American Indian Movement -- International Film Festival 2017

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Photo 'On2017 the Knife's Edge'

                            8th Annual American Indian Movement - International Film Festival

                                                                          
October 10-11, 2017

                                                              
2969 Mission Street, San Francisco

AIM-West Press Release

More Information:

Antonio Gonzales-415-577-1492

www.aim-west.org

On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 10th and 11th, AIM-WEST presents its 8th Annual American Indian Movement International Film Festival.  The films will be shown both days from 3pm to 9 pm at Answer Coalition Office, 2969 Mission Street (near the 24th Street BART station).  The grand occasion begins at 2 pm with the traditional Mejica Teo-Kalli Dancers, and followed by the All Nation Singers.  The Master of Ceremonies will be nationally known AIM leader Bill Means, and the Bay Area's own radio personality Miguel "Gavilan" Molina.

The Film Festival seized the UN theme of "Indigenous Peoples and Filmmaking" declared at the 2010 International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples held in New York as the spark to launch this as an extension of AIM-WEST's projects.

This year AIM-WEST also honors the "Ten Year Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" (DRIP), adopted by the General Assembly on September 13, 2007.

The ten films selected this year from the front lines of North America, Oceana, Africa, Asia, Scandinavia and Europe for our festival celebrate the struggle for Human Rights and Self-Determination of Indigenous peoples throughout Mother Earth.

Held each year in October, activities focus on "Indigenous People's Day," an alternative to the observance of Columbus Day.  The Film Festival offers a broader interpretation of history than stories typically associated with Columbus Day and colonialism.  The films voice a different vision of what it means to live as Indigenous peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere, Oceana, and beyond.

Films on Tuesday, October 10th

1. Back to the Circle of Life  by Tony Gonzales (6 minutes) 2017

This short is a tribute to Bill Wahpepah. Tony is from a large family, and after a cycle of foster homes, was drafted into the Army and served in Viet Nam. When back in the States, he is introduced to AIM. Bill teaches him indigenous ways and cultural history. Bill influences Tony’s re-structuring of life’s values. Tony credits Bill as a mentor and unsung hero. Bill Wahpepah is Kickapoo/Sauk-Fox.  (Q&A)

2. I Am the Indian Voice  Directed by Claus Biegart (26 minutes) 2015

Political prisoner, Leonard Peltier, has been incarcerated since 1975 after receiving two life sentences for a crime he did not commit. The film describes how he was arrested in Canada and extradited to the United States on the strength of false testimony given by Myrtle Poor Bear, a woman who did not know Leonard Peltier. The short includes poetry written by Peltier, and statements from former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Ms. Nilak Butler, Dennis Banks, and others who provide insightful perspective on Leonard’s history. (Panel Discussion)

3. Taking Alcatraz  As told by Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall,  Directed by John Ferry (40 minutes) 2015

On November 20th, 1969 a group of Native Americans landed on Alcatraz Island, and claimed it as their own. They stayed for nineteen months. While the media reported every move and the government fought to stop them, families moved in, thousands of supporters visited or sent supplies, and drums beat far into the night. Alcatraz became a symbol of hope, inspiration, and change for Indian people everywhere. (Q&A and Panel Discussion)

4. On the Knife Edge  Directed by Jeremy Williams (90 minutes) 2017

This film is a father-son story about Guy and George Dull Knife that unfolds over the course of George’s coming of age journey. Told largely through George’s eyes, the film offers a glimpse into the youngest generation of the American Indian Movement. (Q&A)

5. Abundant Land, Soil, Seeds, and Sovereignty    Directed by Natasha Florentino  (60 minutes) 2017

A documentary about a Hawaiian community on Moloka’i Island challenging the biotech industry’s use of the island to test genetically engineered seeds. Biotech corporations including Monsanto and Mycogen are depleting Moloka’I’s topsoil and fresh water supply, and contributing to dust storms that spread pesticides into the surrounding communities and ocean. The film offers a historical look at the political underpinnings of chemical-intensive farming in Hawaii which contrasts with the rich legacy of traditional Hawaiian land management practice. (Q&A with filmmaker)

