San Carlos Council Member Wendsler Nosie Sr introduces Representative Raul Grijalva in front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC July 22 in a rally to reverse the land giveaway of Sacred Apache Land for destructive mining.
Councilmen Nosie, his granddaughter Naelyn Pike, and Representative Grijalva.
KDfrAZ posted earlier today on Oak Flat. He started a petition which should be signed. He had asked for a diary on the protest earlier. DC is not too far away so I took the day trip. Below are a few photos and a personal trip log.
But first House Bill 2811 introduced by Representative Grijalva (D-AZ) should be mentioned. It repeals the rider which the evil John McCain slipped into the Defense Authorization Bill. It needs support.
I grew up in the area. Each person has a different idea of sacred. I did spend time in the desert with family, with friends and at times alone. Staring up at stars by a desert stream with coyotes calling is as close as I have ever come to contentment.
It would be obscene to destroy one of the few Riparian areas left, and crushed and broken land never again safe to walk on.
The bill reads:
To repeal section 3003 of the the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. Short title.
This Act may be cited as the “Save Oak Flat Act”.
SEC. 2. Findings.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291) authorizes approximately 2422 acres of Forest Service land known as “Oak Flat” in the Tonto National Forest in Southeastern Arizona that is sacred to Indian tribes in the region, including the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Yavapai-Apache Nation, to be transferred to a mining company called Resolution Copper. That company plans to hold the Forest land privately for a mining project that will result in the physical destruction of tribal sacred areas and deprive American Indians from practicing their religions, ceremonies, and other traditional practices. The mining project will also create significant negative environmental impacts by destroying the area and depleting and contaminating precious water resources.
(2) Once Resolution Copper owns the Oak Flat area, it plans to use the highly destructive block cave mining method to remove one cubic mile of ore that is now 7,000 feet beneath the surface of the earth without replacing any of the earth removed because that is the cheapest form of mining. Resolution Copper admits that the surface will subside and ultimately collapse, destroying forever this place of worship.
(3) The Tonto National Forest in which Oak Flat is located was established in 1905 from the ancestral homelands of the Tonto Apache and other American Indians who were forcibly removed at gunpoint from the Oak Flat area and other areas of the Tonto National Forest by the United States Army in the 1880s and imprisoned in other areas, including what is now the San Carlos Apache Reservation, located approximately 15 miles from Oak Flat, where Apaches were held as prisoners of war until the early 1900s.
(4) Section 3003 was included in the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 without proper legislative process and circumvented the will of the majority of Members of the House of Representatives. Section 3003 was originally introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Senate as S. 339 in the 113th Congress. H.R. 687 was brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for consideration twice and was pulled from consideration both times. S. 339 was never considered by the Senate or even considered for mark up by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Section 3003 was then included in the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 without majority support from either the House or Senate and an amendment to remove section 3003 was not allowed to be considered.
(5) American Indian tribes have ceded or have had taken from them millions of acres of land to help build the United States and have suffered under Federal assimilationist policies that sought to destroy tribal cultures. Despite these policies, American Indians continue to practice their religions as they have done for thousands of years. American Indian places of worship, or sacred areas, are often land based, including mountains, streams, and trees. As a result of previous Federal land policies that resulted in the significant loss of lands of American Indian tribes, many sacred areas of tribes are now located on Federal lands.
(6) The United States has a trust responsibility acknowledged by Congress to protect tribal sacred areas on Federal lands. These laws require meaningful consultations with affected Indian tribes before making decisions that will impact American Indians. In contradiction to these laws, section 3003 requires the mandatory conveyance of a tribal sacred area located on Federal lands regardless of the outcome of consultation with affected Indian tribes.
(7) Section 3003 was strongly opposed by Indian tribes nationwide because it sets dangerous legislative precedent for the lack of protection of tribal sacred areas located on Federal lands by mandating the conveyance of Federal lands with significant religious, cultural, historic, and anthropological significance for Indian tribes to a private company that will destroy the land.
(8) Section 3003 circumvents standard environmental review procedures that ensure that the public interest is protected, including the interests of Indian tribes. Section 3003 requires a mandatory conveyance of the Oak Flat area regardless of the findings resulting from the environmental review process. The mining project will require significant amounts of water that will likely affect the local hydrology, including the underlying aquifer, and will result in polluted water that will seep into drinking water supplies.
(9) The inclusion of section 3003 in the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 sets negative precedent for legislative process and for Federal Indian policy.
SEC. 3. Repeal of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation.
Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291) is repealed.
