs and improvements to the properties of resistors. New glass for a broken window must be smuggled in. Vehicles and homes are searched for building materials, which when found, are confiscated. Both signers and nonsigners alike are subject to grazing restrictions that require them to sell most of their sheep and cattle, leaving them with insufficient numbers to maintain a subsistence living. Finally, the signers and nonsigners must obtain difficult to get permits to gather firewood or even have a religious ceremony. The date for final relocation is fast approaching. Fortunately, it is probable that eviction notices must first be served before the Dineh families can be physically removed from their homes. However, the perpetual harassment and increasingly difficult means of survival for the Dineh are continuing. It is important that we continue our vigilance in our support of the Sovereign Dineh Nation. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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