Indigenous arrive in Paris for COP21

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American Indian Movement: Hidden history, sovereignty and resistance

The American Indian Movement's annual west coast conference reveals atrocities of California Indian missions, and honors Darrell Standing Elk, while urging clemency for Leonard Peltier

By Brenda Norrell

SAN FRANCISCO -- The AIM West Conference revealed the true history of the California Indian Missions. It is a history of slavery, beatings and murder. It is a history that the Pope refused to recognize when he honored the brutal priest Junipero Serra.

Valentin Lopez, Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Costanoan Ohlone Indians, described the true history of slavery and cruelty, beatings and murders, of the California Indian missions.

Lopez chronicled the history and opposition to the recognition of Junipero Serra as a Saint, during the American Indian Movement's annual West Coast Conference here this weekend.

"We can't depend on the Catholic Church to tell the truth." He said the state of California can not be depended on to tell the truth.

"We need to tell our own truth."

Lopez said the beatings and atrocities of California Indians carried out by Junipero Serra were carried out with the moral authority of the Pope.

"That does not come from the Creator. That comes from evil."

The annual AIM West Conference began by honoring Darrell Standing Elk, Lakota, and urging clemency for Leonard Peltier, now 71, who has spent his life in prison.

Jean Whitehorse, Dine’ (Navajo) spoke on termination, relocation and sterilization by the US government. Speakers discussed protection of Native American sacred places and burial places, using the social media and the ongoing organizing by Indigenous Peoples for the UN climate summit COP21 in Paris.

Sovereignty was also a focal point.

Tohono O’odham human rights activists and Mohawk Warriors spoke out on sovereignty.

Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham, described documenting the abuse by the US Border Patrol and an increase in violence toward O'odham by border agents along the border of the United States and Mexico.

"The Tohono O'odham tribal government has completely surrendered to the US Homeland Security,” Wilson said.

Wilson said people ask him why -- if the Tohono O’odham is sovereign -- is the US Border Patrol on the Tohono O’odham Nation.

"In Indian country, we are not sovereign nations, we are not even sovereign people,” Wilson said.

"If we were truly sovereign, why do we have Border Patrol, as far as I'm concerned it is an occupying army in Indian country."

Mark Maracle, Mohawk Warrior, responded on the issue of sovereignty.

Maracle said that Mohawks do not wait for anyone to tell them that they are sovereign.

"You don't have sovereignty unless you assert sovereignty,” Maracle told Censored News.

“The United States and Mexico are not sovereign nations.”

“We tell them we are sovereign. We don’t wait for them to tell us that we are sovereign. We tell them. If you want sovereignty, you have to make sacrifices.”

Maracle said Mohawks have stood up against the state police, federal agents and all forms of government.

“We keep reminding them that this land belongs to us."

Maracle said he is speaking because he was given the right to speak by the Mohawk clan mothers.

Read more of their comments:

-- Day 1: Honoring Darrell Standing Elk, urging clemency for Peltier,

and speakers

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/11/live-aim-west-conference-nov-21-22-2015.html

-- Day 2: Hidden Atrocities: California Indian Missions and Doctrine of Discovery

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/11/hidden-atrocities-californias-indian.html

-- Response: Mohawk Warrior Mark Maracle interview and Tohono O'odham human rights activist Mike Wilson speak out on sovereignty

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/11/mohawk-and-tohono-oodham-sovereignty.html

-- The 2014 video archives are streaming until the 2015 video archives are posted.

For permission to repost this article brendanorrell@gmail.com

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Mohawk and Tohono O'odham: Sovereignty

Mohawk Warrior asserting sovereignty

Read article at Censored News:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/11/mohawk-and-tohono-oodham-sovereignty.html

AIM West Conference live today Nov. 21 -- 22, 2015

AIM West live today

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Sen. Sanders introduces bill to Save Oak Flat

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Senators Bernie Sanders Introduces Senate Companion Bill to Repeal Southeast Arizona Land Exchange
By Theresa Nosie

Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/11/sen-bernie-sanders-introduces-save-oak.html

Ecuador: Testimony before Inter American Commission on Human Rights

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Testimony in Washington DC this week: Listen to Ecuadors Indigenous Women: Defenders of Human Rights and the Environment

Published on Oct 19, 2015

Situación de defensoras y defensores de derechos humanos de pueblos indígenas y del ambiente en Ecuador

Audiencia Pública del 156 Período de Sesiones de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)