Films on Wednesday, October 11th

1. Give Us Our Skeletons  Directed by Paul-Anders Simma (49 minutes) 2001

This is a movie focused on Nillas Somby, an indigenous Sami man who retraces his family ancestry, as he searches for the skull of his ancestor, Mon Somby. The film narrates three parallel plots. The first is Nillas Somby’s story of how he became one of the most celebrated protesters during the Alta Dam Protests between 1979 and 1981 near Kautokeino, Norway. The second story examines scientific racism through racial classification that was considered as accepted procedure by Scandinavian scientists from early 19th century until the 1950s. The third segment deals with Nillas Somby’s emotional struggle bringing Mons Somby’s skull home for proper burial. (Panel Discussion)

2. Awake  Directed by Myron Dewey (89 minutes) 2017

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota captures world attention through their peaceful resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the U.S. Government’s plan to construct a pipeline through their land. Honor the Treaties! Mni Wiconi! Divest now! No Dapl! (Q&A and Panel Discussion)

3. Road Trip to Niger  Directed by Benedicte Schoyen (70 minutes) 2017

Three individuals take a four week journey into a poor, hot, and very remote place that is unlike anything most Westerners would experience. The film takes the audience on an incredible journey where no one is allowed to travel without special permits and security team. They make friends with nomadic tribe members for whom owning a cow determines life or death. They travel with rebellious Tuaregs, who have been fighting the dictatorial government forces for years in the desert. (Q&A)

4. Libya’s Quiet War: The Tuareg of South Libya  Directed by Rebecca Murray    (26 minutes) 2016

In remote southwest Sahara, the indigenous Tuareg tribe were used and discriminated against by former strongman Muammar Qaddfi. They fight for their place in a post-revolutionary Libya. Living deep in the desert near rich oil fields and lucrative trading routes hundreds of miles from Libya’s capitol, the Tuareg find themselves impoverished and isolated on this prized land. Nowhere is this felt more than in the oasis town of Ubari. The Tuareg are pitted against former neighbors who are backed by government and international interests in a proxy battle over assets and power.

5. Back to the Circle of Life  by Tony Gonzales (6 minutes) 2017

This short is a tribute to Bill Wahpepah. Tony is from a large family, and after a cycle of foster homes, was drafted into the Army and served in Viet Nam. When back in the States, he is introduced to AIM. Bill teaches him indigenous ways and cultural history. Bill influences Tony’s re-structuring of life’s values. Tony credits Bill as a mentor and unsung hero. Bill Wahpepah is Kickapoo/Sioux and Fox. (Q&A)

6. Sittwe Directed by Jeanne Hallacy (20 minutes) 2017

This is a documentary about two teenagers affected by conflict in Burma’s Rakhine state. Phyu Phu Than , a Rohingya Muslim girl and Aung San Myint, a Buddhist were both displaced by violence in 2012. Interviews filmed over two years explore their ideas about each other’s communities, their aspirations for education and the possibility of political reconciliation. The film was due to premiere in Yangon at the Human Rights, Human Dignity Film Festival but was banned by government censors. Languages: Rakhine, Bengali, and Burmese with English subtitles. (Q&A with filmmaker)                                                                                                                                          

After the showing, there will be food, refreshments, vendors, and a raffle. We request a donation for admission, but no one will be turned away. Thank you.

10-11, join AIM-WEST, in hosting its 8th Annual American Indian

Twitter -- Not All Critics are Russian Hackers

Police violence at Standing Rock, gassing water protectors

Twitter setting dangerous precedent of police state

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

Twitter now believes that you are "un-American" and a Russian with a fake account, if you criticize Trump or the Clintons.
Meanwhile, Censored News links have been blocked by Twitter since September of 2016, when we first exposed police violence at Standing Rock, with photos of police and Dakota Access Pipeline security.
Also in 2016, Censored News posted Hillary Clinton's dragnet of Indigenous activists, as she spied on activists, everyone from the Mapuche in Chile, to the Mohawks in Canada, as revealed in Wikileaks State Department data link when Clinton was Secretary of State.
Censored News also published Hillary Clinton's ties to arms deals, and Bill Clinton's deals for uranium mining on Indigenous lands globally, with money flowing back to the Clintons, as exposed by a hacker of the Clinton Foundation.
Censored News isn't a Russian hacker. In fact, we couldn't hack our way out of a paper bag. We do well just to post on Blogger.
Twitter has never told us why it blocks Censored links. Instead, Twitter blocks our links with an array of excuses.
It sets a dangerous precedent for Twitter to assume that anyone critical of either Trump or Clinton should have their links blocked, as in our case, or their accounts deleted, as in the case of the mystery folks who might, or might not have been, interfering in the U.S. election -- an election between two people who did not need any help in vilifying themselves.
Also in 2016, Censored News exposed the game President Obama played -- that public relations chess game, when Obama repeatedly offered hope that Dakota Access Pipeline would be halted, after the Obama administration approved the pipeline. All the while, Obama refused to halt the police violence inflicted on water protectors, even when Cheyenne River Lakota Chairman Harold Frazier personally pleaded with Obama to halt the police violence.
So, just to let you know, we are not Russian hackers. Unfortunately we don't know how to hack, or do much on the Internet. But we do know how to publish those gems of truth and facts that come our way.
Thanks to all of you. Best, Brenda, Censored News.

