Posted by Brenda
Norrell (http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/brenda-norrell)
-
by Brenda Norrell
15 September 2008, 12:19
pm
NEW YORK
-- A delegation of Navajo, Hopi and Lakota warned Lehman Brothers
stockholders of the dire consequences of their actions in 2001. In
a rare move, censored by most media, the Navajo, Hopi and Lakota
delegation warned Lehman Brothers, after it acquired the financial
interests of Peabody Coal, of the spiritual consequences of mining
coal on sacred Black Mesa and the aftermath of Peabody Coal's
machinations that led to the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute.
Lehman
Brothers is now in the midst of financial collapse, with its
bankruptcy producing a rippling effect throughout the world's
economy.
At the
time of the Navajo, Hopi and Lakota delegation's address to Lehman
Brothers stockholders in 2001, Arlene Hamilton bought two shares
of stocks in Lehman Brothers to pave the way for the address to
stockholders. When she did, Hamilton said her life was threatened
because of this action. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton was killed in
a car crash. Longtime Navajo relocation resister Roberta Blackgoat
died in San Francisco at Hamilton's memorial.
A Hopi
elder was among those addressing the Lehman Brothers stockholders.
His
admonitions followed those of the late Hopi Sinom elders Thomas
Banyacya and Dan Evehema, among the Hopi elders who warned of dire
consequences, including natural disasters and worldwide
consequences, if Peabody mined coal on Black Mesa and Navajos were
relocated from this sacred region. The Hopi Sinom never authorized
the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, which they refer to
as a puppet government of the United States.
The Hopi
elder in the delegation told stockholders, "Lehman Brothers,
even though we are just a few here, we speak for the Creator, who
is the majority.
"Therefore
we demand you stop the Peabody coal mining and the slurry. We
demand again," said the Hopi elder who asked that his name
not be published in the media.
"Traditional
and priesthood people don't want this mining. The Hopi prophecies
say that we have to protect land and life. If we don't protect our
beautiful Earth --our Heaven, our Mother, we will suffer with
her."
He told
stockholders that Hopis never signed a treaty with the United
States and the current Hopi Tribal Council is not legitimate since
it was created by less than 30 percent of the people.
Referring
to the beginning of the turmoil, he said, "John Boyden was a
lawyer who worked for Peabody Coal. He was instrumental to the
creation of the Hopi Tribal Council.
"Our
ancestors warned that someday this would happen. White men will
say that it is our own people that sold this land. I will not
accept this.
"Our
roots are rooted in our villages and it goes up to the whole
universe. If we break these roots the world will get out of
balance.
"I
pray for you and hope that we open your eyes and you find the
majority in your heart."
Roberta
Blackgoat, longtime resister and sheepherder from Cactus Valley,
told stockholders the region of San Francisco Peaks is holy to the
Navajo people. Mining in the area of this sacred mountain is the
same as desecrating an altar and church. It is making the people
sick.
"We
can not go away to other places," Blackgoat said, adding that
livestock confiscation is "starving the people."
"When
you have a pinprick on your finger, just take it off and the pain
will go away. But there are too many pins on the Mother Earth.
Barbed wire is all over the country, dividing the people."
Blackgoat
was among the Navajo families resisting forced relocation. After
Peabody orchestrated the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute, more
than 12,000 Navajos were relocated to make way for Peabody's coal
mining on Black Mesa.
Senator
John McCain, R-Ariz., now a US presidential candidate, was among
those responsible for pushing legislation to force Navajos to
relocate.
Leonard
Benally, Navajo from Big Mountain on Black Mesa in Arizona, said
the delegation told Lehman Brothers that it is time to transform
operations to renewable forms of energy, including solar and wind
power.
"It
was like opening this marble door to the Lehman Brothers. We got
our foot in there. They were willing to listen. By going there,
the delegation touched their hearts." Benally said the
delegation also dispelled myths.
"They
say it's a land dispute, but it is not. The traditional Hopi and
Navajo are standing together, they are the original inhabitants of
Black Mesa. We are the caretakers."
Benally
said in 2001 that the people have been struggling for 32 years
because of the turmoil created by Hopi and Navajo tribal leaders
intent on making money from the 92 billion tons of coal beneath
the ground at Black Mesa. But, he said, the resistance actually
goes back 500 years to the Spanish invasion, followed by the
European invasion. Finally there was the Kit Carson
invasion.
"That's
when the people were put in the death camps."
While
Navajos were incarcerated at Fort Sumner, he said, "The
military made promises, mountains of promises they never
kept."
While the
Navajo Nation government in Window Rock celebrated Sovereignty Day
in April of 2001, Benally said tribal leaders force their own
people to suffer respiratory disease and death from coal mining,
sacrificing them for mining royalties.
"Sovereignty
Day? That's a joke. For us, we live it. They oppress their own
race. They make them bleed."
In the
1970s, the Four Corners region was considered a National Sacrifice
area, but Benally said it is time to change that classification to
a National Historic Site.
"The
sacredness is still here. Mother Earth is still here. She still
breathes. As long as the air blows, the rivers run, Indigenous
people will be out here."
Benally
said the Navajo, Hopi and Lakota delegation moved in solidarity
with the Zapatistas whose caravan through Mexico gave them hope in
2001.
"We
felt the wind, it came from the South. It is telling the
Indigenous people to rise up for their beliefs, their culture.
These things are not being respected by anyone but the Indigenous
people."
In New
York, Joe Chasing Horse, Sundance Chief at Big Mountain, addressed
the protest rally outside and spoke to Lehman Brothers Merchant
Banking Fund stockholders.
"You
have taken all of our land, now we have come to show you how to
take care of it," Chasing Horse said. "The
traditionalists have the wisdom, we are the wisdom keepers."
Glenna
Begay, Navajo protesting in New York, said, "I traveled
3,000miles to be here and to voice my concern about what's
happening to us out there on the land. I want the mining to
stop."
Louise
Benally of Big Mountain said, "We need to hold the owners
accountable by letting them know the hardship we live with every
day."
Arlene
Hamilton, coordinator of the Weaving for Freedom project and wife
of Leonard Benally, personally bought two shares in the
corporation to ensure entrance into the stockholders meeting. She
and Benally negotiated with Lehman Brothers to allow the elders
time to address stockholders.
"These
were some of the richest men and women in the world. The
delegation was so beautiful, and so with the truth. Their presence
was holy."
Back in
Flagstaff in 2001, Hamilton said Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal
now have the opportunity to make a difference in the future of
mankind.
"We
want the dehumanizing and militarizing to stop. There is a lot of
suffering going on. We want to make sure the ceremonies are not
surrounded by guns and the people have clean drinking water.
"There
is no life without water."
Hamilton
said Navajo elders resisting relocation often become dehydrated
during the hot summer months because of the scarcity of clean
water, while Peabody Coal pumps 10,000 gallons of water a minute
to slurry coal.
She
carried the human rights concerns to Peabody management for years,
but she said they have done little to improve the quality of
living as promised.
"It's
really just diversion and distraction while the people are
suffering out there. Everything is based on making way for
mining."
The
delegation presented a list of demands to Lehman Brothers,
demanding that Peabody leave the water and coal alone because they
are the lungs and liver of Mother Earth. They called for a halt to
mining and the initiation of a solar project, availability of
clean drinking water, and a halt to military over flights and the
intimidation of elders and youths by armed rangers.
Hamilton
said the Weaving for Freedom project is a collective of Dine'
weavers in resistance struggling for religious freedom to practice
their ancient craft while protecting their sacred land.
Hamilton
said, "This work is very risky now. We protect each other by
traveling in large groups."
Leonard
Benally said, "The whole thing is about materialism, money.
In our culture, money doesn't matter. It is about how you live in
harmony with nature, in harmony with your prayers.
"That's
why we are fighting for our lands, even though the media and
politicians are telling us we don't have a right to exist."
Meanwhile,
Bill Ahearn, spokesman for Lehman Brothers, said in 2001 that the
protesters were welcome to speak at the meeting but said the firm
would be unable to help them. He said the issues must be resolved
by the tribes and BIA.
"We're
very sympathetic and we feel badly for them, but there's nothing
we can do for them because it's not a problem with us."
|