The cosponsors deserve recognition:
Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
Rep. Cole, Tom [R-OK-4]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK-2]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3]* 06/17/2015
Rep. McCollum, Betty [D-MN-4]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Murphy, Patrick [D-FL-18]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Hastings, Alcee L. [D-FL-20]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM-3]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Ruiz, Raul [D-CA-36]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Polis, Jared [D-CO-2]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Cardenas, Tony [D-CA-29]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Becerra, Xavier [D-CA-34]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ-7]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Moore, Gwen [D-WI-4]* 06/17/2015
Rep. Lujan Grisham, Michelle [D-NM-1] 07/07/2015
Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1] 07/07/2015
Rep. Kilmer, Derek [D-WA-6] 07/08/2015
Rep. Grayson, Alan [D-FL-9] 07/21/2015
Rep. Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [D-NY-25] 07/21/2015
Rep. Cummings, Elijah E. [D-MD-7] 07/21/2015
Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-13] 07/21/2015
Rep. Lowenthal, Alan S. [D-CA-47] 07/21/2015
Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] 07/21/2015
Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. [D-CA-32] 07/21/2015
A banner signed by Native American groups across the nation.
Support HR 2811 sign
Who is on that poster?
On the drive down from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area Democracy Now! was on the radio interviewing Ta-Nehis Coates promoting is book Between the World and Me. He stated there is no reason to expect justice and good does not always win.
Mr. Nosie made the point the United States cannot say to other nations that it must respect the rights of their indigenous people while continuing to take First American's land and desecrating their Sacred Areas.
Coates words are:
Perhaps there has been, at some point in history, some great power whose elevation was exempt from the violent exploitation of other human bodies. If there has been, I have yet to discover it. But this banality of violence can never excuse America, because America makes no claim to the banal. America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist, a lone champion standing between the white city of democracy and the terrorists, despots, barbarians, and other enemies of civilization. On cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our countrymen's claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose to subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard.
The Apache cause is just. They are in the right. Senator McCain and Resolution Copper know that they could not do this in the light of day. They have tried to do this with separate bills and always been unsuccessful Representative Girjalva pointed out. Only by slipping this into a national defense bill which did they get it passed. History however has not always been on the side of justice.
TRAIL OF TEARS
Worcester vs. Georgia, 1832 and Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, 1831 are considered the two most influential legal decisions in Indian law. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Georgia in the 1831 case, but in Worcester vs. Georgia, the court affirmed Cherokee sovereignty. President Andrew Jackson arrogantly defied the decision of the court and ordered the removal, an act that established the U.S. government’s precedent for the future removal of many Native Americans from their ancestral homelands.
A couple of banners were made for the demonstration the councilman and congressman were prudent enough not to stand in front of this representation of Senator McCain, Congressman Flake and Congresswoman Kirkpatrick.
The event was from 11 o'clock till after 2. I wandered around listing to the speakers, but did take regular breaks in the shade of a tree near Mr. Young Dog an Oglala Sioux who now lives in Apache Junction, AZ. I hope I've got the name correct although he is definitely not young. He had a baseball cap beside his chair with Artillery on the top and several military ribbons embroidered including the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon and a Combat Action Ribbon.
In our conversations he mentioned that former Council Chairman Wendsler Nosie Sr had felt Senator McCain's wrath while he was chairman. The senator had cut off funding for AIDS education on the San Carlos Reservation to spite him. John McCain is an ass.
The horned representative for Arizona's first congressional district is Ann Kirkpatrick her district includes the Oak Flat. From the Arizona Republic:
Kirkpatrick, whose district includes the proposed mine site, also praised the mine’s economic benefits.
“My vision for Arizona is a diversified and stable economy. The Superior mine fits into that vision and is critical to the communities and constituents in my district,” she said in a written statement. “It will provide jobs, economic development and a stronger foundation for their future.”
But she acknowledged longstanding opposition to the mine from American Indian tribes and environmental groups, many of whom contributed to Kirkpatrick’s return to Congress this year. The groups worry the mine will threaten the region’s water supply, harm sacred tribal grounds and destroy land in the Tonto National Forest enjoyed by campers and rock climbers. Opponents question the mine’s job-creation figures.
“I believe their voices should be heard during this process,” Kirkpatrick said. She pledged to represent their concerns while also advancing the project.
Reportedly she said as she left a meeting with Tribal leaders. "You've got huge unemployment and people pissing in their beds." She believes the supposed economic benefits trumps all.
I didn't get around to conversation about the other horned figure, former First District Representative, now Senator Flake, but did see a sign "Flake stole our water."
It is unlikely that total Apache campaign contributions come anywhere close to Copper Industry contributions. The star in the middle of the Arizona flag is copper color for a reason.
After the rally I got on the Metro and went to Ben's Chili to get one of their hot dogs and to see if they still had Bill Cosby painted on the side of the restaurant. The chili dogs are still great and the mural is still there. Then around the corner to Busboy's and Poets bookstore and gathering place for a beer and a Falafel Sandwich in the hope that eating a vegetarian sandwich would counteract the effects of a hot dog. Probably doesn't work that way.
It was a beautiful day. I was hoping more people would be there.