Censored News is now in its 12th year of publishing news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. With 17 million page views, there are no ads, grants, sponsors or salaries.

Copyright Censored News

DAPL Donates $15 Million Payoff for Police Abuse of Water Protectors at Standing Rock

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Photo Rob Wilson

In an egregious act of a private corporation paying for police brutality, Dakota Access Pipeline gives North Dakota $15 million

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Dakota Access Pipeline has given the State of North Dakota $15 million for bringing in police who carried out excessive force to ensure the construction of its pipeline at Standing Rock.

Those police and National Guard -- orchestrated by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier and TigerSwan mercenaries -- shot peaceful water protectors with rubber bullets and tear gas, blasted them with water cannons in freezing temperatures, beat them, and imprisoned them in dog cages with numbers written on their arms as was done by the Nazis.

Now, in an egregious act of a corporation paying for the abuse of peaceful protesters, and the violation of their civil and human rights, which resulted in serious injury, the State of North Dakota has received its payoff from the private corporation Dakota Access Pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners in Texas.

Native Americans and their allies are protecting the Missouri River, the source of drinking water for millions, from the oil pipeline, which was approved during the Obama Administration, and propelled forward by the Trump Administration.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says Dakota Access donated $15 million to North Dakota's Department of Emergency Services “to help reimburse the state for the money it spent responding to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.”

The donation was wired to the Bank of North Dakota Thursday and will be used to pay down the loans taken out the Department of Emergency Services (DES), KFRYTV reports.

Los Angeles Times reports, “The state has arranged for a bank credit line of up to $43 million to cover policing costs, including $5 million just added this week. Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, who heads the North Dakota National Guard, has said costs shouldn't go past that figure.”

Meanwhile in North Dakota, the biased media continues its support of these criminal acts by the State of North Dakota, Morton County and police.

In international news today, The Intercept reports on DAPL surveillance for police over Standing Rock water protectors.

The private oil pipeline corporation worked with police using a privately-owned yellow helicopter and used this stalking, with prosecutors, as evidence against them in court.
.https://theintercept.com/2017/09/29/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-dapl-no-fly-zone-drones-tigerswan/

Below: Today's The Intercept. A police officer shoots at a drone at Standing Rock.
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North Dakota Governor's statement on $15 million wire transfer

Thursday, September 28, 2017 - 06:00 pm

BISMARCK, N.D. – Dakota Access Pipeline LLC has donated $15 million to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services (DES) to help retire debt incurred by the state as a result of its response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, Gov. Doug Burgum announced today.

The donation, wired this afternoon to the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, will be used to pay down loans taken out by DES.

Continue reading:

https://www.governor.nd.gov/news/dakota-access-donates-15m-pay-down-loans-related-pipeline-protest-response

Leonard Peltier Legal Update Sept. 30, 2017

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By International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

Censored News

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to thank you for all the generous donations that have come in for Leonard’s legal team, almost 9,500 dollars in the last 2 weeks. It is wonderful and shows what we can do to help Leonard’s lawyers to move forward. Which means we must continue to raise funds to make this happen. I want to share with you part of the strategy the lawyers have put together to gain Leonard’s freedom!

