WHEREAS:
1. The representatives from the communities of Big Mountain,
White Ruins, Coalmine Mesa, Mosquito Springs, Wide Ruins, and
Jeddito Traditional Dine were duly present at this meeting to bring
attention to certain problems and concerns which affect us.
2. We acknowledge that we were given Divine Natural Laws by
the Creator to live in accordance with nature, and that we have
a responsibility to protect our Mother Earth from destruction.
3. The Navajo Tribal Council supports the resisters and
oppose all and any relocation activities, including the Forest Lake
area.
4. Peabody Coal Corporation has violated the air quality, the
lands sustainability by their usage of toxic chemicals; strip mining
activities affect the quality and quantity of water on the Black
Mesa area, with slurry line functions and other operations of the
Phoenix water project.
5. Peabody Coal Corporation has disregarded the sacredness
of the continuation of the lives of both the Dine and Hopi peoples
by creating problems with the water availability, the wildlife, and
the religious usage of the religious and sacred sites thereby
disrupting the harmony and balance of the natural world.
6. The United States government continues to carry on its
slow death genocide through its relocation program and low
intensity warfare upon not only the Dine but also our neighbors,
the Hopi people.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
1. The Navajo Tribal Council supports the efforts of the
grassroots people for an Intensive and Comprehensive investigation
of Treaty Rights.
2. The Navajo and Hopi Tribal Councils fully support us in
stopping any Corporate and U.S. sponsored activities of genocide
committed against people of Dine and Hopi Nations.
3. The people reserve the right to resist the inhumane
activities of the United States Government Relocation Program.
CERTIFICATION
WITNESSED BY:
Big Mountain Officers:
Kee Shay, President Roberta Blackgoat
May 2, 1991 May 2, 1991
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BIG MOUNTAIN
The policy of relocation of indigenous people from Big Mountain
began with the passage of Public Law 93-531 in 1974 which drew an
arbitrary boundary through land used jointly by the Navajo and Hopi
people for centuries. Families on the "wrong side of the fence"
have been forced to relocate "voluntarily" away from their Sacred
Land.
Public Law 93-531 provides that live stock be reduced by 90% and
makes the repair of homes or construction of new ones illegal
except through an impossible system of special permits. Thus
formerly self sufficient people are now economically dependent. And
young people wishing to start new families must move from the land.
To implement the law, the BIA has instituted a policy of harassment
intended to force families into relocation. These include:
*Air Force training flights close to the ground, over livestock,
the homes of resisters and community meetings.
*The building of fences, construction of water diversion
projects and dams which destroy burial grounds,medicinal herb
gathering places and other sacred sites.
*The court ordered demolition of specific homes and ceremonial
hogans designed to increase anxiety and despair.
Despite these hardships three hundred families continue to resist
relocation from Hopi Partitioned Land.
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The Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs will be holding
Oversight Hearings on relocation, tentatively beginning July 9,
1991. You may write to the chairman, Daniel K. Inouye, and ask that
he arrange that Hopi and Dineh traditional leaders testify at the
hearings. They do not have funds to make the journey.
Senator Daniel K. Inouye
838 Hart Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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