SALT RIVER PIMA-MARICOPA
INDIAN COMMUNITY
10,005 E Osborn Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85256
A RESOLUTION TO PROCLAIM MARCH 12, 2007 AS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY AND TO AFFIRM THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ADOPTED BY THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL.
WHEREAS, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Council (the “Council”) has the authority pursuant to Article VII of the Constitution of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC or “Community”) to exercise any power vested in the Community within the bounds of the Community Constitution and applicable federal law; and
WHEREAS, the United Nations has proclaimed the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples for the period of 2005 - 2015 by General Assembly Resolution on December 22, 2004; and
WHEREAS, the City of Phoenix and the Arizona House of Representatives have expressed recognition and support for Indigenous Peoples by passing similar resolutions declaring March 12, 2007 as Indigenous Peoples Day; and
WHEREAS, the SRPMIC has a considerable number of enrolled tribal members who currently reside within the City of Phoenix, as well as other cities located in the Phoenix metropolitan area; and
WHEREAS, the SRPMIC recognizes our relationship and solidarity with the Pima and Maricopa people of our Community, our three sister tribes which include the Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community and Tohono O’Odham Nation, our Pima relations located at the U.S.-Mexico border, the tribes of Arizona, other Indigenous Peoples of the North and South America, and all Indigenous Peoples throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, the SRPMIC supports a regional approach to community development that integrates respect for the principles of COMMUNITY ECOLOGY in terms of urban systems, territories, and Sacred Sites of the Indigenous Peoples.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the SRPMIC Council proclaims today, March 12th, 2007 as INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the SRPMIC affirms throughout our tribal lands the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on June 21, 2006, as an expression of the minimum standards of recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the SRPMIC appreciates the City of Phoenix and the Arizona House of Representatives’ recognition and support for Indigenous Peoples.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the President or the Vice-President is hereby authorized and directed to take all reasonably necessary steps to and in aid of carrying out the purpose and intent of this Resolution.
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
March 10, 2007
Enron prosecutor takes on Navajo uranium cleanup
Enron prosecutor takes on Navajo uranium cleanup
The tribe hires John C. Hueston to press the U.S. to remove toxic material from its land.
By Judy Pasternak
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 25, 2007
The Southern California lawyer who successfully prosecuted top Enron executives has been hired by the Navajo tribal government to seek a full cleanup of the old uranium mines contaminating the country's largest reservation.John C. Hueston, who gained fame for his questioning of Enron founder Kenneth L. Lay, contacted the tribe in November after reading articles in The Times about the poisoning of the Navajo homeland as the government mined uranium for use in nuclear weapons. The reports detailed how residents had been exposed to radiation and toxic heavy metals in their air, water, soil and even the walls and floors of their homes. The tribe retained the former federal prosecutor Thursday to coordinate an effort to finish the cleanup and eventually to help Navajos made ill by exposure. Hueston, whose wife is Navajo, recently returned to private practice at Irell & Manella, which is based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach."There's a sense of urgency now, of no more excuses," Hueston said, pledging to work toward "a historic settlement and, if necessary, court action." He said he would try to persuade the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to document the remaining hazards, and the uranium industry to finance repair of that damage.The tribe also wants to find permanent remedies for hundreds of reclaimed mines that are once more radioactive because of erosion.More than 1,000 old uranium mines and four abandoned processing mills are scattered across the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. From 1944 to 1986,
As the Cold War threat diminished and the boom slowed, federal inspectors let the companies leave without sealing mine portals, filling in pits or removing waste. The Navajos' subsequent pleas for help prompted government surveys showing dangerous levels of uranium and other toxics, but little was done about it."We hope to be the moving force this time," said Navajo Atty. Gen. Louis Denetsosie. "We can't wait for them to do it for us."EPA representatives are to meet in March with Hueston and tribal attorneys.The federal agency has said it didn't have the funds to address the problems. Hueston said if the EPA couldn't find the funds, he would ask Congress for help. He\n said he would also press uranium companies to contribute to "a permanent and effective cleanup."
