And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Terror In Arizona Bureau Of Indian Affairs Seizes... Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 12:43:41 EST Terror In Arizona Bureau Of Indian Affairs Seizes Elderly Indians' Livestock In Push To Final Solution On Black Mesa, Reports Sovereign Dineh Nation BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A campaign of livestock confiscation intended to starve and frighten the residents of Black Mesa into abandoning their homes was resumed recently by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), reports Sovereign Dineh Nation. These actions follow the government's historic pattern of destroying food sources and using fear to force Indians off their lands. The ongoing reign of terror is causing severe hardship and threatening the lives and land-based, site-specific religion of the Dineh (Navajo) people who for 25 years have been resisting attempts to expel them from their ancestral homes. BIA actions are continuing despite appeals from religious and human rights organizations. In a letter to Heather Sibbinson of the BIA, United Methodist Church General Secretary Rev. Dr. Thom White Wolf Fassett wrote: " we would remind you that the government of the United States has no policy goal that is more important than preserving the right of its citizens to live and to be able to worship in the way that they have learned through their traditional religion. We are concerned that your planned actions...may violate both of these rights." Two of the victims on February 23, were sisters Anna and Ella Begay, both in their eighties, who live alone in a 10 x 12 foot shelter in the wilderness on Coal Mine Mesa. Ella is deaf and partially disabled. Without electricity or running water, they survive by herding a few sheep and raising a few crops. Their only transportation is their two horses. They also had three donkeys, which haul water and firewood and help plow their small field. Friends gave them a ride Tuesday morning so they could attend a community meeting for news about the impoundments. While they were away, 13 armed police officers and BIA officials arrived in six police vehicles and two impoundment trucks, and took the horses and donkeys from their corral. The BIA estimates that each visit of their impoundment squadron costs the government over $800 of taxpayers' money. This amount would purchase more food than the sisters see in a year. Without their livestock, the chances that the sisters will survive another year are diminished. This scenario was later repeated at other homes, and in coming months it will be repeated hundreds of times. Most of the people targeted for these attacks are over 65; many are in their 80s and 90s. They live in terror, not knowing when they wake up each morning if this will be the day when the authorities target them. The confrontations have a high potential for violence. Rena Babbitt Lane, whose horse was taken from her corral on February 22, had her wrist broken when she tried to stop a previous impoundment. Others have been beaten or arrested when they tried to resist confiscations in the past. Targeted are Dineh (Navajo) families who were made trespassers on their own land by a 1974 congressional law passed at the urging of the coal-fired power industry. Over 12,000 people have been forcibly relocated since then, but about 3,000 still remain. They survive by herding sheep as their families have done for hundreds of years. Their livestock is central to their daily lives, in which culture and religion are interwoven with land and animals. The herds have a different significance to the government. They are the key to the people being able to sustain an independent lifestyle in remote areas without electricity, running water, telephones, or government assistance. Under terms of a 1996 law intended to complete the evictions ordered in 1974, the U.S. government aims to expel these people within the next 12 months. The government hopes that destroying their herds will turn them into helpless dependents, unable to resist expulsion. The Sovereign Dineh Nation urges members of the press to come to Black Mesa and witness what the BIA is doing to the poorest and most vulnerable people in this country. When the U.S. government embarks on a program of terror under the guise of law, the media have a responsibility to make these actions known to all. SOURCE Sovereign Dineh Nation CO: Sovereign Dineh Nation ST: Arizona 03/11/99 12:43 EST http://www.prnewswire.com &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
