And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 19:25:40 -0500
From: Dale and Elizabeth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The 20 Year Struggle of Political Prisoner
Leonard Peltier
by Michael A. Eckhardt - Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
The Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, which Leonard and others were
defending
and protecting, hold rich deposits of gold and uranium beneath its'
surface. It has
been revealed that every 800 acres in the Black Hills could yield 3 &1/2
billion
dollars over 10 years. There are 4 million acres in the Black Hills.
Conservative estimates project that 2 million acres could be mined. That
would
calculate to over 8700 billion dollars over 10 years. Those who
challenge future
corporate profits of these proportions, are at risk. The continued
incarceration of
Leonard certainly exemplifies this.
Leonard's struggle, Indigenous struggle, always comes back to issues of
the land,
and the lifeways that respect the land on which the people live. The Big
Mountain
struggle serves as yet another example within the context of current
times. A group
of traditional Dine'h from Big Mountain Arizona were passing through
Ohio this
past summer, on their way to Washington D.C. They are being forced off
their land
as you are reading this. The Peabody Coal Company, in concert with the
U.S.
Government, fueled by an insatiable lust for coal profits, have been
closing in on
Big Mountain on the Black Mesa for 11 years. The traditional people left
on Big
Mountain have essentially been given two options. They can relocate (and
the
government will assist them to do this) or, their livestock shall be
confiscated and
they will die. This is quite effective, for you see the sheep provide
the only means
of subsistence for the Dine'h. Raising sheep is the only way they can
continue to
reside on this land that yields no running water. . . . on this land
that yields no
electricity. . . . on this land where they ask only to live a
traditional life, with respect
to the Creator, and to Mother Earth.
There were once 10,000 resisters, now that number is reduced to 250
families
The government's tactics to secure the land have been very effective.
The resisters,
before leaving for Washington, asked me to take a message to Leonard
Peltier.
That message was; " Please tell Leonard that he saved us again ". When I
asked
what that meant, it was expressed; " When we left our home on Big
Mountain 4
days ago, we didn't know your name or who you were, and here you are
taking
care of 12 of our people. . . . thank Leonard for that". Here is a
people staring
down the gun barrels of the government, about to lose their land, or
their lives and
they take the time to honor Leonard for the stance he took 20 years ago,
and ever
since. This shows that the struggle comes full circle and the issue
isn't FBI agents. .
. . it's a struggle for the land.
Why is it, that as you read this, Western Shoshone Nationalized horses
are being
stolen on the Newe Segobia in Nevada ? How is it, that a year ago, a 60
year old
Shoshone rancher, after previous Bureau of Land Management (BLM) raids
that
reduced his peoples livestock, douses himself with gasoline. He goes on
to say " If
your going to steal our horses and cattle, our people will die ". He was
then sprayed
with a fire extinguisher and thrown to the ground while protesting
passively. He was
arrested for assaulting Federal Officers, fined and sentenced to 9
months in jail.
There is uranium under Western Shoshone and free grazing land which had
been
observed and respected as such for over 200 years, nearly without
incident. That is
without incident until uranium was discovered.
These are a few examples that can be served to expose the continuing
lust for
mineral value on existing Native Reservation lands. These are in
progress now, not
in the 1800's. It will take a collective effort from peoples of all
backgrounds to stop
these abuses.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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