judy.pasternak@latimes.com
comments
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." Aquinas"It is vital that our state understand that once PG&E and SCE are no longer generating electricity from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre, high-level radioactive waste will be left on our coast vulnerable to attack. No longer will it be a matter of 'We need the power so the risk is worth it.' The utility - the jobs, property taxes and donations to the community will be gone. Only the risk will remain for our children and grandchildren." - Rochelle Becker, Alliance for Nuclear ResponsibilityMolly Johnson 6290\n Hawk Ridge Place San Miguel, CA 93451",1]
);
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3.9 million tons of uranium ore were extracted by private companies from the region.As the Cold War threat diminished and the boom slowed, federal inspectors let the companies leave without sealing mine portals, filling in pits or removing waste. The Navajos' subsequent pleas for help prompted government surveys showing dangerous levels of uranium and other toxics, but little was done about it."We hope to be the moving force this time," said Navajo Atty. Gen. Louis Denetsosie. "We can't wait for them to do it for us."EPA representatives are to meet in March with Hueston and tribal attorneys.The federal agency has said it didn't have the funds to address the problems. Hueston said if the EPA couldn't find the funds, he would ask Congress for help. He said he would also press uranium companies to contribute to "a permanent and effective cleanup."
judy.pasternak@latimes.com
The tribe hires John C. Hueston to press the U.S. to remove toxic material from its land.
By Judy Pasternak
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 25, 2007
The Southern California lawyer who successfully prosecuted top Enron executives has been hired by the Navajo tribal government to seek a full cleanup of the old uranium mines contaminating the country's largest reservation.John C. Hueston, who gained fame for his questioning of Enron founder Kenneth L. Lay, contacted the tribe in November after reading articles in The Times about the poisoning of the Navajo homeland as the government mined uranium for use in nuclear weapons. The reports detailed how residents had been exposed to radiation and toxic heavy metals in their air, water, soil and even the walls and floors of their homes. The tribe retained the former federal prosecutor Thursday to coordinate an effort to finish the cleanup and eventually to help Navajos made ill by exposure. Hueston, whose wife is Navajo, recently returned to private practice at Irell & Manella, which is based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach."There's a sense of urgency now, of no more excuses," Hueston said, pledging to work toward "a historic settlement and, if necessary, court action." He said he would try to persuade the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to document the remaining hazards, and the uranium industry to finance repair of that damage.The tribe also wants to find permanent remedies for hundreds of reclaimed mines that are once more radioactive because of erosion.More than 1,000 old uranium mines and four abandoned processing mills are scattered across the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. From 1944 to 1986,
As the Cold War threat diminished and the boom slowed, federal inspectors let the companies leave without sealing mine portals, filling in pits or removing waste. The Navajos' subsequent pleas for help prompted government surveys showing dangerous levels of uranium and other toxics, but little was done about it."We hope to be the moving force this time," said Navajo Atty. Gen. Louis Denetsosie. "We can't wait for them to do it for us."EPA representatives are to meet in March with Hueston and tribal attorneys.The federal agency has said it didn't have the funds to address the problems. Hueston said if the EPA couldn't find the funds, he would ask Congress for help. He\n said he would also press uranium companies to contribute to "a permanent and effective cleanup."
judy.pasternak@latimes.com
comments
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." Aquinas"It is vital that our state understand that once PG&E and SCE are no longer generating electricity from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre, high-level radioactive waste will be left on our coast vulnerable to attack. No longer will it be a matter of 'We need the power so the risk is worth it.' The utility - the jobs, property taxes and donations to the community will be gone. Only the risk will remain for our children and grandchildren." - Rochelle Becker, Alliance for Nuclear ResponsibilityMolly Johnson 6290\n Hawk Ridge Place San Miguel, CA 93451",1]
);
//-->
3.9 million tons of uranium ore were extracted by private companies from the region.As the Cold War threat diminished and the boom slowed, federal inspectors let the companies leave without sealing mine portals, filling in pits or removing waste. The Navajos' subsequent pleas for help prompted government surveys showing dangerous levels of uranium and other toxics, but little was done about it."We hope to be the moving force this time," said Navajo Atty. Gen. Louis Denetsosie. "We can't wait for them to do it for us."EPA representatives are to meet in March with Hueston and tribal attorneys.The federal agency has said it didn't have the funds to address the problems. Hueston said if the EPA couldn't find the funds, he would ask Congress for help. He said he would also press uranium companies to contribute to "a permanent and effective cleanup."
