http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi2.html
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/prophecy/hopi1.html
http://www.ausbcomp.com/redman/hopi_prophecy.htm


Informant: Italys Bad Boy

Michael Moore’s film doing what mainstream media is not

Posted: July 30, 2004 http://indiancountry.com/?search=July+30,+2004 - 3:33pm EST
by: Brenda Norrell http://indiancountry.com/?author=448 / Southwest Staff Reporter / Indian Country Today

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - While moviegoers flock to see "Fahrenheit 9/11", American Indians point out that Sept. 11, 2001, was neither the first time terrorism was unleashed in this land, nor was it the first time United States dollars were pocketed by war profiteers.

"Native people know what true terror is. It was turned on us by the U. S. military a long time ago," said Jennifer Denetdale, Navajo, assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico.

"And government corruption? We know what that is too. Just for an example: The imprisonment of Navajos at Bosque Redondo from 1864 to 1868 cost U.S. taxpayers $10 million and most of it went to contractors who made huge profits off of our suffering."

As Native peoples we also should be more critical of the cost we are sustaining as we sacrifice our children - young men and women to the war effort - when our rights as Native peoples in our own country is continually disregarded and undermined."

After watching "Fahrenheit 9/11" twice, Denetdale urged others to see the film and pursue real news from alternative sources.

"I have been continually frustrated and shocked by the national media’s treatment of the war. It has been benign and incredibly ill-informed. Given that the American people, including Native peoples, do not have access to some of the realities of the war in Iraq, most people remain unaware of the many consequences of America’s war-mongering."

Denetdale said it is important to know the connection between corporations and Bush and Cheney, including the fact that Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton, awarded a no-bid contract in Iraq.

"I am pleased to see Moore’s film out, the revelations of G.W. Bush’s family connections to the Saudis, the business connections - Cheney and Halliburton - and the sacrifices and costs that the average American family is enduring. At the same time Bush is cutting all kinds of domestic programs; it is past time for the American people to know this."

However, Denetdale said the film perpetuates another stereotype.

"While I found Moore’s film cathartic - finally, evidence that other people know what an atrocity the war is and how it’s based on lies the Bush administration perpetuates - there is also some racism in the film.

"For example, the ‘coalition of the willing’ images of ‘backwards’ countries peopled by brown and black-skinned humans - perpetuates assumptions and stereotypes. We can do without that."

Klee Benally, Navajo activist and member of the family rock band Blackfire in Flagstaff, Ariz., said he hopes Michael Moore’s next film will focus on the genocide of indigenous peoples and the seizure of their lands.

Klee points out that the war in Iraq is a longstanding war fought on the homeland. Klee’s father, Navajo medicine man Jones Benally, is from Big Mountain in Arizona, where Peabody Coal mining has caused a travesty for the Navajo and Hopi people on Black Mesa.

"‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ is a remarkable and indispensable testimony to the tragedy of our times," Klee said. "I just hope that people don’t think that after Bush is gone all the problems will go away. Mr. Moore could have easily shown how our personal everyday dependency on fossil fuels and other non-sustainable energy is also what’s really behind this war."

One scene in particular remains with him.

"The image of the Native American serving in Iraq with the eagle feather on his helmet really struck me - it’s really difficult to see my brothers and sisters used as tools to invade other indigenous peoples’ land and take their resources. Lest we forget, it’s the people on both sides, not the politicians, who truly pay the price of war."

This war for land, oil and power stretches from the ancestral lands of the Western Shoshone to the Navajo Nation in the West and around the Earth, wherever indigenous people live and are displaced, he said.

"From Yucca Mountain to Big Mountain, we see human rights abuses being committed today for resource development here in the United States and nothing is done about it, maybe that should be Michael Moore’s next film."

Ben Winton, Native publisher of The Native Press online in Phoenix, said the United States government has long usurped land by destabilizing governments and abusing the rights of sovereign nations.

"I don’t think most people understand the significance of 1851 Fort Laramie or John Marshall’s trilogy and how it applies today. Fort Laramie was about the government promising that, forever and ever, tribes would be entitled to the land that was divided up among them by government agents at Fort Laramie."

Indian tribes promised not to harm settlers moving to the West. The tribes included Sioux, Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara and others. But, 20 years later, Congress simply invalidated many of the agreements made at Fort Laramie, when members realized that certain lands promised to American Indians were ripe for farmers, oil barons and others, he said.

"Forget that U.S. Supreme Court John Marshall had already said that tribes should be dealt with as ‘domestic sovereign nations.’ And, by the 1950s, it got even worse when the U.S. government, who had employed as head of the BIA the same man who architected the Japanese internment camps during World War II, decided to simply ‘terminate’ tribes and all the rights that would be afforded to domestic sovereign nations.

"Then, on the heels of termination came relocation, a federal initiative to lure tribal members to the cities with one-way bus tickets and the promise of a better life off the reservation. The underlying motive was assimilation and acculturation in order to make it easier to terminate tribal members."

... these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world. Shoghi Effendi,Citadel of Faith p.26, quoting Abdul'Baha

check out this wonderful, altruistic, informative site. http://mysite.verizon.net/londa.mccullough/aboutme.html

We need to hit the streets with this song! The time has come for PEACE!
http://www.geocities.com/tulanappe9/the_ULTIMATE_PEACE_SONG.html


Informant: Carrie Dann

FYI. Ecuador Summit of Indigenous Organizations and Nations expresses support for Western Shoshone.

Carrie Dann



Ecuador hosts indigenous summit

Posted: August 10, 2004 - 9:18am EST
by: Brenda Norrell / Southwest Staff Reporter / Indian Country Today

QUITO, Ecuador - Indigenous from 64 nations gathered to unite in their struggle against the oppressive policies of globalization and free trade leading to increased hunger and desperation for the world’s indigenous farmers, during the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nations of Abya Yala (the Americas.)

Tupac Enrique Acosta, coordinator of Tonatierra community-based action organization in Phoenix, Ariz., said the summit in Quito on July 25 supported the rights of the Western Shoshone and called for an extensive investigation of human rights abuses of indigenous peoples.

"The Treaty of Teotihuacan, proclaimed in Mexico at the First Summit of Indigenous Organizations and Nations, was reaffirmed at this Summit of Abya Yala in the territory of the Kitu Kara nation before the Sacred Fire," Enrique said.

"We were successful in getting support for the Western Shoshone Nation at the summit, which is also calling for a Tribunal of Humanity, in the Court of the Indigenous Peoples, on the issue of the Papal Bull of Alexander VI in 1493, the Doctrine of Discovery."

During the summit, indigenous issued a statement opposing the free trade agreement, which Ecuador, Colombia and Peru are negotiating with the United States. In the Quito Declaration presented to the Forum, participants demanded governments free indigenous leaders arrested for seeking autonomy and return cultural artwork that has been taken out of the countries of origin.

They also urged governments to allow the free movement of Indians living in border areas, and to respect indigenous territories.

The summit stated in its declaration that national governments following the lines of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and IADB, are devastating indigenous with the payment of the external debt and are reversing their collective right to the earth. Further, they are modifying legislation to permit the privatization of resources and allowing companies to appropriate indigenous land and resources.

Indigenous gathered at the Miguel del Hierro de las Hermanas Lauritas school, the host location of the Second Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nations of Abya Yala.

The delegations traveled through the Avenue of America, gathering at the Indo America Plaza where they presented a special act of solidarity for hunger-striking Jubilados (pensioners) of Ecuador. Following this, the massive march continued down Patria Avenue, passing the United States Embassy and finally congregating in the Salesiana University Coliseum where they conducted the ceremony of Sacred Fire.

Spiritual leader Jaime Pilatu’a presided over the ceremony. Tupac Enrique Acosta, a representative of the first summit that took place in Teotihuacan, Mexico in 2000, spoke.

Enrique reminded the summit of the sacred fire lit 14 years ago, during the First Continental Encounter of Indigenous Peoples, a gathering that was also organized by the CONAIE in 1990 in Quito.

Enrique said since then the sacred fire began to journey, leaving spiritual footprints at gatherings of the indigenous peoples of the hemisphere. The sacred fire was presented to the organizers of the second summit responsible for the 2004 gathering.

Another representative of the second summit made a symbolic exchange of ceremonial staffs with the representatives of the Nasa indigenous peoples of Colombia. When receiving the staff, the Nasa representative spoke of the paramilitaries waging war against the indigenous peoples of Colombia.

"Today, we indigenous peoples of Colombia, pay the consequences of this because our territories are being tainted with blood, and then abandoned, leaving many children orphans. This creates an environment of oppression for us as indigenous peoples, because we defend life, our territories, and our way of living," the Nasa representative said.

The day concluded with cultural sharing, including dancing and musical performances, presented by the different groups to welcome the many indigenous peoples of the continent.

In the working group on communications and indigenous peoples at the summit, grandfathers and grandmothers were recognized as ‘the origin of the treasured memories and ancestral knowledge."

"As communication specialists of the indigenous peoples of Abya Yala we intend to maintain and strengthen the mandates and resolutions of the First Continental Indigenous Summit of Teotihuacan 2000, where our voices and the sacred fire were bound together, in a living symbolism that must be present in the decision making process of our communities and nations," the working group said.

In its mandates, the working group vowed to reclaim the power of the "word," as a sacred principle.

While encouraging traditional forms of communication and the transmission of wisdom, the working group encouraged the storytellers. "Those of us who assume responsibility in terms of communication accept the historical responsibility to serve as harvester, transmitter and storyteller of the history of our indigenous peoples of the continent Abya Yala in accompaniment and strengthened by the sacred."

Indigenous participants claimed the right of access and the use of information and communication technology, without risking the integrity of indigenous culture.

Participants were from Uruguay, Brazil, Kechua Aymaras of Bolivia, Mapuches of Chile, Kechuas of Peru, Kichwas of Ecuador, Naza of Colombia, Mexico and Holanda.

Enrique said Maya in Guatemala have accepted to lead the next phase of the movement, and will be hosting the next summit at a time to be announced at a later date.

This article can be found at
http://www.indiancountry.com/?1092143939


For more information:

http://www.cumbreindigenabyayala.org/
http://www.tonatierra.org/

Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit on nuclear Nevada:

FYI – Recent piece by Rebecca Solnit. As for the Western Shoshone – Bush’s new “distribution” will not stop Western Shoshone from asserting our rights and seeking recognition of those rights in international and domestic legal forums, the political arena, the media and the public eye. Western Shoshone lands are not for sale.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=1674


Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237
http://www.wsdp.org


Informant: Carrie Dann

by Jerry Reynolds, Indian Country

July 9, 2004

WASHINGTON -- One of the largest ongoing seizures of Indian land in modern times will move forward following President George W. Bush’s signing of the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill on July 7.

Under provisions of the bill, Western Shoshone claims to 24 million acres of land in Nevada, Utah, California and Idaho, based on the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, are officially subsumed through payment by the U.S. government.

The bill will forcibly distribute approximately $145 million in funds awarded the tribe by the Indian Land Claims Commission. Most of it will go to 6,000 or so eligible tribal members, with a separate revenue stream set aside for educational purposes.

The commission acted on findings that following the Ruby Valley Treaty, which permitted non-Indian miners access to the tribal lands, a "gradual encroachment" took place that supposedly nullified the treaty.

According to the government the "gradual encroachment" theory obviated any need for official cession of land by sovereign Western Shoshone governments, a sticking point to this day with foes of the funds distribution.

http://www.unknownnews.net/040702a-dn.html


Informant: littlebrit1961

07/11/2004 - SEATTLE WA

MARK TRAHANT, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

I did wrong. I am sorry. I will change.

Three-word sentences that all of us have to say from time to time. We learn from our mistakes, we change our behavior and we progress on through life.

In our generation, our institutions have become apology minded, too.

The Roman Catholic Church has apologized for historical wrongs by the church toward native people, for its role in the Crusades and for
anti-Semitism. An insurance company apologized for its role in slavery, expressing "deep regret over any participation in this deplorable practice." And, universities have apologized for their role in colonization, slavery and grave robbing.

The United States has its own history of saying "sorry." There have been apologies for rounding up American citizens of Japanese descent, for overthrowing the Native Hawaiian kingdom and for continuing debates about an apology for slavery and reparations.

Congress is now considering an official apology to "all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States."

The merits of such an apology are the very chapters that make up the history of the United States. The proposed, official U.S. apology cites "broken treaties" and "bloody confrontations and massacres." It tells of official condemnation of native religions and the removal of children from their parents and families. Senate Joint Resolution 37 also records how the ancestors of "today's Native Peoples inhabited the land of the present-day United States since time immemorial and for thousands of years before the arrival of the peoples of European descent."

Argue all you want over the apology, this is where the story turns ironic. While Congress considers how sorry it is -- it also acted to steal more native land (one more time, for old time's sake).

More than 50 years ago, the Indian Claims Commission determined that Western Shoshone lands in Nevada had been taken by "gradual encroachment." In 1946, that commission awarded $27 million to the tribe -- the 1872 value of the 24 million acres and the money has been collecting interest in a bank account since 1979. A friend of mine from Nevada said at the time, "They called it encroachment. We called it stealing."

Last week the act became official. President Bush signed into law a $145 million settlement quashing the Western Shoshone land claims. For a few pennies per acre, the United States has officially settled, resolving the land claim. It's done.

But this federal settlement only gives legal cover. Western Shoshones, including Carrie Dann, who's in her 70s, and her older sister, Mary, have been fighting federal agents for decades. In 1974 the federal government sued the sisters for trespass. And in the years that followed federal agents have seized their cattle -- and generally enforced encroachment as a new way of life.

The Dann case reached the Supreme Court. In 1985 the court said the Indian Claims Commission had made an award -- even if no money had changed hands -- and had therefore completed the process.

"This very day, there is this bill that will forever change democracy to a tyrant or dictator," Carrie Dann wrote last month. "The United States through its manipulation and lies will now say they bought this land. Again, let me tell you all, my sacred sogabee is not for sale. It is my life and you should not bring shame and dishonor to the United States at this time. When the acts of the United States violate the human rights of its own people, those acts should not be taken."

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid said the bill means an overdue payment could be made to individual tribal members.

Indeed, the government says, Western Shoshones voted for this settlement. But critics say the majority of Western Shoshone tribal councils are on record against the settlement and say there hasn't been a full accounting of tribal members.

One tribal member who has supported the settlement is Nancy Stewart. "The needs of our people are simple," she told The Associated Press. "Most of our homes don't have telephones, 98 percent [of tribal people] don't own computers."

Stewart said the settlement was the only route because the return of millions of acres was never realistic.

That may well be true -- I have sympathy for those who would claim "something" as opposed to "nothing." But that does not make it right.

The entire land claim process was designed with one goal: Get tribes to take money to resolve messy land claims. The solution to "encroachment" was cash, not justice.

Last week's bill is one more item the United States can add to its apology list. But what happens after the government says it's sorry? Probably another apology -- just don't expect change.

Mark Trahant is editor of the editorial page. E-mail:
marktrahant@seattlepi.com

C1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer


Informant: Carrie Dann

http://www.elkodaily.com/articles/2004/07/07/news/local/news2.txt


Informant: Carrie Dann

July 7, 2004

Bush Lets Freedom Reign

Steven Newcomb

On July 7th, Bush signed into law H.R. 884, "The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act." By doing so, he clearly demonstrated the "freedom of imperial power," despite the fact that the Western Shoshone National Council and a majority of Western Shoshone IRA governments (6 out of 9) opposed the bill.

Bush used his pen as a "scepter of imperial freedom" to violate the fundamental and ancestral rights of the Western Shoshone Nation. "Imperial freedom" refers to the American empire's claim of "freedom" to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, even against the will of those damaged by the action done.

President Bush recently made the remark, "Let freedom reign," to which New York Times Columnist Maureen Dowd responded with the rhetorical question: "Couldn't Karl Rove and his minions at least get that "ad-lib" right about freedom ringing?"

Although the idea of freedom "ringing" matches the iconic image of the Liberty Bell, Bush's comment about freedom reigning contains a deeper and little known truth about the word "freedom" in the context of feudalism, that helps explain the situation in which the Western Shoshones now find themselves.

According to the nineteenth century political philosopher Francis Lieber, the word "Freithum (literally freedom) means, in some portions of Germany, as estate of a Freiherr (baron)." In other words, according to this meaning, "a freedom" is, "a baron's estate." Just as the king reigned as Lord and dread sovereign of the entire kingdom, the baron reigned as lord and sovereign of a free domain.

Although a baron is a "lord," he is also a feudal vassal who holds his lands under a direct grant from the king. As a noble, the baron is "free" on his estate, beneath the monarch. For example, Lord Thomas Fairfax, a friend of George Washington and Chief Justice John Marshall, was a baron with an estate of more than 5 million acres of (Indian) lands in Virginia.

Importantly, the landless poor people were not "free" in the same sense as the noble landed class. As feudal tenants, the landless people were obligated to pay rents and homage (obedience and a percentage of their crops as taxes) to the landholding baron class. If they were to live at all, the landless serfs had to eek out a living by working for the aristocratic land owning class.

The English lords who came to North America were offended by the Indians' "haughty" and independent attitude. According to historian James Axtell, the English nobles that came to North America were also deeply offended by the vast amount of land the Indians possessed. It greatly offended the English nobles to see obviously "inferior" and "uncivilized heathen" Indians possessed of sufficient lands to live a privileged life of leisure that only those of noble birth were supposed to live, and engaged in such pleasurable experiences as hunting and fishing. From the viewpoint of the English nobles, it was only "natural" and destined by "God" that the Indians should be reduced to a position of "civilized" humility in keeping with their "inferiority," and that Indian lands ought to end up in English hands.

A rare publication titled, "Documents and Proceedings Relating to the Formation of a Board in the City of New York, for the Emigration, Preservation, and Improvement of the Aborigines of America, July 22, 1829," provides further insight. In an anonymous "Address" the unnamed commentator says that certain obstacles stood in the way of the Indians being reduced to "civilization" along European lines.

What were these obstacles? For one thing, the Indians had remained "uncivilized" because they possessed too much land. They held "an almost boundless extent of the forest" that "furnished the Indians with an easy means of subsistence, such as the plentiful game that abounded there." They had an understanding of their own power and independence. Their vast land holdings gave them the wealth and the power to remain free in the manner of their ancestors before them. So long as the Indians remained free and independent the Europeans would not consider them to have been reduced to "civilization and Christianity."

The unnamed commentator celebrated the process of these "obstacles" to Indian "civilization" being gradually removed: "The forests...and their game are gone. The Indian can no longer bury himself in the one, nor subsist in the other. He has now become a creature of necessity-he must labour, or starve. But not only are the forests and the game gone, but with these has disappeared also, that feeling of independence which made the native as uncontrollable, as he was invincible. Long and nobly did he struggle to maintain this."

True, as a charismatic leader, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (1868?-1813) tried to maintain the spirit of independence by uniting all Indian nations against the invading United States. Of Tecumseh's death the commentator said: "His life paid the forfeit of the gallant enterprise [to unify the Indian nations]; and with it vanished all hope of all allied to him, of ever again becoming lords of their domain." Tecumseh's death near the River Thames was characterized by the commentator as movement along the path toward "Indian improvement."

Of the forefathers of his own race the commentator remarked: "They doubtless said...when this empire shall have become established, and the scepter of freedom be swayed over its teeming population, then surely, will that which is now literally a wilderness to [for] the Indian, be made to blossom as the rose...No longer able to bury himself in his forests, or subsist on their game, or measure strength with the white man, he [the Indian] will yield to necessity, resort to the [cultivation of the] earth for his support, and practice gladly, those lessons which are at present lost upon him."

President Bush's remark, "Let freedom reign," relates perfectly to the commentator's phrase, "scepter of freedom." A scepter is a rod or wand symbolic of "a royal or imperial power or authority, sovereignty." Hence, Bush using his pen as a "scepter of imperial freedom" to sign H.R. 884 is an example of him "letting freedom reign."

Like the colonizing English nobles of the past, Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons of Nevada were no doubt offended by and jealous of the amount of Western Shoshone land pursuant to the Treaty of Ruby Valley. The traditional Western Shoshone in particular have an deep and spiritual understanding of their own power and rightful independence, which undoubtedly further offends Rep. Gibbons and Sen. Reid.

It is ironic in the extreme that at the same time Congress unanimously passed H.R. 884 between June 21-24, Senator Brownback's resolution to "apologize" to American Indians was being considered for passage. Sen. Brownback's resolution ought to include an apology for the United States' reprehensible, dishonorable, and disrespectful treatment of the Western Shoshones.

In the "apology resolution," Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as once having said, "The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community." Very moving words I'm sure, but as Tecumseh once said, "they come to us with lips smoother than oil, and words sweeter than honey, but beware of them! The venomous wasp is in their heart!" Congress's passage of and President Bush's signature on H.R. 884, simply underscores Tecumseh's insightful words of defiance.


Informant: Carrie Dann

Statement by Carrie Dann on George W. Bush signing into “law” HR 884

July 7, 2004

Today the United States government has officially attempted to complete the largest theft of land in United States history. In violation of United States law, including the Constitution, George W. Bush, signed into law HR 884, an attempted payoff of the Western Shoshone land. However, this bill does not change the fact that title of the land still exists with the Western Shoshone. Fraud is fraud, and no matter what the U.S. does to us we will never give up our struggle to protect our Sacred Newe Sogobia – the Earth Mother.

The United States government signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley with the Western Shoshone Nation in 1863. According to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the treaty is the supreme law of the land. But the United States government does not view the treaty this way. If they do not want to follow their own laws, that the constitution is the supreme law of the land, then this country is not a democracy. A democracy would be following the laws of the land.

I have said this a thousand times, I am not taking money for this land. This land has no value, there is no price for it. In Western Shoshone culture, the earth is our mother. We can not sell it. Taking our land is a not only a cultural genocide, it is also a spiritual genocide. The United States is attempting to steal our religion and our cultur.

I ask the United States today to show me how they received title to the land. The sole legal theory stated by the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) was that the Western Shoshone land title was extinguished through “gradual encroachment” by non-indigenous miners and settlers. However, such legal theory is no where found in American law. The only issue decided by the Supreme Court was whether the Western Shoshone had been paid, not who has title to the land. We have never had a court hear the issue of who has title to the land. The ICC was not a court. The United States did not give us the land, nor did they sell us the land. The land is ours. The United States can not show how they obtained title to the land.

The government continues to steal our cattle and horses. But I ask them, if they have clear title to the land, why do they come in the night like a thief to take my horses and cattle – why do they make sneak attacks – why do they attempt to take my livestock with no media attention? If the land title is clearly theirs – why do they act like thieves?

Why does the United States want this land? So they can sell it to large inter-national corporate interests, including mining companies, so they can test more nuclear weapons, so they can write the Indians off? The United States should not be allowed to steal the land so they can test more weapons that kill people. In fact, weapons that kill all life, including the plants and the animals. The United States also should not be allowed to steal the land so they can sell it to companies in order to obtain more gold and in the process ruin the water and kill the plant and animal life. This should not be allowed.

Today, the government has attempted to steal our mother earth – but this will not stop our fight to keep our land. We will not stand by to watch the United States steal our religion. We will not stand for the United States to commit spiritual genocide. For today what happens to us, tomorrow will happen to you. Although George W. Bush, Sen. Reid, and Rep. Gibbons believe that they can now sell this land to private interests, we will fight to stop it. This bill changes nothing. We are here to protect our mother earth. That is our responsibility. Our obligation will not be deterred by thieves.

Carrie Dann

Due to earlier grammatical error in the title, please use slightly revised press release below.

Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-468-0230,
http://www.wsdp.org

Press Release – For Immediate Release

George Bush, President of the United States, Signs Western Shoshone “Distribution” Bill – Evidencing Ongoing Historical Atrocities Aginst Indigenous Peoples in the U.S.

July 7, 2004. Crescent Valley, NV. In spite of heavy opposition from the Western Shoshone Nation, this morning, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill was signed into “law” by George W. Bush, President of the United States. The bill would authorize an alleged payoff of approximately 15 cents an acres for tens of millions of acres of disputed lands in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. A majority of tribal councils, representing approximately 80% of the population, the Western Shoshone National Council and all the traditional people strongly oppose the bill, they are supported by the National Congress of American Indians and Amnesty International. This formal opposition was apparently ignored however and an undocumented, unverified straw poll was used instead by the Bush Administration and Nevada legislators to justify the legislation.

White House staffer Jennifer Farley, Deputy Associate Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, informed one Shoshone Tribal Chairman that the bill was “red hot”. The significance of the issue to the White House is apparent: Copies of Assistant Secretary of Interior Stephen J. Griles’ calendars reflect meetings with Interior Department legal staff, including Bush’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee, William Myers, regarding “Western Shoshone Trespass (Dann Sisters)” just six months before the Department of Interior started military-style seizures of livestock owned by Western Shoshone traditionalists, including grandmothers Mary and Carrie Dann.

The land base at issue is the third largest gold producing area in the world and cited by a 1999 Interior report as the number one investment opportunity for extraction companies. It is also the site where the nation’s nuclear waste repository would be located, Yucca Mountain, and the home to the Nevada Test Site and Federal Counterterrorism Facility where the Bush Administration has talked of reopening nuclear testing. Both Bush and his political advisor Karl Rove, have made personal visits to Nevada in the last thirty days.

“I am utterly disappointed. It’s unbelievable that the U.S. body that makes the laws has acted in this manner. The fight is not over. A fraud is a fraud - Individuals cannot sell out a nation and the bill, although a threat politically, does nothing to change our inherent rights or our Treaty rights. Congress and the President were informed of all the facts that touch upon this issue. We will use the Treaty of Ruby Valley to stop Yucca Mountain and to protect our lands. Our title is still intact.” Stated Raymond Yowell, Western Shoshone National Council.

“The self-described, private group who pushed for this money are not members of any federally-recognized council and have no authority to speak on behalf of our Tribe or the Western Shoshone Nation. The Nevada legislators and the Bush Administration have been well-advised of this fact. The way this legislation was handled makes an absolute sham of the stated government to government relationship and responsibility of the U.S. government.” Stated Hugh Stevens, Chairman of the Te-Moak Tribe of the Western Shoshone Nation. “Senator Reid has made numerous public commitments regarding resolving land issues for our communities. We will be looking for him to stand by that commitment in an expeditious fashion. We demand that our land issues be resolved in good faith in the same “hot line” fashion as the distribution.” He added.

