Rex Tilousi, Havasupai Nation, Grand Canyon, USA. Long term member
of the Havasupai Tribal Council, activist against Canyon Uranium
Mine.
Greetings From Havasupai! Havasupai means "People of the
Bluegreen Waters." We are happy to be here to bring out what we have
been going through for the past 500 years. Many of you have been to
the Grand Canyon and have seen that beauty. We are speaking for
these things this afternoon. We, the Havasupai, believed that we
lived within the Mother Earth. The place of emergence where we came
out to the surface of our Mother Earth is within the Grand Canyon.
Area. We emerged from the Grand Canyon, from within the Earth. We
migrated up to the rims of our Canyon homes. There we lived in
peace, in harmony with the plantlife and wildlife, our Mother
Earth, the waters, the air, the sun, the moon. These we regard as
our relatives. We lived within the Grand Canyon area with the
waters, the springs that we have in our Canyon home. We lived in the
Canyon in the summer, we migrated up to the plateau areas in
winter. This is how we lived within the aboriginal lands we once
roamed, where we once prayed, the mountains, the beauties that we
regard as very sacred.
There we lived until the coming of the white man. When he came,
he divided things. He put fences up, he put borders up, saying,
"this is my land, you are not to trespass!" We lived there until
the Park Service, the Forest Service came into our lands. With the
Park Service taking over the Grand Canyon, they pushed the
Havasupai people aside. So now we live in a side canyon where we
believe we are a part of. The two pillars you see is the guardians
of the people. They watch over the people, the waters the land, the
plantlife, the wildlife. This is where we live. The Park Service,
the Forest Service, we thought they were there to protect the
areas. And now we come to find that these are the people that are
permitting other people to come and destroy the lands, the trees,
the waters.
When we were first approached by company that was testing up on
the rims, up our Canyon home, they had discovered what they call
"Brecchia Pipes." These Brecchia Pipes contain the ore, the uranium
that over the years had collected through the waters, through the
rocks. We Were told in 1984 that this was happening to the rim of
our canyon. When we came up to the plateau areas to see what
happened, we found the mining company had already set up the
equipment, the mine shaft that was supposed to be sunk into the
Mother Earth. The mountain, the Red Butte, we regard this as a very
sacred butte where our medicine people, our religious people prayed
to these things for strength, for help to carry the people forward
into the future. Now we find that on both sides of our canyon home,
the North and the South rims have already been claimed by 90,000
areas where they have discovered uranium.
When in 1975, the Grand Canyon Enlargement Act was passed, we
were told that we can come up to the rims, gather where my people
had gathered and lived in the past. Now when we come up to our
sacred area we find fences put up. Signs are put up reading, "No
Trespassing!" When we hear and see this, we are hurt. For we, the
Havasupai people, are the guardians of the Grand Canyon. The mining
company, Energy Fuels Nuclear, when they heard about our protest,
they approached us and offered us money and we told them, "No, we
don't want your money. Money is not worth the future, the
destruction, the contamination of our home, the waters, the air,
the earth, plantlife, wildlife. When these things become
contaminated, money will never cover the destruction which is going
to happen if we let these mining companies come in and desecrate
the areas we regard as very sacred."
When we found out about this, we needed help, we needed
support. We only number 500 people that live in the Canyon. If we
were the only ones that were fighting against a very powerful
nation, the USA, we'll never be heard. Therefore, we are here to
ask for support from you people, from the children of our Mother
Earth. We have gone to the courts. The Religious Freedom Act we
based our fight on, we come to find that the courts we have been
going through, the District Court, the Court of Appeals, the
Supreme Court, they do not want to listen to what we have to say.
Now, the mining company has permission from the court to go ahead
and sink the shaft into the abdomen of our Mother Earth.
With the environmental groups that are concerned for animals,
for plantlife, for the waters, at times I find it hard to bring
these people together, to look at things as we, the indigenous
people do. Our environment, we are part of, for we are the children
of our Mother Earth. The groups that I speak to, I tell them, if
the fishes can come together, if the four-leggeds can come
together, why couldn't the two-legged people come together and work
together? I feel that it's time now that we look at things around
us, as we, the indigenous people, look at the earth, the air, the
waters, the universe. We must protect these things.
I also speak for the people. Will they be able to drink clean
water, breathe clean air, swim in clean waters, Havasu Creek, the
turquoise waters? If we let these things happen, the waters will be
contaminated through the ground waters. The disturbings within our
Mother Earth, we must not let this happen. If we permit this one
mine to do the destruction, then the 90,000 claims will also go.
Therefore, I ask for your support to protect our Mother Earth, the
children of our Mother Earth, the plantlife, the wildlife, the air,
the waters. We must work together as we, the indigenous people, are
trying to get the message to the people that are destroying these
things.
I would like to see in the future our grandchildren, their
grandchildren walk in the beauty the Great Spirit has meant for us
to walk. Therefore, to end my speech, I ask for your help, for your
support. If further information is needed, we have some out in the
hall. After this conference, we will be touring Europe, the towns
that we believe are depending on nuclear power in the future. The
Grand Canyon uranium is, I understand, going to be bought by these
countries here. So I will be speaking to the people here in Europe
for the next following week. I want to say the people that are here
to spread the word to those who are not here, tell them what we
have said here.
I thank you for listening.
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Carletta Tilousi
Carletta Tilousi. Havasupai Nation, USA. Member of Southwest Network
for Environmental and Economic Justice.
Greetings, brothers and sisters from all over the world! I am
also a member of the Havasupai tribe. I represent the youth that
live within my home. I travel to many countries and speak for my
people. We live in the Canyon. We do not have cars. Its not easy
for us to come out of the Canyon so that is where we stay. We plant
corn, that is how we live. The waters in the pictures you have seen
here is how it looks in my home. The beautiful waterfalls you have
seen attract millions of tourists, but most of the tourists don't
know the truth of what is really happening there. That's how come
we're before you, to tell you the truth. The bluegreen water that
you have seen is going to be contaminated. We use that to drink and
feed our animals and to water our crops.
As a young person, I was taught by my Elders to understand that
this is my home and it always will be. And we are considered the
guardians of the Grand Canyon. When I am growing up, I see many bad
things going on all over the world. And I, too, will continue the
struggle, fighting to protect my Mother Earth and my future to
come. I'd like to encourage each and everyone of you in this fight
because time is running out. I am afraid to see the future. And I'd
like to encourage you to continue your fight because in the end we
are the ones that will be rewarded.
That is all I have to say. Thank you.
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*+*+*POISON FIRE, SACRED EARTH*+*+*
Salzburg, September 1992:
Affected people from every continent gathered at the WORLD URANIUM
HEARING to break the silence cloaking the radioactive genocide
perpetrated by our nuclear society. The witnesses - predominantly
indigenous peoples - came as living proof: whether we mine uranium,
test nuclear weaponry, or attempt to dispose of nuclear wastes, our
victims are always peoples we do not know living in regions
unfamiliar to us. At the conclusion of this international hearing
arose a unanimous request: "Leave the uranium in the earth!"
The proceedings of this historic week are now available in English:
"Poison Fire, Sacred Earth," 314 pages, b/w photographs.
The book is available from:
The World Uranium Hearing at The International Action Centre
39 West 14th Street, Room 206, New York NY 10011, USA
Tel: 212-633-6646 Fax: 212-633-2889
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Michele Lord + If you have come here to help me,
+ you are wasting your time.....
+ But if you have come because
+ your liberation is bound up with mine,
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + then let us work together.
Aboriginal Woman
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