From the desk of the attorney:

“Release

_There are three paths to consider in an effort to obtain Leonard’s release. The first is a renewed petition for habeas corpus on the grounds that Leonard’s incarceration is unconstitutional. There are many obstacles here, both legal and logistical. New grounds (not previously raised in any appeal) would have to be discovered to be able to file a petition that is meritorious and would be considered by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. As a practical matter, locating the complete records all of previous appeals may be difficult as it appears that over the years they have been distributed to different attorneys. It might become necessary to obtain them from the court clerks directly but there is no guarantee they will be available. _

_ Secondly, after consultation with experts in the area of federal parole, it may be possible to renew Leonard’s petition within the next two years. This may be the most promising path as it would provide the most opportunity to present the factors related to racial discrimination, the illegal FBI counter-intelligence operations in the 1970’s against AIM, the coercive and underhanded tactics of the FBI during the investigation leading to Leonard’s arrest and conviction, his health issues and the sufficiency of his sentence at this point. _

_ Third, is the possibility of a “compassionate release” based on his declining health. This is an administrative issue handled with the Bureau of Prisons. Again, I have spoken with experts in the area who advise that generally, compassionate releases are intended for prisoners with terminal illnesses. I am happy to say that Leonard in my view is far from the end of his days, however, he does have significant health issues, and that combined with the time he has been incarcerated this may be a sufficient basis._

As I mentioned above, other than general guidelines that apply to all inmates there are no definitive regulations regarding the granting of a compassionate release from which we can determine that Leonard does, or does not, qualify. Each situation is weighed on a case by case basis. Leonard’s medical condition does make a release on this basis possible, although the hiring of outside medical experts may be necessary as his present condition will undoubtedly be open to interpretation for any consideration of compassionate release.

I am including the URL link to an article that will provide additional information regarding efforts to pressure the Bureau of Prisons to expand its granting of compassionate releases.

http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/28/congress-wants-to-know-why-the-bop-wont

I hope this information will help you see the urgency of our request for donations to Leonard’s legal team.

On the medical front, Leonard is recovering slowly from the heart surgery as lock downs, visits canceled and the new elder unit has him stressed. His grandson Cyrus & his son went to visit Leonard (Thanks to the Rosenberg Fund for Children) last weekend. Cyrus checked before he left to make sure visiting was on “YES, they said” but when Cyrus got to the prison on Saturday morning he was told visit were canceled for the day and he should call Saturday night to see if they would be open on Sunday. Sunday, it was closed, he called Sunday night for Monday, visits were canceled yet again. Both Cyrus, his son and Leonard missed a chance to be a family for the weekend. Leonard was very upset as he say’s “time is too short for me, and to not see my great grandson is very upsetting.”

Leonard has very few pleasures in life, the most important is his visits with family and friends. It is imperative for us to continue to push his struggle forward. We need to stay focused and dedicated in order to right this grave injustice.

With Respect and Thank you for your support for Leonard's struggle for freedom,
Paulette

www.whoisleonardlpeltier.info

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Indigenous Women From Standing Rock And Allies On Divestment Delegation In Europe

Indigenous Women From Standing Rock And Allies

On Divestment Delegation In Europe

By WECAN

PRESS RELEASE - Indigenous Women From Standing Rock And Allies On Divestment Delegation In Europe

Censored News

Update September 28, 2017

Media Contact:

Emily Arasim (general inquiries) – emily@wecaninternational.org, +1(505)920-0153

Osprey Orielle Lake (urgent inquiries in Europe) – osprey@wecaninternational.org, +1(415)722-2104

Michelle Cook (general inquiries) - divestinvestprotect@gmail.com

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, California (September 20, 2017) – From September 30th through October 14th, 2017, a delegation of Indigenous women from across the United States who have been at the forefront of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) resistance effort and other movements to stop fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure which pose threats to Indigenous and human rights, self-determination, lands and culture will travel to Norway, Switzerland and Germany. The delegation will urge financial institutions to divest from and cancel credit facilities with pipeline companies that endanger rights and neglect Indigenous People’s right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Demand Answers -- Three Years since 43 Students Vanished in Guerrero

For those of us on the Zapatista caravan through Mexico, there was no question that in the State of Guerrero there was a power, a fierceness, like non other. On our bus, the Sonoran bus, with O'odham, Yaqui and Mayo, there was a young Nahuatl warrior from Guerrero. He hopped on one leg, with a stick cane in one hand. When the call for "security" rang out, he rushed to the front line. I asked him why he had came, he said, "There was no food in our village." Now, years later, those forces in Mexico, co-opted and empowered by the United States government in their drug enterprises and fake media drug war, have attempted to squelch that power. But in doing so, they have only given birth to a new generation of warriors. -- Brenda, Censored News https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2017/09/indigenous-demand-answers-three-years.html