Lunes 19 de octubre de 2015

Native Women Plan for Cochabamba Climate Conference 2015

Michelle Cook, Dineh (Navajo) and Ofelia Rivas, O'odham

Read article at Censored News:

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/09/oodham-and-dineh-women-seek-sponsors-to.html

Oak Flat Apache invite Europeans for Global Resistance 2016

Apache Wendsler Nosie extended a welcome to European supporters to come to Oak Flat, as the resistance to corporate oppression spreads worldwide. Above, Nosie's granddaughter Naelyn Pike, 16, describes the essence of sacred land at Oak Flat.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News Exclusive

Chi'Chil'Bilda'Goteel (Oak Flat) -- Apache Wendsler Nosie invited Europeans supporters to come to Oak Flat in mid-March and join forces in this global resistance that is not only protecting Oak Flat from Resolution Copper, but is becoming the catalyst to unify Native people against the aggression of corporate oppressors who seek to destroy their lands around the world.
Standing in the heart of the resistance camp here, Nosie sent a special invitation to supporters in Europe to gather here in mid-March 2016.
Nosie also sent a message of solidarity to Mauna Kea in Hawaii where Native people are resisting telescope construction on their sacred mountain. Nosie himself was arrested and jailed here in Arizona, by the University of Arizona, as he prayed on Mount Graham during the long years of resistance to protect Mount Graham from massive telescope construction.
A special invitation is being extended to Bolivia President Evo Morales to come to the global resistance gathering here in March of 2016.
Wendsler's granddaughter Naelyn Pike, 16, described the spiritual importance of sacred Oak Flat.
READ MORE http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/09/apache-invite-europeans-for-global.html

Native Americans in DC: Obama Stop Leasing Fossil Fuels!"

Louise Benally joined Native delegations speaking today in DC.  Photos by Wild Earth Guardians . . Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain, joined Native American delegations and coalitions in DC today and helped deliver the message to President Obama: It's time to keep our fossil fuels in the ground! In the Keep it in the Ground campaign, Wild Earth Guardians said, "The time is now to boldly cut carbon pollution and move our nation away from fossil fuels. We can't even begin to make this happen if the President is going to keep stop selling more of our publicly owned coal, oil, and gas. It's time to Keep it in the Ground!" By Brenda Norrell Censored News WASHINGTON -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain joined Native American delegation and coalitions here today to tell President Obama to stop leasing lands and oceans for fossils fuels. Benally's message was "Keep it in the Ground." “Coal companies like Peabody Energy have been mining federal and tribal coal in and near native communities like mine for decades. The tribal governments allow energy companies to impound peoples’ livestock, which is the only source of income and food for communities impacted by forced removal—a legacy policy initiated by Senator John McCain for Peabody to gain access to coal mining locations. "Peabody mine sites don't have bonds and liners in the waste ponds. Contaminated waters are released in the headwaters after every rain, polluting the little water they leave behind. The Gold King mining disaster is just the most recent example of the kind of devastation that has been happening to the Dine for generations. Before coal, we were devastated by uranium. Now, our families are the targets of a fracking boom on federal lands in places like Chaco Canyon. Dirty energy companies ruin our lands, while the profit goes elsewhere," Benally said. "Environmental concerns are not being addressed properly by agencies that should be accountable. Groundwater tables have dropped by big drops, the greenhouse gases being released into the air are not monitored correctly, and health impacts are not monitored at all. This devastation of our communities is a kind of terrorism made possible by Senators like John McCain, all while President Obama turns a blind eye. These industries are not accountable to the land, the natural world, or the people living here. Their destruction has to stop now.”  —Louise Benally, Big Mountain Diné Nation, Indigenous Cultural Concepts, Media Island International. Cherri Foytlin, Bridge the Gulf"said, "I would ask that you put yourself in our place. Over five years have passed since BP's broken promises spewed as easily from their tongues as the oil did from their broken pipe. To this day our peoples and ecosystems suffer from BP's brutal, callous, and lasting assault. Five years, and our dolphins still die, our turtles still die, our oysters still die, our marshes still die, our people still die. "BP is a corporate serial killer. BP is a terrorist organization. Yet they not only remain free to continue their patterns of destruction, they are subsidized by our government to do it. How many more graves will there be, before justice is truly served in the Gulf Coast? That is the only question we have now." Princess Daazhraii Johnson of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) delivered a powerful message from Alaska. "We are in climate crisis in Alaska, and advancing energy extraction within our ancestral territories would seriously exacerbate climate change and threaten our ability to survive in the Arctic.  Climate Change is upsetting the delicate balance in many ecosystems. There is an urgency to take action now. "The President was in Alaska, and saw for himself the consequences of climate change.  Indigenous peoples of the North implore him to take effective action now to address the issue while we still can. If the U.S. is serious about Climate Change, rescind the Shell permits to drill in the Chukchi Sea, and permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We must keep the remaining fossil fuels in the ground and continue towards a just transition to alternative energies.  We do not have the luxury of time.  We can implement clean energy systems in the U.S. now."

