By Brenda Norrell
GREEN RIVER, Utah -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain described the Navajos' Long Walk and the atrocities that followed, including the destruction of the land for coal mining on Black Mesa, during an interview with live and uncensored Longest Walk radio on Earthcycles.
Benally said her grandfathers returned to their homeland after the Long Walk in 1870s.
The Navajo Nation government was created to sign energy leases. "We have been victimized by that." In her home community, the "land swindle" was created by the politicians and corporations. The result was the relocation of more than 10,000 Navajos and destruction of sacred Mother Earth.
Listen to Louise Benally:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
Louise Benally Uncensored
Earlier, the following comments by Louise Benally of Big Mountain, comparing the Long Walk and imprisonment in Bosque Redondo to the war in Iraq, were censored by a national Indian newspaper. Pressed to publish a correction to the published article by this reporter, the newspaper refused.
Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape and starvation of their family and friends.
“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet they had the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here today.
“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq. I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killing innocent lives.”
Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the Bosque Redondo photo, Benally said, “I think the children in the picture look concerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children in Iraq must be going through right now.
“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way of life while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evil ways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.
--Brenda Norrell
GREEN RIVER, Utah -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain described the Navajos' Long Walk and the atrocities that followed, including the destruction of the land for coal mining on Black Mesa, during an interview with live and uncensored Longest Walk radio on Earthcycles.
Benally said her grandfathers returned to their homeland after the Long Walk in 1870s.
The Navajo Nation government was created to sign energy leases. "We have been victimized by that." In her home community, the "land swindle" was created by the politicians and corporations. The result was the relocation of more than 10,000 Navajos and destruction of sacred Mother Earth.
Listen to Louise Benally:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
Louise Benally Uncensored
Earlier, the following comments by Louise Benally of Big Mountain, comparing the Long Walk and imprisonment in Bosque Redondo to the war in Iraq, were censored by a national Indian newspaper. Pressed to publish a correction to the published article by this reporter, the newspaper refused.
Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape and starvation of their family and friends.
“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet they had the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here today.
“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq. I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killing innocent lives.”
Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the Bosque Redondo photo, Benally said, “I think the children in the picture look concerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children in Iraq must be going through right now.
“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way of life while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evil ways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.
--Brenda Norrell
Photo: Imprisoned Navajo and Apache children at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
3 comments:
hope2walk also...have vehicle w/ no insurance...wishing u the best
we the people from Svensk Indianska Förbundet support you in the walk.
Brothers & Sisters. Stand strong against the materialistic ways of the whiteman. Peace, love & unity. Not Money wealth & greed
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