judy.pasternak@latimes.com
Migrant apprehensions down, deaths up
Migrant apprehensions down, deaths up
CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen
Apprehensions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen at the same time border deaths have risen, and critics caution that the dip in apprehensions may be temporary.
Apprehensions across the entire border fell 30 percent compared to this time last year, from 440,419 to 311,248. Apprehensions in the Tucson sector fell less, by 13 percent, from 144,415 to 126,220, with certain areas within the sector reporting greater decreases. The reporting period is from Oct. 1 to Feb. 28.
Deaths have increased 27 percent near the entire length of the border, from 90 to 114, and 24 percent in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, from 33 to 41, since the start of the fiscal year in October. The Tucson sector covers 260 miles of the border.
Agents with Grupo Beta, the Mexican immigrant aid organization, said the number of immigrants crossing through Sasabe, one of the most popular crossing points, has plummeted. In February, Grupo Beta agents counted 13,277 people on their way to the U.S. border, or less than a quarter of the 60,603 people they counted in February 2006. January traffic was down more than 60 percent compared with last year.
Gustavo Soto, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman, credited the decrease to more agents, National Guard troops and technology.
"We are heading in the right direction," Soto said.
Tomas Jimenez, a research fellow at the University of California-San Diego's Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, disagreed.
Over the past several years, increased border security has contributed to the increase in illegal immigrants living in the United States, he said. Increased security has raised the risk and cost of crossing, encouraging immigrants to settle in the U.S. permanently, he said.
"Border fortification has locked people in, not out," he said.
Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, a researcher at the University of Arizona who recently released a report on illegal immigrant deaths in Pima County, said she doubted the downturn would be permanent. Immigrants and the smugglers they rely on will find another way through, she said.http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/44249.php
CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen
Apprehensions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen at the same time border deaths have risen, and critics caution that the dip in apprehensions may be temporary.
Apprehensions across the entire border fell 30 percent compared to this time last year, from 440,419 to 311,248. Apprehensions in the Tucson sector fell less, by 13 percent, from 144,415 to 126,220, with certain areas within the sector reporting greater decreases. The reporting period is from Oct. 1 to Feb. 28.
Deaths have increased 27 percent near the entire length of the border, from 90 to 114, and 24 percent in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, from 33 to 41, since the start of the fiscal year in October. The Tucson sector covers 260 miles of the border.
Agents with Grupo Beta, the Mexican immigrant aid organization, said the number of immigrants crossing through Sasabe, one of the most popular crossing points, has plummeted. In February, Grupo Beta agents counted 13,277 people on their way to the U.S. border, or less than a quarter of the 60,603 people they counted in February 2006. January traffic was down more than 60 percent compared with last year.
Gustavo Soto, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman, credited the decrease to more agents, National Guard troops and technology.
"We are heading in the right direction," Soto said.
Tomas Jimenez, a research fellow at the University of California-San Diego's Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, disagreed.
Over the past several years, increased border security has contributed to the increase in illegal immigrants living in the United States, he said. Increased security has raised the risk and cost of crossing, encouraging immigrants to settle in the U.S. permanently, he said.
"Border fortification has locked people in, not out," he said.
Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, a researcher at the University of Arizona who recently released a report on illegal immigrant deaths in Pima County, said she doubted the downturn would be permanent. Immigrants and the smugglers they rely on will find another way through, she said.http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/44249.php
Derechos Humanos: Demilitarize border
March 10, 2007
Statement on Immigration Reform Proposals:Demilitarize Border Communities and Stop the Deaths (Tucson, Arizona)
Human rights organization Coalición de Derechos Humanos (DH), joins immigrant rights groups across the country to call on the U.S. Congress to stop the deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border, demilitarize border communities, end the privatization of border and immigration enforcement, oppose new guest worker programs and support reunification of families and legalization with full rights for all.For the last 12 years, DH has engaged in local and national efforts to challenge the expansion of massive walls and detention centers, military-style policing and raids, systematic racial profiling, unjustified shootings by U.S. Border Patrol agents, heightening surveillance and military troops in border communities. These so-called “border security” policies shatter families, have directly claimed the lives of more than 4,000 migrants and are generating an escalating humanitarian crisis along the border. The federal government’s militarized policies of border control have deliberately funneled migrants through the most desolate desert areas and also spurred dramatic growth in the human smuggling industry. These policies have caused increasing migrant deaths, violence, vigilantism, environmental destruction and destabilization in our communities. Border militarization jeopardizes the safety of all communities and perpetuates widespread injustice, while rewarding private security contractors with glaring records of corruption and impunity, including Haliburton, Boeing, Corrections Corporation of America and Lockheed Martin.Non-border communities have a stake in ending the intolerable conditions at the border. Deportation without Due Process, police-ICE cooperation, vast surveillance operations and militarized policing are examples of measures first implemented on the border and now routinely used across the country, in immigrant and non-immigrant communities alike.The call for border demilitarization, human rights and accountability in immigration law enforcement is indispensable for an immigration program that provides full legalization, enforces labor protections for all workers and includes more options for legal immigration so that migrants do not have to risk their lives crossing through the desert. Immigration reform must also address migration as a result of the unscrupulous free trade policies that are displacing and uprooting millions of people from their communities. We call on the U.S. Congress to act now to re-establish the stability, peace, safety and dignity of all communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Statement on Immigration Reform Proposals:Demilitarize Border Communities and Stop the Deaths (Tucson, Arizona)
Human rights organization Coalición de Derechos Humanos (DH), joins immigrant rights groups across the country to call on the U.S. Congress to stop the deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border, demilitarize border communities, end the privatization of border and immigration enforcement, oppose new guest worker programs and support reunification of families and legalization with full rights for all.For the last 12 years, DH has engaged in local and national efforts to challenge the expansion of massive walls and detention centers, military-style policing and raids, systematic racial profiling, unjustified shootings by U.S. Border Patrol agents, heightening surveillance and military troops in border communities. These so-called “border security” policies shatter families, have directly claimed the lives of more than 4,000 migrants and are generating an escalating humanitarian crisis along the border. The federal government’s militarized policies of border control have deliberately funneled migrants through the most desolate desert areas and also spurred dramatic growth in the human smuggling industry. These policies have caused increasing migrant deaths, violence, vigilantism, environmental destruction and destabilization in our communities. Border militarization jeopardizes the safety of all communities and perpetuates widespread injustice, while rewarding private security contractors with glaring records of corruption and impunity, including Haliburton, Boeing, Corrections Corporation of America and Lockheed Martin.Non-border communities have a stake in ending the intolerable conditions at the border. Deportation without Due Process, police-ICE cooperation, vast surveillance operations and militarized policing are examples of measures first implemented on the border and now routinely used across the country, in immigrant and non-immigrant communities alike.The call for border demilitarization, human rights and accountability in immigration law enforcement is indispensable for an immigration program that provides full legalization, enforces labor protections for all workers and includes more options for legal immigration so that migrants do not have to risk their lives crossing through the desert. Immigration reform must also address migration as a result of the unscrupulous free trade policies that are displacing and uprooting millions of people from their communities. We call on the U.S. Congress to act now to re-establish the stability, peace, safety and dignity of all communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Navajos tired of politicans' power plant cheerleading
