And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: Hlowrld Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 14:25:24 EST From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: U.S. Government Agencies Threaten Dine (Navajo) Elders... Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 13:26:53 EST U.S. Government Agencies Threaten Dine (Navajo) Elders with Livestock Impoundments, Eviction from Sacred Land BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- A "witness camp" will be held in Big Mountain, Arizona from May 1999 through July 31, 1999. The camp is designed to provide the public with the opportunity to live and work alongside the last Native American people still retaining their traditional lifestyle, original language and homeland. These elders call themselves Dine, which translates as "the people" in their traditional language. The camp is also intended to draw attention to the struggle of the Dine to stay on their land. It is sponsored by Weaving for Freedom, a non-profit collective of the Dine weavers dedicated to preserving their traditional language, ceremonies and ancient art, to protecting their sacred land from strip mining, and to marketing the weavings to support the weavers. "What is happening at Big Mountain is typical of the systematic human rights abuses that Native Americans have always suffered at the hands of the U.S. government," says Arlene Hamilton, director of Weaving for Freedom. "What makes it different is that this is the last stand. If the Dine lose their land, we will have allowed the destruction of the last intact native culture on the continent. It's like clearcutting the last redwoods." Hamilton has dedicated the past 16 years of her life to fighting for the right of the Dine to stay on their land. Over the years of dealing with a dizzying tangle of motives and agendas, she has continually confronted mining company officials, federal bureaucrats and tribal officials on behalf of the Dine. Even though Arizona law states that Dine still living on the land after 1992 would be allowed to remain, the U.S. Department of Justice is now threatening to evict the Dine elders who have refused to sign away the rights to their native land. The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is also impounding livestock owned by the Dine elders, which they have done repeatedly over the years. Impoundments are an economic hardship on the Dine, because high fees are required to reclaim their livestock. According to Dine supporters, BIA harassment of the elders has escalated in recent weeks, with armed BIA rangers and police escorting impoundment trailers and range technicians, who are threatening to confiscate 90% of each weaver's livestock. This harassment culminated in the arrest of peaceful Dine supporters on March 15 and 16. "I merely asked them why they needed to show so much force to count a small herd of sheep," says Hamilton. The Dine have lived in the Big Mountain area of northern Arizona for centuries, but their land and traditional way of life have been continually threatened by mining interests. The Navajo Tribal Government was originally created in the 1920s to administer the leasing of oil rights on Native American lands. But that government does not represent the Dine, who have continually refused to be relocated, even while the BIA has harassed them, impounded their livestock, and closed their drinking water wells. More than 10,000 Dine have been relocated by the BIA since 1974, and half of those relocated have died on land which is contaminated by uranium mining along the polluted Rio Puerco. Today, more than 100 Dine families, or about 3,000 people, remain on the remote land of Big Mountain, Arizona that they have watched over for centuries. They are the last Native American group still living in their traditional ways, speaking their native language, and weaving rugs that are prayers, that tell the stories of their lands and its creation. "It is our goal to help the Dine people remain on their land for generations to come," says John Paul DeJoria, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of John Paul Mitchell Systems, which has funded the collective since 1990. "It's hard to believe this is still going on. It's just not fair to strip these elderly Native American women of their heritage, of the land that is sacred to them." Other well-known supporters include Bonnie Raitt, Floyd Westerman, Jackson Brown, John Trudell, Carolyn Garcia, Woody Harrelson, R.C. Gorman and Alice Walker. These celebrities are all lending a hand to preserve the Dine way of life. Weaving for Freedom is currently working to preserve one million acres of sacred tribal land as a National Historic Cultural Preservation Site. The organization also conducts educational programs in universities about the way of life of the Dine people. A history of the struggle to protect the Dine land over the last 16 years is slated for publication in October 1999. For more information about the current situation at Big Mountain, the upcoming witness camp, or to make a donation or purchase a weaving, contact: Arlene Hamilton, Weaving for Freedom, Tel: 707-823-0503 Contacts at Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs: Shilda Manuel, 202-208-5116, Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mark Bradford, phone 202-208-5831, fax 202-219-1255, Wayne Nordal, Area Director, phone 602-379-6600 or 602-379-4413. SOURCE Weaving for Freedom CO: Weaving for Freedom ST: California, Arizona 03/29/99 13:26 EST http://www.prnewswire.com &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