Declaration from the National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Governing Council Three Years after the Disappearance of 43 Students from the Isidro Burgos Rural Teaching College of Ayotzinapa

To the fathers and mothers of the 43 student compañeros of Ayotzinapa disappeared by the bad government:

To the people of Mexico:

To the people of the world:

To the National and International Sixth:

Three years after the Mexican government disappeared 43 sources of hope, we as the National Indigenous Congress embody the pain, indignation, and rage that lives and will continue to live until our student compañeros of the Isidro Burgos Rural Teaching College Raul of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, are returned. The demand to find them alive maintains us in unity with their parents and compañeros.

The student compañeros are still disappeared and the State has merely placed its bets on their being forgotten and on disdain for memory. It has wagered on destruction, and from the ruins we, men and women, will reconstruct conscience, hope, and a new world.

Our call is for the reconstruction of this country, and in order to reconstruct ourselves along with it we need the return of our student compañeros of the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teaching College and the thousands of disappeared for whom Mexico below searches  without ceasing, reconstructing from that effort truth and justice.

We repeat our words for those who are not with us, for those who are, and for those who are yet to come. We struggle and will continue to struggle for the return of our student brothers and sisters of Ayotzinapa to the end. They were taken alive; we demand them back alive!

We convoke all those who to make up the people of Mexico, the originary peoples, barrios, nations, and tribes and non-indigenous peoples from the countryside and the city, to continue the struggle to  bring them home alive and punish the guilty.

We call upon everyone to participate in the marches and mobilizations convoked by the mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared from the Isidro Burgos Rural Teaching College of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, three years after this crime committed by the State.

September 26, 2017

For the Full Reconstitution of our Peoples

Never Again a Mexico Without Us

National Indigenous Congress

Indigenous Governing Council

Dineh Land Defenders Respond to Navajo Times article 'Men Protest Fracking Near Buffalo Pass'

Response to Navajo Times article, "Men Protest Fracking Near Buffalo Pass"