Rebuttal to Joe Shirley's Commentary (03 March 2007)
by jsefick on Thu 08 Mar 2007 07:18 PM PST
This letter is in response to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley’s commentary “Desert Rock is key to Navajo Nation’s independence” (03/03/07). For 3 ½ months I have been an active member of the ongoing winter blockade and vigil on my mother in laws’ sheep ranch on the site of the proposed plant. I have had the tremendous honor of standing in resistance with some very committed men and women from the affected areas. I have first hand knowledge of the passionate and desperate struggle to oppose this project from the only people on earth that are directly affected by the construction of this proposed monster. In his letter Shirley states that “the Navajo Nation overwhelmingly supports the Desert Rock project, and we need it.” If the term “Navajo Nation” is meant to be synonymous with “Navajo People”, then I must take exception with his statement. If, however he is speaking of the Navajo Nation as being a vehicle in which the strong and beautiful Dine culture should ride down the highway of assimilation into the dominant generic culture of America, then he is right on target. It is important to make the distinction between the Navajo tribal government and the Navajo people themselves. Just like in the rest of America, the needs of a governmental machine are often at odds with the needs of the people who are ill-represented by that government. Joe Shirley no more represents the values of traditional Navajo people than George Bush represents the will of the American people. Like many other Native people who have achieved a PHD, it seems that Dr. Shirley has bought into the American ideal of prosperity at all costs. It is an insidious and narrow minded view that sees sheepherding as a barbaric and outdated way of life that must be replaced with coal jobs or all is lost for our people. The people who Shirley wants to “lift out of their grinding poverty” are spending the little money that we have traveling to Santa Fe to voice our opposition. We are mustering all of our resources, camping in the cold for months, and finding talents that we did not know we had in our fight to save our land, our air quality, and our way of life that Shirley finds so pitiful. We will find our wealth in our children’s health. We will find our happiness in the knowledge that we never turned our back on Mother Earth or failed to defend her. As for our independence, we were born with it, Joe; it has always been with us.
Thomas F Johnston PLS Fruitland, NM
by jsefick on Thu 08 Mar 2007 07:18 PM PST
This letter is in response to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley’s commentary “Desert Rock is key to Navajo Nation’s independence” (03/03/07). For 3 ½ months I have been an active member of the ongoing winter blockade and vigil on my mother in laws’ sheep ranch on the site of the proposed plant. I have had the tremendous honor of standing in resistance with some very committed men and women from the affected areas. I have first hand knowledge of the passionate and desperate struggle to oppose this project from the only people on earth that are directly affected by the construction of this proposed monster. In his letter Shirley states that “the Navajo Nation overwhelmingly supports the Desert Rock project, and we need it.” If the term “Navajo Nation” is meant to be synonymous with “Navajo People”, then I must take exception with his statement. If, however he is speaking of the Navajo Nation as being a vehicle in which the strong and beautiful Dine culture should ride down the highway of assimilation into the dominant generic culture of America, then he is right on target. It is important to make the distinction between the Navajo tribal government and the Navajo people themselves. Just like in the rest of America, the needs of a governmental machine are often at odds with the needs of the people who are ill-represented by that government. Joe Shirley no more represents the values of traditional Navajo people than George Bush represents the will of the American people. Like many other Native people who have achieved a PHD, it seems that Dr. Shirley has bought into the American ideal of prosperity at all costs. It is an insidious and narrow minded view that sees sheepherding as a barbaric and outdated way of life that must be replaced with coal jobs or all is lost for our people. The people who Shirley wants to “lift out of their grinding poverty” are spending the little money that we have traveling to Santa Fe to voice our opposition. We are mustering all of our resources, camping in the cold for months, and finding talents that we did not know we had in our fight to save our land, our air quality, and our way of life that Shirley finds so pitiful. We will find our wealth in our children’s health. We will find our happiness in the knowledge that we never turned our back on Mother Earth or failed to defend her. As for our independence, we were born with it, Joe; it has always been with us.
Thomas F Johnston PLS Fruitland, NM
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