Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : From: Robert Dorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 16:10:12 -0800 (PST) >From: Kerry Brinkerhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Invitation to join [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: Robert Dorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Hi Robert, >Here is the write up on the Dineh rally. I was asked >by the local paper to write on Native American Issues >so this is one of my first stories. Thanks, Kerry > >Dineh relocation discussed at meeting >Kerry Brinkerhoff >Staff Writer > >Brigham City - Monday night, November 8, several >people gathered at the Brigham City Library to discuss >Public Law 104-301, which calls for the relocation of >3,000 Dineh people off of Black Mesa, AZ., by February >1st, 2000. The Peabody Western Coal Company, which >strip mines coal >on the reservation, is behind this call for >relocation. Peabody needs more coal rich land and the >Dineh stands between them and the land. The Dineh >religion forbids strip mining, which they >believe is a violation to mother earth. The mine >leaves the people living in the area with clouds >of black dust and frequent blasting. It also poisons >their surface water and has destroyed sole sources of >sacred and medicinal plants. The Peabody Western Coal >Company has destroyed thousands of ancient Anasazi >cliff houses, burial and sacred sites, Dineh >cemeteries. The residents are jailed if they try to >stop any of this. The coal mining has caused many >health >problems and so has the relocation onto radioactive >sites. There were 15 people present at the Brigham >City meeting, about half were caucasion and the other >half Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi. > Mont Ogden of Ogden said "the fifth amendment gives >us the right to property, that can't be taken away >without due process of law." It was also said during >the meeting that perhaps the "Cain and Able" story is >told backwards; that Cain was cursed with a white >skin. In looking back >at history, white society destroys native peoples. >All agreed that in this modern nation the persecution >of minorities needs to stop. > The documentary video "Vanishing Prayer: Genocide of >the Dineh" was shown. It presented the position the >Dineh are in. Afterwards the group was silent, some >crying, until someone spoke up and said, "I'm ashamed >this is happening." > Then Ray Lopez, full blooded Dineh and retired >Brigham City educator, told the group of the many >hardships his people have had to endure. He said he >knows many there who live the traditional ways without >electricity or running water. These Elders have no >say, the Tribal >government and agents make decisions with out the >support of their people. Ray also said the people >should be allowed to stay there. He believes the >conflict is all over money. "It is pitiful and sad to >look at it" he said. >Winona Shupla, Hopi of Roy, spent last year with her >grandmother on the Hopi Reservation. She graduated >from the high school there and talked about many of >the challenges she faced in living the traditional >way. Her grandmother did not have running water. >Winona said there are problems between the Hopi and >Dineh but they are working to make relations better. >She said in school they talked about the Peabody Coal >Company, who they believe is trying to take away their >land. Not only did the Hopi and Dineh that night talk >about the relocation. They also talked about the >challenges they feel are present by living in Northern >Utah. They all agreed they do not always feel accepted >here. Shupla said she did not feel at home here so >she went to live with her >grandma on the Hopi reservation. However while there >the kids teased her because she was not like them, >they called her a "White Indian". Lopez answered, >saying "we the Urban Indian, don't make any effort >among ourselves." Ogden mentioned this must "cause >quite an identity problem >for the Urban Indian." Brigham City resident Leon >Sorenson said it has been especially hard for him >being half white and half Indian, and that he didn't >quite know where he fit in. >Norma Shupla, Winonas' mother, finished off the >meeting with a sobering thought. "It don't matter who >they are, how they look. Get along because someday >you'll have to lean on each other." >The Leader (Tremonton, Utah) December 1, 1999 >===== >"In the life of an Indian, there was only one inevitable duty - the duty of prayer - the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal...Whenever, in the course of the daily hunt the red hunter comes upon a scene that is strikingly beautiful, or sublime...he pauses for an instant in the attitude of worship. He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's" >Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Eastman), Sioux For more information on this on-going human rights crisis in the United States, visit my web page at http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm
