Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

April 26, 2016

Exploiters of Gold King Mine Spill: McCain and University of Arizona


Photo: Nihigaal bee Iina walkers to sacred mountains
lend a hand to Navajo farmers in Shiprock, N.M. following
the devastating toxic Gold King mine spill.

While McCain showboats with the Gold King Mine spill, and the University of Arizona profiteers from misery, Arizona and national media go brain dead, awarded Hypocrite Media Award

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Dutch translation by Alice Holemans at NAIS
http://www.denaisgazet.be/nieuws/uitbuiters-van-het-lek-van-gold-king-mijn-mccain-en-de-universiteit-van-arizona

Arizona Senator John McCain is exploiting the Gold King Mine spill and the media is lapping it up like mindless robots.

It comes as no surprise that researchers at the University of Arizona in Tucson will be making big money, $600,000 to study the spill.

This is what the University of Arizona, and McCain, do best: They profiteer from misery.

While McCain is gearing up to turn Apaches sacred Oak Flat into a massive copper mine in Arizona, McCain weeps to the press about the gold mine spill, pretending to morn the loss of water and crops for Navajo farmers. 

The media collects McCain's tears, publishing his false words with solace. After all, McCain would not still be on the US Senate Committee for Indian Affairs if the media was not bolstering him, with corporate criminals paving the way.

During a Congressional field hearing with the US EPA in Phoenix, McCain said he wants the Justice Department to investigate the Gold King Mine spill. But who will investigate McCain?

Arizona's media has become wimps.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Arizona will be making big money to study the spill.

Imagine what Navajo grassroots farmers could do with $600,000. Many Navajo farmers in the Shiprock, N.M., area lost their corn, bean and squash because they had no water to irrigate with after the EPA's reckless toxic spill.

Exploitation of Indigenous for dollars is what the University of Arizona does best.

Calling for a boycott of the university, Ofelia Rivas, O'odham has boycotted the University of Arizona for years, due to the role the university plays in the militarization of the border, creation of drones, and the targeting of Indigenous Peoples with the development of security and spyware.

Wendsler Nosie, Apache, also boycotts the university, following his arrest by university police while Nosie was praying on sacred Mount Graham. The University of the Arizona and the Pope took the lead in desecrating sacred Mount Graham with massive telescopes. The University of Arizona, the Pope,and the universities they partnered with, ignored and attempted to silence Apaches during the long years of court, and personal struggles, spent battling the construction of the massive telescopes on sacred Mount Graham.

Which brings us back to the desecration of Apaches sacred land.

While McCain and Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick showboat for their adoring media, they continue plans for a massive copper mine on Apaches' sacred Oak Flat. McCain sneaked the land exchange into the the US Defense spending bill.

The fact that McCain is still on the US Senate Committee for Indian Affairs is a clear indication of the collapsed US government system. It indicates that the media is in the bowels of this system.

The Arizona and national media -- including the stay-at-home reporters of Indian Country Today, -- are awarded the Hypocrite Media Award for flopped coverage.

As for the US EPA, the fact that the US EPA rubber stamps the environmental impact statements throughout Indian country, the border, and wherever poor people live -- devastating water, land and air -- is proof enough that the US EPA should not be trusted or believed.

And neither should McCain.

In August 2015, an estimated 3 million gallons of acid water and heavy metals spilled from the Gold King Mine into Colorado's Animas River, eventually flowing into the San Juan River, the primary source of irrigation for Navajo Nation farmers. The spill was caused by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA claims it was done while trying to prevent leakage of toxic materials.




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