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Received in email from Glenn Welker on 03/08/2003 United Nations rep, Indigenous gather to protect the sacred By Brenda Norrell brendanorrell@yahoo.com PHOENIX: While Yellowstone's buffalo were being slaughtered and President George Bush craved war, Indigenous from the Americas gathered for the resurrection of their spiritual destinies to protect the earth and all that is sacred. With equal intensity to the destruction in the world, Indians from the Arctic came defending the caribou homeland, Navajos from Big Mountain, Ariz., called for protection of Black Mesa and Lakota from Pine Ridge, S.D., urged solidarity in rekindling the spiritual fortunes of mankind. United Nations Representative Wilton Littlechild, Cree, joined the circle of many nations on top of South Mountain, a mountain sacred to the Salt River and Gila River O'otham, as Lakota and others made prayer offerings at sunset on Friday, March 7, beginning a three-day conference here. Littlechild, representative of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said that for the first time, spiritual priorities are emerging from the United Nations as a result of input from Indigenous nations. Speaking during a noon press conference, Zuni Pueblo Councilman Dan Simplicio said a proposed coal mine of the Salt River Project has already resulted in the removal of nine of his people from their graves. "Those are our ancestors that were never intended to be disturbed," Simplicio said. The proposed Fence Lake Project is in the vicinity of the Zuni's sacred salt mines in New Mexico. Simplicio said salt has properties that sustain life, while coal mining robs the earth of life. "A basic ingredient that gives us life is salt," he said. "Mining takes away life." Sarah James of the Gwich'in Steering Committee in the Arctic spoke of the need to protect the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the sacred place known as "Where Life Begins," from proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-Coastal Plain. "We are fighting in a good way without compromise with the direction of our elders," James said, adding that all sacred sites are connected as all life is connected. "We have that pride we need to unite with one voice without compromise." The noon press conference at a downtown Phoenix hotel was attended by only one Arizona media outlet, a Spanish language newspaper. During the conference, Kee Watchman, Navajo resisting relocation in Arizona, said Navajos have lived on their ancestral homelands at Cactus Valley and Big Mountain for 1,000 years. Although some of the elders passed to the spirit world in recent years, Watchman said Navajo and Hopi living traditional lives continue to teach the young ones and make their prayers in reverence for the sacred plants and animals in their trust. Robert Nutlouis, Navajo youth from Pinon, Ariz., said the coal slurry of Peabody Coal is robbing the people of Black Mesa of their only source of water, the aquifer. Nutlouis pointed out that the Navajo Nation Council was originally established for the purpose of signing energy leases and today the council continues to sell the resources and ignore the suffering of the Dineh. Ernest Modesto spoke of efforts to protect the Baboquivari Mountains, the home of the Tohono O'odham's sacred being Itoi, from tribal development near the Arizona and Mexico border. Tonyo Gonnella Frichner shared the spiritual legacies of the Six Nations Iroquois. Lakotas Leonard Little Finger, Richard Broken Nose, Joann Tall and Rosalie Little Thunder offered prayers and spoke of the need for a spiritual unity to restore mankind. The Chiapas womens theater, FOMMA, performed with four Mayan women playing multiple roles of men and women in a script they wrote revealing the struggles of Indigenous women. The lively, masked Tecuany traditional dancers of Guerrera, Mex., followed. The Tlahokan Atzlan gathering, March 7 thru 9, 2003, is being held at the Nahuacalli Center, 802 N. 7th St. in Phoenix. Tonatierra and the Seventh Generation Fund are co-sponsors of the conference. The telephone is 602-254-5230. |