Mary Gibson, Western Shoshone states: “It’s not over, we still exist and we still have our rights to our land. It makes me sad and angry that myths continue to cloud the Truth in this country. This struggle isn’t a Shoshone v. Shoshone battle, the underlying issue here is the U.S. responsibility and accountability for a Treaty with the Western Shoshone Nation. As long as the people in the U.S. allow this to happen it will continue to happen.”

For additional info, contact the Western Shoshone Defense Project at 775-468-0230.

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237
http://www.wsdp.org

Press Release - Western Shoshone Payoff Bill Passes Both Houses of Congress - Bush Administration "Red Hot" - Fight Continues

Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-468-0230, http://www.wsdp.org

Press Release – For Immediate Release

Congress Passes Bill to Force Payment on Western Shoshone Land Struggle -- A Sad Day for the Rule of Law in the United States, but the Fight’s not Over Say the Western Shoshone.

June 25, 2004. Crescent Valley, NV. As of this morning, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill has passed both houses of Congress and is on its way to the Bush Administration for signature. The bill would authorize an alleged payoff of approximately 15 cents an acres for tens of millions of acres of disputed lands in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. A majority of tribal councils, representing approximately 80% of the population, the Western Shoshone National Council and all the traditional people strongly oppose the bill, they are supported by the National Congress of American Indians and Amnesty International. This formal opposition was apparently ignored however and an undocumented, unverified straw poll was used instead by the Bush Administration and Nevada legislators to justify the legislation.

White House staffer Jennifer Farley, Deputy Associate Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, informed one Shoshone Tribal Chairman that the bill was “red hot”. The significance of the issue to the White House is apparent: Copies of Assistant Secretary of Interior Stephen J. Griles’ calendars reflect meetings with Interior Department legal staff, including Bush’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee, William Myers, regarding “Western Shoshone Trespass (Dann Sisters)” just six months before the Department of Interior started military-style seizures of livestock owned by Western Shoshone traditionalists, including grandmothers Mary and Carrie Dann.

The land base at issue is the third largest gold producing area in the world and cited by a 1999 Interior report as the number one investment opportunity for extraction companies. It is also the site where the nation’s nuclear waste repository would be located, Yucca Mountain, and the home to the Nevada Test Site and Federal Counterterrorism Facility where the Bush Administration has talked of reopening nuclear testing. Both Bush and his political advisor Karl Rove, have made personal visits to Nevada in the last thirty days.

“I am utterly disappointed. It’s unbelievable that the U.S. body that makes the laws has acted in this manner. The fight is not over. A fraud is a fraud - Individuals cannot sell out a nation and the bill, although a threat politically, does nothing to change our inherent rights or our Treaty rights. Congress was informed of all the facts that touch upon this issue. We will use the Treaty of Ruby Valley to stop Yucca Mountain and to protect our lands. Our title is still intact.” Stated Raymond Yowell, Western Shoshone National Council.

“The self-described, private group who pushed for this money are not members of any federally-recognized council and have no authority to speak on behalf of our Tribe or the Western Shoshone Nation. The Nevada legislators and the Bush Administration have been well-advised of this fact. The way this legislation was handled makes an absolute sham of the stated government to government relationship and responsibility of the U.S. government.” Stated Hugh Stevens, Chairman of the Te-Moak Tribe of the Western Shoshone Nation. “Senator Reid has made numerous public commitments regarding resolving land issues for our communities. We will be looking for him to stand by that commitment in an expeditious fashion. We demand that our land issues be resolved in good faith in the same “hot line” fashion as the distribution.” He added.

Mary Gibson, Western Shoshone states: “It’s not over, we still exist and we still have our rights to our land. It makes me sad and angry that myths continue to cloud the Truth in this country. This struggle isn’t a Shoshone v. Shoshone battle, the underlying issue here is the U.S. responsibility and accountability for a Treaty with the Western Shoshone Nation. As long as the people in the U.S. allow this to happen it will continue to happen.”

For additional info, contact the Western Shoshone Defense Project at 775-468-0230.

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237
http://www.wsdp.org