Israeli US spy towers target traditional Tohono O'odham sacred area

Photo by Brenda Norrell

US spy tower on sovereign

Tohono O'odham Nation

Read article at Censored News

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Native People Protest Obama and Arctic Drilling in Alaska

Photos and article:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/09/photos-native-people-protest-obama-and.html

Alaska's Big Village: Shell NO!

Save the Arctic Aug. 28, 2015

Friday, August 28

ShellNo Alaska Demonstration

Alaska's Big Village Network

Where: Anchorage, Alaska

Town Square Park- corner of 6^th and E Street

When: 5:45pm 8/28/15

As Anchorage prepares for the visit of Obama, Alaska's Big Village Network is holding a public demonstration to demand that the United States President Obama to "Save the Arctic" from offshore Arctic drilling operations currently underway by Shell Oil.

The public demonstration is one of many planned in Anchorage to build local and international awareness of the fragile Arctic Ocean that provides for a global nursery on the planet. The Arctic is a vital and critical food security source for Arctic indigenous peoples inhabiting the entire Arctic Region. The Arctic is an international migratory pathway for many animals, birds, fish, and marine mammals.

"Salmon is the backbone our subsistence economy," says Ole Lake, Yupik advisor for Alaska's Big Village Network. "The high probability of an oil spill in the Chukchi Sea drilling operation by Shell Oil directly affects our salmon habitat. The salmon feed of the rich biological ecosystems under the sea ice in the Arctic. All Alaskan Native peoples are impacted and threatened by offshore drilling in the Arctic."

Shellno Alaska has three demands of President Obama: 1. Cessation of exploratory drilling in the Arctic; 2. Protection of Indigenous Peoples Human Rights and Alaska's communities; 3. A rapid and just transition to renewable energy; 4. Binding agreements at the 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference that are on par with what science has shown is necessary for a livable future.

Carl Wassilie of Shellno Alaska says: "We have to represent the voices of those who can't speak, including future generations and the animals. Arctic drilling is a violation of the human rights of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Obama and Shell are bypassing many laws designed to protect our coast and our communities. Obama needs to start listening to the peoples of the Arctic who oppose Arctic drilling."
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Navajos vote not to irrigate with contaminated river water

The scorched earth campaign of the US EPA's gold mine spill is devastating for Navajo farmers, the latest travesty in the Four Corners, where Cold War uranium mining and coal-fired power plants have left a trail of death for Navajos

Duane 'Chili' Yazzie

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

SHIPROCK, N.M. -- Navajo farmers at Shiprock made the heart-wrenching decision not to irrigate crops this season with the San Juan River water now contaminated with heavy metals from the Animas River Gold King mine spill, which the US EPA was responsible for.

Duane 'Chili' Yazzie said, "The Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation voted 104 to 0 not to turn river water back into our irrigation system for this season. It was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make.

"It was difficult to watch farmers make the heart wrenching decision they know will assure the loss of much of our crops; crops that they are attached to, that they nurtured, cared for and sang to. Through our tears we ask for forgiveness from our corn and our crop family," Yazzie said.

"It was a sacrifice to make sure that we not contaminate our irrigation system and our farmlands. We said we will not risk the quality of our crops into the future. It was a decision that said we want to leave a clean land for our grandchildren. 

"Our prayer is for our river, the Earth Mother to heal.

"We stand as proud and resilient Diné, we will persevere, we shall survive," Yazzie said.

The heart-wrenching vote comes after Shiprock farmers found oil contamination in the water that arrived in the tanks from the US EPA after the spill. The US EPA sent water by way of an oil and fracking company and the tanks were contaminated with oil.

Even before the oil contaminated water arrived from the US EPA, the US EPA began a dirty tricks campaign, attempting to get Navajos to sign waivers which would limit the EPA's responsibility for the river spill.

Shiprock is in the heart of the Four Corners where coal-fired power plants have already poisoned the air, water and land. 