By Bobby Leonard Mason
Censored News

Buffalo Pass/Roof Butte, 9/21/17
First of all, WE, are not protesting. To protest is to make a statement expressing disapproval of something. Believe me, we are way beyond protest. What we are doing, in our heart and spirit, with prayer, is protecting the land and our relatives, which means to keep them safe from harm or injury; to restrict by law access to or development of (land) so as to preserve its natural state; by all means necessary.
Let’s be clear about this, my intentions, before you go getting the story twisted, are to get the voice of our local elders heard. We want to create a platform where we can all voice our opposition. We are the ones who are living (dying) with the consequences of these extraction methods. If scientific proof is what you want, I urge that assessments be done with more studies to follow. Also, look to the methane cloud, 2,500 sq. miles, hanging over the four corners region of the southwest. Look at other fracking sites, look at the many “unintentional and undocumented accidents,” many of which involves workers and could be fatal.
I, Bobby Leonard Mason, with the help of a few people took action and called out to our local community to confront an oil and gas crew I heard to be fracking near Buffalo Pass of the Chuska Mountains. To no surprise, we only found a company production manager, Gary Wooten, and contracted company employees from M&R Trucking, who were hauling water and water tanks. I’d like to acknowledge our brother Chris for taking a stand on the Red Valley side of Buffalo Pass known as Roof Butte. Thank you for the continued work you do and your support.
I’d like to acknowledge a few documents as well which I strongly believe are important to this cause: the Treaty of 1868, The United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP), and a newly passed Lukachukai Chapter Resolution.
The Treaty of 1868, between us Dine and the United Stated of America, which is an international agreement between two sovereign entities, and is also a binding contract between our two nations; remember that in order to come in to treaty negotiations, sovereignty must recognized by both parties. Treaties are law of the land. 
Article 2 of this treaty states:
…this reservation, shall be, and the same is hereby, set apart for the use and occupation of the Navajo tribe of Indians, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, …and the United States agrees that no persons except those herein so authorized to do, and except such officers, soldiers, agents, and employees of the government, or of the Indians, as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties imposed by law, or the orders of the President, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in, the territory described in this article.
The UN DRIP, a document created to address and correct Human Rights issues directly affecting Indigenous Peoples; Affirming that Indigenous Peoples are equal to all other Peoples and; Re-affirming we should be free of any discrimination; supporting reorganizing efforts and rights confirmed in Treaties welcoming Indigenous Peoples to organize politically, socially, economically, as well as culturally.
Articles 25 states: 
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.
Article 26 states:
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. 
2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. 
3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned. 
We demand this Document be recognized by our local Tribal Government as well as the United States of America.
Passed September 21st in the Lukachukai Chapter, 
Resolution of the Lukachukai Chapter,
Opposing Resource Extraction (hydraulic fracturing and mining of radioactive materials) – in and around the community of Lukachukai, not limited to the areas of the Lukachukai/Chuska Mountains. 
Now therefore let it be resolved:
Lukachukai Chapter hereby adopts the resolution: Opposing Resource Extraction (hydraulic fracturing and mining of radioactive material); and
Lukachukai Chapter will support surrounding Chapter Governments to oppose further expansion of resource extraction companies which are/or not operating on lands held in trust by the Federal Government for the Navajo Nation.
We challenge our Tribal Government to recognize our True Sovereignty, granted to us by our Diiyin and solidified in our Fundamental Laws.
We challenge our Tribal Government to enforce our Treaty Rights agreed upon by our chosen ancestral Headmen who were chosen to speak on behalf of the People, who truly want to be recognized.
We challenge our Tribal Government to hear the cries and worries of our elders, our relatives in need; to hear the voices of those yet to be born as well as our past ancestors. What do you think they, the unborn as well as the ancestors, would have to say about how we are living today?
Our elders opposed this desecration of our ancestral, sacred homelands in past only to have their voices neglected and their disapproval ignored. We have begun to occupy our traditional camps to let our relatives understand that we are still the keepers of the land, to protect and preserve for the coming generations. The industrial resource extraction machine is not only a complex, in a traditional sense, it is a monster, destroying our lives. So we are obligated to do what is necessary to ensure our cultural survival.
To the Navajo Times, you have a chance to open a dialogue between the People, the Tribal officials, the Federal Government and the corporations raping the land and making decisions, with or without the People’s consultation or agreement. You have a chance to share the concerns and the voice of the People, which has been ignored for over half a century. People who live and depend on the land have been noticing and living (dying) with the consequences. It is not hard to explain the illnesses when there are studies linking resource extraction processes to them. Illnesses such as: Cancer, Diabetes, Birth Defects, Kidney Disease and so much more…. Cancer is the number 1 killer of Dine Peoples. If you don’t believe me, you do the research. So I question, if helium is all they say are “fracking” for, why is it such a mystery to the local people, including our elected Chapter Officials? But, a source tells me otherwise, that there is oil being extracted in a few areas. So if you want to tell us that fracking helium is safer, than what is safer than safer.
Meanwhile, one of your “journalist,” Cindy Yurth, worked on a story published in last week’s publication, “Men Protest Fracking near Buffalo Pass.” I was amazed that she could get these “facts” from the company when I couldn’t get a straight answer or cooperation from a work crew we confronted at the beginning of the month. We were actually treated with a racist/patriarchal attitude. When I told production manager, “I am Dine.” He repeated it back to me with a childlike, condescending tone. He also told me that this was his land, referring to the Chuska Mountains. Not even the company’s land but his land. I was criticized and had bad language used against me. I was even assaulted when a truck backed into me. I wasn’t injured so that’s that. I see her interview with the CEO of the company coming off as a bit white privileged, I see a bit of systematic prejudice towards our cause, I also sense a bit of bias from a reporter who is supposed to report all the facts. Instead, she bought and sold a lie, a story on how this type of (helium) fracking, “yes and no,” is safe for us and the land…!” We have the opposite to say, “Any and all Resource Extraction is not safe, and time will prove it…”
This issue will continue to be controversial. We will continue to oppose the further desecration and continuing encroachment on our home territories. They will continue to tell us it is safe, while we notice the changes in our surroundings and in nature, none of which are good. We will continue to look for the truth hidden behind empty words spoken by these professional liars. 
Ban resource extraction on Dine Lands NOW!!!!
Bobby Leonard Mason, Defend Dinetah