Michelle Cook: 'I refuse to be your canary'

Living in the days of prophecies, Navajo Michelle Cook remembers the words of a Hopi spiritual leader on the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Day



I Refuse to be your Canary
International Indigenous Day

By Michelle Cook, Navajo student at the University of Arizona

Hopi elders Thomas Banyacya said, “Nature, the first people, and the spirit of our ancestors are giving you loud warnings. You see increasing floods, more damaging hurricanes, hailstorms, climate changes, and the earthquakes- as our prophesies said would come…If we human do not wake up to the warnings, the Great Purification will come and destroy this world as the previous worlds were destroyed…It is up to all of us, as children of Mother Earth, to clean up this mess before it is too late”.

I think today we should remember the importance of our voice and remember the messages that indigenous peoples have given the United Nations and world. We must recall and celebrate the hard work of those who have gone into international arenas to defend and testify; driven by the love for their people and home.
Read full statement:
Censored News articles text:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/

Photos Indigenous Alliance without Borders' Indigenous Peoples Day Tucson

Indigenous Peoples speak out on right of passage

by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Indigenous Peoples from across the borders of the United States and Mexico and the United States and Canada called for the United States to honor their right of passage in their ancestral territories, during Indigenous Peoples Day in Tucson Thursday.
Further, Indigenous called for a new wave of humanitarian efforts to prevent people from dying in the borderlands, including Indigenous brothers and sisters desperate to survive.
Jose Matus, Yaqui director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders, said the Venezuela Embassy called last week to invite him to meet with President Hugo Chavez this week. However, because of Matus' prior commitment to the gathering in Tucson, he was unable to attend the Indigenous conference in Venezuela with the Mohawk delegation from the north.
See full story in next week's Navajo Times. See Indigenous statements at home page: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Photos 1: Columnists Roberto Rodriquez and Patricia Gonzales, who will be teaching at the University of Arizona Photo 2: Tupac Enrique Acosta of Tonatierra in Phoenix with Martha Equihua, facilitator, Native American Youth Empowerment Project at the University of Arizona and project peer educator Gabriella Enos 3. Kat Rodriguez, co-chair of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice 4. Michelle Cook, Navajo; Shannon Rivers, Gila River O'otham; Julian Hernandez, Yaqui ceremonial leader in Barrio Libre, South Tucson; Kat Rodriguez, co-chair Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice; Tupac Enrique Acosta, Aztlan, Tonatierra of Phoenix 5. Jose Matus, Yaqui, director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders addressing the gathering on Indigenous Peoples Day.
Photos by Brenda Norrell, contact for photo reprint permission: brendanorrell@gmail.com