Further, the Cold War uranium mining in the area left a trail of deaths from uranium mining because Navajo uranium miners were sent to their deaths without protective clothing in the uranium mines, even after the US knew that it would kill them. 

The radioactive dust poisoned food, crops and livestock grazing areas. Even in recent years, homes in the area, including Red Valley and Cove, where built using radioactive rocks, as revealed by Geiger counters. Still today, radioactive rocks remain scattered in the Shiprock region because of the failed cleanup.

The poisoning of the Animas River and San Juan River by the US EPA is the latest in this travesty of a scorched earth campaign carried out here. 

The Four Corners coal-fired power plants, some of the dirtiest in the world, have resulted in this becoming a sacrifice zone, with respiratory diseases and cancer in this trail of death.

Read more at Censored News www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

EPA sent Navajos poison water after river spill

Navajo President Russell Begaye shows the oil tainted water that the US EPA
sent Navajos to drink and give to their livestock

EPA sends Navajos poisoned water by way of oil and fracking trucking company

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

SHIPROCK, N.M. -- The US EPA sent Navajos poisoned water after the massive Animas gold mine spill, which the EPA was responsible for. 

Further, Navajos say EPA officials have not only denied the water in the tanks was tainted, but have accused Navajos of being mentally unstable who exposed the contaminated water. Listen to the video statements: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Navajo-Nation-OPVP-Russell-Begaye-And-Jonathan-Nez/302132179938953

The Gold King mine spill flowed from the Animas River into the San Juan River, which Navajo farmers are dependent on for irrigation. The San Juan River is also used for livestock and Navajo families swim in the river.

After the spill flooded the rivers with heavy metals, the EPA then sent water in tanks contaminated with oil.

In Shiprock on Monday, Duane 'Chili' Yazzie said,  "Disaster upon catastrophe in Shiprock. The water transport company that was hired by EPA to haul water from the non-contaminated San Juan River set up 11 large 16,000 gallon tanks throughout the farming areas in Shiprock and filled them up with water for the crops. As they started to take water from the tanks for their corn and melons, the farmers noticed the water from some of tanks was rust colored, smelled of petroleum and slick with oil. The hopes of the farmers of actually being able to save some of the precious crops were obliterated in an instant with the tainted water. The farmers refused to use the water."
"EPA and SSS Trucking were told to take the water and dump it off Rez, to load up the tanks and get off the Rez. Stands to reason, the water transport company was SSS Trucking of Farmington, one of the trucking companies that supply the dreaded fracking operations with 600+ nasty chemicals and millions of gallons of water. Now the Chapter, the Navajo Nation and BIA are scrambling to secure other sources for water. Crops are getting thirsty, it is reaching critical stage. Pray for rain."

Navajo President Russell Begaye and the Navajo Nation Attorney General Branch are personally investigating concerns about tainted water in EPA tanks, Begaye said in a statement.

"The President and the Attorney General are extremely troubled by these reports and are working to gather all the facts and will discuss their findings with senior EPA officials and the Navajo Nation as soon as we updated information."

Marisa Demarco at KUNM radio in Albuquerque reported Monday that Navajo farmers had been sent contaminated water by the US EPA. 

KUNM reports:

"Farmers in Shiprock say the tankers arriving with desperately needed hydration for their crops contained water that smelled like petroleum, was visibly discolored and had an odd sheen to it.

“The barrels are not clean,” said Farm Board Representative Joe Ben Jr. “They are from oil drilling operations.”

The deliveries were intended to help crops that are wilting in the sun after the spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado on Aug. 5 contaminated the San Juan River downstream. Ben halted the distribution of the emergency replacement water. “The EPA has begun to study this water,” he said. “In the meantime, our plants are dying.”

EPA testing results for the San Juan River were not released until 10 days after the spill.

The farmers are outraged, Ben said, and they have yet to receive one clean gallon from the EPA, which took responsibility for the Animas River spill. “I am at the point where I just don’t understand this situation no longer,” he said. “There are no resources extended to us.”

There are about 450 farmers in the Shiprock area, which is the agricultural hub of the Navajo Nation. “This is a national resource—a treasure,” Ben said.

More on the story at KUNM:

 http://kunm.org/post/navajo-farmers-epa-sent-us-more-contaminated-water#stream/0

Navajos to BLM: Stop Sacrificing us for Dirty Coal Energy!

