Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : Erbe, Bonnie. "Should Tribes Be Permitted to Kill Eagles?" The Record (Bergen County, NJ), December 10, 1999, L11. ["Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is backing a policy change that would allow members of the Hopi tribe to remove baby eaglets from their nests and sacrifice them in religious ceremonies. Not only would such a policy be incredibly cruel on its face, it would pave the way for a variety of other unbelievably inhumane abuses of protected creatures. As a proponent of the multi-tonal fabric of our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society, I understand the administration's desire to placate a Native American tribe. Anyone who has read American history understands the incomprehensibly abusive relationship between Uncle Sam and the hundreds of Indian nations that populated what is now the U.S. of A. before our European forefathers got here . . . But when native peoples, no matter how badly abused by us in the past, seek to perpetrate equally senseless barbarities on helpless creatures, we should stand on principle and use our awesome power to stop, not to enable them."] http://www.bergen.com/ REPLY: Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 21:41:19 -0800 (PST) From: Jason Spaulding <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Hopi Use of Golden Eaglets (Bonnie Erbe, 8 December 1999) To: Peter Copeland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Michael Jordan has previously written you regarding Bonnie Erbe's article on Hopi taking of eaglets in Hopi Tutsqua (homeland) which happens to be claimed by the United States as a national monument. Ironically, the primary purpose of the monument is to preserve ancient villages of the Hisatsinom, whom the Navajo and some non-Hopi call Anasazi. The Hopi never fought a war with the United States. The tribe never signed a treaty, just or unjust, surrendering one inch of Hopi Tutsqua. I have a map on my website delineating Hopi Tutsqua; Wupatki is clearly within that land. http://www.happycampers.net/reg_dir/l_1105.html Indeed, Wupatki is a Hopi word. When the United States acquired Mexican claims to Hopi Tutsqua, it promised to respect the rights of Mexican citizens, which the Hopi were, whether they accepted it or not under Mexican law. Additionally, the United States promised not to displace Indians from their homelands in the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo. Bonnie Erbe claims that: ------- U.S. government financial reparations to the native peoples of America have been reasonably generous and should continue well into the next millennium. -------- The Hopi claim to the Wupatki area was dismissed by the United States in a case known as Docket 196 in the Indian Claims Court. A dirtier case of imperialism may not exist in this country than Docket 196. A traitor lawyer, not even representing a majority of the tribe, took pennies per acre for a substantial portion of Hopi Tutsqua, including Flagstaff, Arizona. The tribe has never accepted those pennies. See as a starting reference, "The Disease of Thinking in Essences: The U.S./Indian Relationship, Specific to the Hopi 1830-1970" http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~janeck/work/hopi.html See the maps on my website for Hopi Tutsqua, and how it has been diminished by the United States. http://members.xoom.com/redbud1/navajo1.htm Now the United States is seeking to curtail the exercise of traditional religion in Hopi Tutsqua. The Hopi, in their own peaceful way, have filed a petition to retain the ancient practice of capturing golden eaglets, a practice which in no manner threatens a species which is not endangered. You should know that the petition itself is a compromise of the premise that this knowledge is reserved for Hopis of the appropriate clan and training. Mr. Jordan's comments regarding the survival of only one chick are backed up by scientific literature. Let me turn it around for you. Many Indian traditional ways forbid the consumption of alcohol. How would it be taken if Indians passed laws forbidding Catholics to drink communion wine, and threatened to arrest them if they did? Sacred sites are not limited to the Hopi; many cultures depend on sacred sites: http://web.hamline.edu/law/lawrelign/sacred/bibliography.ssw.htm I am not Hopi, nor do I speak for anyone but myself. It is my understanding that the eagle and its feathers are used to take prayers to heaven. It is essential to certain ceremonies, ceremonies which are far older than the United States, Mexico or even Spain. Bonnie Erbe finds this ceremony "incomprehensible" which may reflect more on her intellect and spirituality than on the Hopi. May I suggest that in the future, when you run stories about Indians, that you at least require your reporter to diligently seek a tribal point of view and include the same fairly, rather than spewing her own unilateral and half-baked opinions? Even the Park Service has estimably presented the cultural history on the official website, http://www.nps.gov/waca/sacred.htm . continuance of ancient traditions would exemplify a theme of the Monument, harmony with nature, http://www.nps.gov/waca/harmony.htm . If Ms. Erbe is interested in promoting the survival and enhancement of indigenous wildlife in the American West, there are many challenges. I would be more than happy to assist her in locating real issues and real threats for future stories. This is not such. Thank you in advance for your consideration of these remarks.