Four Corners residents tired of being sacrificed for dirty coal electricity, residents testified during BLM listening session

Louise Benally, Big Mountain

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

FARMINGTON, N.M. -- Speaking out against the laws that target Native Americans and their natural resources, Native people told the Bureau of Land Management to make the change to renewable energy and halt the ongoing genocide of Native Americans for dirty coal energy.
Native Americans, scientists, farmers and laborers described the reality of disease and death in the Four Corners sacrifice region, during a BLM listening session.
Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain resisting forced relocation, testified that she is a victim of the destruction of coal mining by Peabody Coal on Black Mesa, where the forced relocation of Dine' (Navajos) has been carried out to clear the way for Peabody Coal mining.
Benally said right now sheep and livestock are being impounded on Black Mesa.
Benally said Arizona Sen. John McCain continues his attempts to steal Colorado River water rights for those who live in luxury in southern Arizona and for the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, which provides electricity for southern Arizona.
"The utility companies eat the earth, suck 
out her breath."
Describing how the coal companies destroy the earth, she said, "We're sick and tired of your greed."
Benally said the US continues killing the people through its laws.
"The Arctic drilling needs to stop," Benally said, pointing out Obama's decision to grant Shell the right to drill in the Arctic. 
"The Alberta pipeline needs to stop," Benally said of the Alberta oil tarsands and its pipelines, including the Keystone XL.
She said India and China need renewable forms of energy instead of continuing the demand for these dirty forms of energy.
"Do your job make that change," Benally told the BLM.

Lester Begay testifying today

Lester Begay testified that the Dine' elders knew, and foretold, that what was taken out of the ground would kill the people.
Begay said the elders taught Dine' to respect what is in nature. He shared the elders story: When white people pick up a rock, they will look at it all day, then they will sell it.
Native Americans testified that asthma and heart attacks are caused each year by the Four Corners and San Juan power plants alone in New Mexico.
Four Corners power plants mean the region has become a sacrifice zone, producing dirty coal fired electricity for distant cities.
Pueblos testified that the Jackpile Mine uranium mine caused death in the Laguna and Acoma Pueblos in New Mexico. Pueblo miners went to the mines unprotected, and the radiation spread over their water, food and livestock grazing areas.
"Our very way of life was stolen," said one Pueblo woman who spoke of her grandfather's death.
"They were not made to clean up the damage that they had done." She added that no amount of money could bring back her grandfather.
A member of the Dine' medicine peoples association said, "You have to be careful how you distract Mother Earth."
"We have to respect Mother Earth," she said, describing the poisons from the power plants.
One person testifying for Indigenous and people of color said that the Four Corners residents who came to testify were disrespected by the BLM officials, during their prayer outside earlier. Further, she said they were not greeted properly by the BLM.
Native Americans living in the Four Corners regions said children are among the ones who are suffering from asthma and respiratory diseases from the coal-fired power plants.
The San Juan Generating Station and Four Corners power plants use huge amounts of clean drinking water and release toxic water, residents testified.
Coal-mining targets the poor and most vulnerable, residents said.
One of those residents, who lives downstream from the Four Corners power plants, said his five year old son nearly died from the downstream power plant pollution. He told the BLM officials to go down there and drink the dirty water coming out of Four Corners power plants. He said they expect his family and children to drink it, so they should go drink it.
"There is no such thing as clean coal," one Four Corners resident said.
The United States was told to stop subsidizing dirty coal energy.
Charles Pacheco described working in power plants, hazardous waste and radiation.
Pacheco said the Obama administration would not comply with regulations regarding safe respirators and arsenic at San Juan Generating Station. 
When Pacheco complained, he was terminated.

Donna House, Dine'

"If you were a laborer and said anything about it, they laid you off."
Donna House, Dine', described how the power plants have destroyed rare and endangered plant species. The power plants have destroyed habitat for plant species and people, House said.
Farmers said they need clean water for their crops. New Mexico has a rich culture and the people will not stop fighting dirty coal, one farmer said.
The BLM was also criticized for failing to announce this session in other languages, in the state of New Mexico, which is multi-lingual.
"We want system change, not climate change," one resident testified.
A high school student from Santa Fe testified that dirty coal electricity is the number one contributor to global warming.
It was also pointed out that last year was the hottest year on record, and there are wild fires raging now in the west.
Peabody Coal and other dirty coal companies are going bankrupt and taxpayers will be left with the cost of this dirty energy that has caused widespread death and disease, residents testified.
Those testifying about climate change and destructive US coal energy policies included Dine', Pueblo, students, scientists, farmers, laborers, sheep herders, filmmakers, and community members from Big Mountain to Taos Valley and Colorado, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and beyond.